Christina Ericson, Development manager at The County Administrative Board of Stockholm, Sweden – you were awarded NSfK Travel Grant 2019. Could you please tell us what was your presentation at the conference about?

My presentation focused on the experiences made in the set up and launch of a confidential phoneline for perpetrators of domestic violence in Sweden. The primary aim of the phoneline is offer advice, information and support to persons who want to stop being violent and abusive to their partners. The phoneline, called Choose to stop, was launched in two counties of Sweden (Stockholm and Skåne) in February 2019 and will hopefully become national in the beginning of 2021. Since February 450 persons have called the helpline, of which over 200 have used violence against their partner or former partner. Most of the callers will be sign-posted to a program for perpetrators in their municipality. We believe in increasing the safety of those experiencing domestic violence through promoting effective interventions with perpetrators.

• What do you find was the most interesting outcome from the conference?

I think the fact that the conference was held outside of the university, in a former textile factory (Can Batlló) now owned by the people living in the neighborhood, was very good. It was a non-hierarchical environment, where many of the panels were led by activists, and where the organising team worked hard to ensure that the voices of those most affected by inequalities and injustices were the main focal point. It was good to see activists and people from academia meet and discuss different subjects!

• How would you say your participation at the conference contributes to your future work?

I think it is very important that we not only focus on victims of domestic violence in our research and practice. If we don’t have interventions or programs for abusers/perpetrators, we can’t expect violence to decrease and victims to get safer. When presenting my paper at the conference, I was the only one presenting interventions for perpetrators in the so-called social harm stream. It convinced me even more that I am on the right track with my work!