The Portal Podcast: Linking Research and Practice for Social Work · Sarah Lonbay

Domestic abuse and Eastern European women

·57 min·5 clips

Eastern European women face an extra level of vulnerability and precariousness that leaves them highly vulnerable to domestic violence and abuse.

The episode opens with Dr Lesley Deacon and Dr Sarah Lombe introducing The Portal podcast. They welcome Dr Louise Harvey-Golden and Carrie Phillips to discuss their research with Eastern European women. Louise explains that she is a senior lecturer in public health. Carrie explains that she is a senior lecturer in social work and was involved in the project’s data collection. The project began after the university was approached by ICOS. ICOS, the International Community Organisation of Sunderland, wanted to know more about the experiences of the people it supports. That concern included the women accessing its women’s group. The hosts ask how the research came about and what it involved. The discussion quickly settles on domestic abuse and the ways it is shaped by migration, language, and community context. Communication is one of the first barriers raised. The guests describe how difficult it can be to interpret information and access services when language is already a barrier. That becomes even more serious when a woman is trying to escape an abusive relationship. The episode stays with the practical problem of disclosure. If the abusive person is present as an interpreter, or has influence inside a small community, speaking safely may not be possible. The conversation also considers what happens when a perpetrator has status within that community. In that situation, other people may be more likely to defend the perpetrator than to protect the woman seeking help. The hosts connect this to a broader pattern in domestic abuse work. Too often, the emphasis falls on the victim getting herself out of the situation. The episode argues that this can overlook the structural barriers that make escape far less straightforward. The discussion also links back to the idea that people often reduce diversity to appearance alone. The guests push that idea further, pointing to the deeper issues of language, power, and access. The tone stays thoughtful and serious throughout. It ends with a reminder that domestic abuse support has to reckon with the systems around a person, not only the decision to leave.

As heard by us

Domestic abuse takes a sharper shape when language, access, and community power stand between a woman and safety.

The episode follows domestic abuse in research with Eastern European women, and it stays fixed on the everyday barriers that can keep harm hidden: language, interpretation, service access, and the risk of disclosure when community power may protect the perpetrator instead of the…

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Why you'd press play

You want a grounded look at domestic abuse when language, interpreters, and small-community power make disclosure harder.

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