Survivor expertise has an essential role to play. Not because lived experience replaces research, but because the best research is strengthened by bringing different forms of expertise together.
Professor Sian Oram, Professor of Trauma and Recovery at King’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience.
22 July 2026
For survivors of violence and abuse, escaping from harm is only the beginning. Recovery can take years, yet once the immediate crisis has passed, many people are left navigating fragmented systems that are not designed to support long-term healing.
Since 2018, the Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network (VAMHN) at King’s College London has been working to change that. Bringing together survivors, researchers, healthcare professionals, voluntary sector organisations and policymakers, the network is advancing understanding of recovery after violence and abuse and ensuring that research leads to better support.
Initially established by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and later funded by the BECS Foundation and the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP), VAMHN has grown into a national network of 1,250 members. Led by Professor Sian Oram, it has helped transform research, policy and practice by placing survivors at the centre.
Survivors at the centre
VAMHN's work is built on a simple but transformative principle: research should not be conducted about survivors, but with and by them.
Today, involving people with lived experience in research is increasingly recognised as best practice. But when VAMHN was established, this was far less common. Too often, survivors were consulted only after important decisions had been made. This meant that the issues that mattered most to them – rebuilding relationships, regaining independence, or feeling safe again – were often overlooked.
Rather than treating lived experience as something to consult occasionally, VAMHN has invested in developing survivor leadership. Survivors are supported to gain research skills, contribute to study design, influence funding priorities and shape how findings are communicated to policymakers and practitioners.
By championing this approach from the outset, the network has helped contribute to a wider shift in how research is designed and conducted.
From lived experience to research leadership
This commitment is exemplified by VAMHN's Lived Experience Action Group (LEAG), whose eight members bring expertise gained through their own experiences of violence, abuse and mental health challenges.
Their impact is already visible. LEAG members have co-designed and led research exploring recovery after coercive control and survivors' experiences of the justice system.
They found that the quality of interactions with professionals mattered as much as, if not more than, formal procedures. Survivors who felt believed, understood and supported were more likely to report improvements in their mental health.
They are now co-authoring academic publications arising from this work, ensuring survivor perspectives become part of the evidence base that informs future policy and practice.
The network has also supported members to become trained Peer Researchers, with two now employed by the NIHR Research Support Service at King's, contributing their expertise to health research beyond VAMHN itself.
This represents a fundamental shift: from survivors participating in research to helping lead it.
Building a national movement
VAMHN’s impact extends far beyond individual research projects.
It connects researchers, healthcare professionals, voluntary sector organisations, policymakers and people with lived experience across the UK, creating collaborations that might not otherwise exist.
The network has also supported early-career researchers and students to build partnerships, publish research and develop interdisciplinary careers. Together, these efforts are strengthening the evidence base needed to improve services, inform policy and advance understanding of recovery across health, social care and justice systems.
From evidence to better support
Understanding the impact of violence is only the first step. The next challenge is ensuring that research translates into meaningful improvements in people’s lives.
One promising area of work is improving how mental health services respond to domestic abuse. A pilot study found that embedding independent domestic violence advocates (IDVAs) within community mental health teams helped professionals identify abuse more effectively. This meant that rather than being referred between separate services, survivors had immediate access to specialist support.
These findings are encouraging, but larger studies are now needed to establish whether the approach delivers better outcomes at scale.
At the same time, VAMHN researchers are addressing other critical gaps in knowledge, including how recovery should be measured and which interventions are most effective in supporting long-term mental health and wellbeing.
We understand far more about the harms caused by violence than we do about how people recover from them. Survivors deserve evidence-based support that reflects their own priorities and experiences. That’s the challenge we are now working to address.
Professor Sian Oram
The next frontier
VAMHN’s original funding has been fully invested, establishing it as the UK’s leading interdisciplinary network on violence, abuse and mental health.
What began as an ambitious vision is now a thriving national community of researchers, clinicians, policymakers, voluntary organisations and survivors, generating evidence that is changing policy, practice and lives.
But there is still much more to do.
We need a better understanding of how violence affects mental health, more meaningful ways to measure recovery and interventions shaped by survivors’ own experiences and priorities. While the harms of violence are well documented, evidence on how best to support recovery remains limited. Survivors deserve better than that.
Further support would enable King’s researchers and survivor leaders to expand survivor-led research, develop and test new interventions, train future survivor researchers and translate evidence into improvements in services and policy.
Because recovery is about more than helping people survive. It is about creating the conditions for people to rebuild their lives, regain control of their futures and truly thrive.
If you’re interested in supporting the next stage of VAMHN’s work, contact giving@kcl.ac.uk.