At Accent, we do not tolerate any form of violence or aggression towards our customers or colleagues, and we will take whatever action is in our power against those who commit this kind of behaviour.
Worryingly, we are seeing more and more reports of violence and aggression everywhere we seem to look. These are towards women in particular, although anyone can be a victim.
Whilst anyone can behave in this way, in the UK, it is most often men. Of course, that’s not to say all men behave this way. Anyone who is a victim of this kind of behaviour, whether man or woman, has the right to be protected from it.
Support For Survivors Domestic Violence
If you are being abused or harassed, please talk to someone. Do you have a family member or friend who will help you? This first call for help can sometimes be the most difficult step to take. If you have no-one to turn to, charities like Safeline, The Survivors Trust or Women's Aid have specially trained advisors who can help you get out of that situation.
At Accent, we are working towards the ‘DAHA’ (Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance) accreditation. It aims to improve how the housing industry responds to domestic abuse and supports its customers and colleagues with a set of standards and an accreditation.
Our Eastern region Customer Experience Director Damian Roche is a member of the group of colleagues working with DAHA. “As a housing association, we can sometimes see the results of domestic violence and harassment when our customer partners are visiting our homes,” he says. “It’s unacceptable behaviour and if we find that customers are responsible, we will take whatever action we can to protect those who need it. Personally, I have signed up to something called the White Ribbon Pledge, a global campaign by men to end violence against women and girls. The ribbon is a symbol of a man’s pledge to never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women and girls.”
“If you are a victim of domestic violence, or any other kind of harassment or unacceptable behaviour, please talk to us. We can help. If you are scared, or prefer not to talk to us, talk to one of the many specialist organisations out there. If you think someone is a victim, again, please speak up. It doesn’t matter if you are not sure, or you are wrong, we’d much rather look into it and find it’s not an issue, rather than for someone to be in distress or danger.”
How our residents can help
We can understand that some customers may not choose to speak to us, but might confide in another customer so we are looking for a customer to help us with this. If you think you could support someone who needs help, please email or write to us explaining why. Any details you share with us will be kept private.
This is a worrying subject we wish we didn’t have to talk about, but we do. We are very serious about playing our part to help people who are suffering violence and abuse in our homes and our communities, and coming down hard on those causing it.
