A Senior Lecturer in Domestic and Sexual Violence at the University of Worcester was invited to present at a national Festival of Practice.
Beverley Gilbert at the Festival of Practice event, along with former University of Worcester student Rebecca Bole.
The event, held in Manchester, was hosted by Nicole Jacobs, the national Domestic Abuse Commissioner, and showcased examples of good practice around England and Wales. Around 500 people were invited to attend the conference, where the Commissioner unveiled her strategic plan to tackle domestic violence.
Beverley Gilbert, Senior Lecturer in Domestic and Sexual Violence within the University of Worcester’s Department of Violence Prevention, Trauma and Criminology, presented her practice work and PhD subject area to an audience of invited commissioners, academics, service leads and survivor support organisation representatives.
Beverley is the Founding Director, Operations and Risk Manager for a women’s peer support organisation called Cohort 4 in North Warwickshire.
“It was a surprise and an honour to be identified and invited by the Commissioner’s Office to present at her inaugural conference event,” she said. “Almost 10 years ago I set up Cohort 4, a women’s peer support and peer mentoring organisation. What we do is seen as being innovative and as an area of good practice nationally when working with women who have multiple and complex disadvantage.
“It was good to be representatives of Warwickshire at the event and it has raised our profile across the country. I am currently writing up my PhD thesis which looks at peer mentoring with women who have multiple disadvantage and Cohort 4 have a suite of accredited training units linked to peer mentoring that we deliver around the country and in Europe so the conference brought all of these aspects of my career together.”
Beverley has taught on the University’s postgraduate Understanding Domestic and Sexual Violence programme since 2011.