Developing a model of excellence – working with those that cause harm

Next month the Chrysalis Centre conference is set to take place, with the Red Snapper Managed Services and Reflective Practice (formerly Work with Offenders) sponsored event.

Participants are set to learn about how to drive coordinated, evidence-informed approaches to reducing harm by increasing understanding of effective approaches, strengthening multi-agency working and ensuring perpetrator services reach the communities most affected by abuse.

The conference, which is taking place on October 23 at Rothamsted Enterprises in Hertfordshire, aims to bring together commissioners, senior leaders, practitioners and frontline professionals to:

• Share the impact, learning and innovation from The Chrysalis Centre
• Strengthen multi-agency collaboration across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
• Explore emerging research and practice in domestic abuse perpetrator interventions
• Raise awareness of culturally informed and trauma-responsive models
• Increasing understanding of barriers to engagement in voluntary interventions
• Build momentum and shared vision for the next phase of commissioning and delivery

The conference will also be a platform to listen, reflect, challenge and build new connections that deepen our collective response to domestic abuse.

Key themes explored in the conference include how integrated models like TCC are reshaping the regional landscape for perpetrator interventions, exploring how to better reach and respond to minoritised and marginalised communities, embedding compassion, accountability and safety into intervention work, and understanding the impact of perceived punitive referrals on participant compliance and the effects on engagement of sanction-based voluntary interventions.

It will also look at developing learning around understanding the broader cost of inaction and value of early intervention, and what makes change possible, and how do we sustain it across families, systems and services?

Who is set to appear?

Hosting – Dr Sarah Lewis
Dr Sarah Lewis is a criminologist and penal reformer with expertise in domestic abuse interventions. Beginning her career in probation, she delivered programmes for people convicted of domestic abuse and went on to author Responding to Domestic Abuse: Multi-Agented Systems, Probation Programmes and Emergent Outcomes, which applies complexity theory to critique the shift from the Duluth model to the Building Better Relationships programme.

As Director of Penal Reform Solutions and Grow Transform Belong CIC, Sarah currently leads culture change initiatives nationally and internationally, in prisons, probation and the third sector, inspired by Norwegian approaches to punishment. Sarah is passionate about penal reform, relational practice and co-production and works across the sector, to bring about positive cultural change, which is strengths based and human-centred.

Jonathan Ash-Edwards
Highly committed to public service, Jonathan has a wide range of leadership, governance and financial experience.

As Police & Crime Commissioner, Jonathan’s priorities are to keep Hertfordshire safe, ensure that record numbers of police officers translate into visible and responsive local policing, tackle violence against women and girls and for more offenders to be brought to justice.

Since his election, Jonathan has launched Operation Hotspot, a £1m initiative to put additional high visibility police patrols into 26 hotspots of anti-social behaviour, crime and violence. He has also launched a new webcast Accountability & Performance Meeting so that the PCC’s statutory duty to hold the Chief Constable to account for policing performance is publicly transparent for the first time. Jonathan has been appointed as the national lead PCC for crime prevention & children and young people.

Red Snapper Managed Services

Justine Blakeman
Justine Blakeman is the Domestic Violence Operations Manager at Red Snapper Managed Services, where she oversees The Chrysalis Centre’s holistic and trauma-informed triage and intervention pathways. She specialises in perpetrator behavioural change interventions, risk management, and safeguarding strategies in partnership with victim services. With a background in media and advertising, Justine retrained as a Therapeutic Counsellor, gaining her CPCAB Diploma and BACP membership, and went on to specialise in counselling survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.

Transitioning into the criminal justice and offender rehabilitation sector, Justine has delivered interventions across adult and youth services, including youth diversion and Out of Court Disposals with Hertfordshire Police and the RSG DAPP delivery. Her passion lies in managing risk, addressing complex family dynamics, and engaging hard-to-reach service users.

Since joining Red Snapper in 2023, Justine has taken responsibility for case management, stakeholder engagement, and multi-agency safeguarding liaison, ensuring interventions create safer outcomes for victims and families.

Jake Neller
Jake Neller has spent the past five years working within the criminal justice system, with a strong focus on delivering rehabilitative and behavioural change programmes. His work has primarily involved facilitating interventions for individuals who have exhibited domestically abusive behaviours, as well as those involved in other forms of offending, including violence, substance misuse, and driving offences.

Jake currently leads RSMS’s Domestic Abuse Perpetrators Programme, managing a team of four facilitators and overseeing the delivery of interventions aimed at reducing harm and promoting long-term behavioural change. He recently completed a BSc in Psychology with First Class Honours and is preparing to begin an MSc in Forensic Psychology. Jake is particularly interested in the effectiveness of interventions in reducing reoffending and in exploring innovative approaches, such as the role of self-compassion, in supporting behavioural change and desistance from crime.

Alasdair Robertson
Alasdair is a multi-award-winning data scientist with over 20 years of experience in the public sector. He has transformed support and frontline services across the Police, NHS, Local authorities, Central government, and global corporations. His recent analytical work with the University of Central Lancashire and the Home Office earned a “What Works” award, and his innovative projects with Kent Police and Cheshire Police are pioneering new approaches in police analytics.

Alasdair is a qualified tutor for HM Treasury’s Better Business Case programme and an associate lecturer at Canterbury Christchurch University, where he teaches collaborative leadership. With expertise in financial and mathematical modelling, process design, and data science, his approach emphasises collaboration, leadership, trust, and a shared vision as key drivers of success.

Amanda McIntyre
Amanda led the research, evidence analysis, stakeholder consultations and multiagency, interdisciplinary teamwork to create The For Baby’s Sake Trust’s flagship programme, For Baby’s Sake. She leads the Trust’s work to build and share the evidence for the programme and for what parents want and need to break cycles of domestic abuse and give their baby the best start in life. Amanda’s career has revolved around cross-sectoral partnership working to improve public services and strengthen local communities.

RISE Mutual
RISE is an innovative staff-led mutual that designs and delivers behavioural change programmes and new approaches. RISE’s interventions challenge attitudes and facilitate long-lasting behaviour change. They are driven by the belief that anyone can make better decisions, given the right support. Our experienced team of professionals work with perpetrators of domestic violence and abuse to guide them through a process of change, which addresses their behaviours and attitudes. Through a combination of group work and one-to-one sessions, our programmes aim to prevent reoffending. They are focused on self-reflection and creating tangible outcomes that can help perpetrators to build a pathway for change.

The conference will have a photographer, Adam Crossdale, to take professional pictures throughout the day. Software such as Mentimeter will also be used to allow delegates to submit questions, provide feedback and engage the audience on key themes.

Find out more and book your spot here.