Does your partner need to make changes?

Relationships have their ups and downs. Pressures add up and outside stresses can have an impact on how people feel and behave.

However, that doesn’t mean your partner or ex-partner has the right to hurt or scare you, to call you names, to intimidate you, to force you to do anything you don’t want to, or to stop you from doing the things you do want to do.

Whether it’s a partner or ex-partner who’s treating you like this, and no matter what difficulties they may be going through, we can help them to start making positive changes.

Help for them, support for you

What is Changes?

Changes is a voluntary programme that assists people who are concerned they might be hurting, scaring or controlling their partner, and who want help to make things better. We help them to make positive changes in their life so they stop their abusive behaviour towards their partners or ex-partners.

This service is completely free of charge and tailored to meet individual needs.

We provide one-to-one assessments, individual and group-work sessions which help people to understand relationship difficulties, how to take responsibility for abusive behaviour, and how to make positive changes for themselves, their partners/ex-partners, and their children (if they have any).

We accept referrals from a variety of sources, including self-referrals. Our referring criteria is as follows:

If you or anyone else refers your partner or ex-partner to Changes, or if they refer themselves, a separate service will also make contact with you, to offer free, confidential and independent support.

Engaging with this service is entirely voluntary; its aim is to help you focus on your needs, offer support on your terms, and give you information about the services being offered to your partner or ex-partner.

If you need immediate assistance, please call 999 or contact the National Domestic Violence Helpline on 0800 2000 247.

This course has taught me how to behave considerately in a relationship. Remain calm and given me tools to deal with conflict situations.”

The project is very good. Me and my partner’s relationship has become much better. I myself, as a person, am much more open minded and using ideas to prevent arguments. A very good course to go on to prove that people can change.”

How can Changes help my relationship?

If your partner decides that they want support to understand and change their behaviour, the programme will cover topics including:

Healthy relationships
Understanding the links between our thoughts, feelings and behaviour
Understanding arguments with loved ones
Intimacy
Break-ups
Managing stress and self-care