Helping Workplaces Recognise & Respond to Domestic Abuse

What if your workplace was the thing that made the difference?

Samantha Billingham — survivor, advocate, and founder of the ABC Framework — helps employers across every sector build confident, practical responses that could change, or save, a life.

The ABC Framework: Know What to Look For

Samantha Billingham — survivor, advocate, and founder of the ABC Framework — helps employers across every sector build confident, practical responses that could change, or save, a life.

Coercive control and domestic abuse don’t stay at the front door. They follow people into work. The ABC Framework gives your organisation a simple, practical tool to recognise the early warning signs — and know what to do next.

APPEARANCE

Changes in how someone looks are often the first visible sign that something is wrong at home. Weight loss, exhaustion, or covering injuries aren’t coincidental — they’re signals.

Knowing what to look for means your workplace can be the first place someone feels truly seen.

BEHAVIOUR

Coercive control isolates, monitors, and manipulates from the inside out. When an employee becomes withdrawn, distracted, or increasingly absent, it’s rarely without reason.

Recognising these shifts early gives your organisation the chance to respond before things escalate.

CONVERSATION

Coercive control changes how people communicate — what they say, how they say it, and what they simply cannot say at all.

Learning to notice the gaps, and knowing how to open a conversation safely, is one of the most powerful skills a manager or colleague can ever develop.

The ABC Framework turns awareness into action. It’s not about being a counsellor. It’s about being the colleague or manager who notices.

This is Already Happening in Your Workplace

Domestic abuse and coercive control don’t pause for working hours. They’re already in your meetings, your HR inbox, and your staff absence records. Most organisations just don’t know it yet.

1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime. Statistically, it’s already in your team.

Appearance, Behaviour and Conversation: these are all things which might change in someone and can be looked out for. This can be particularly important at work, and sometimes, that’s the only safe place for the victim to be.

The ABC framework serves as a simple, memorable checklist for spotting potential signs of coercive control.

Work may be one of the few safe places for someone experiencing domestic abuse. The framework acts as a practical communication tool and early warning system. It will help employers identify red flags because abuse escalates to physical violence.

Built for Every Workplace.
Relevant to Every Sector.

If you employ people, this is for you. Domestic abuse and coercive control don’t discriminate by industry — and neither does the ABC Framework.

HR Professionals

You're often the first point of contact. The ABC Framework gives you a structured, confident response when an employee needs support.

People Managers

You see your team every day. That proximity is powerful — if you know what to look for.

Senior Leaders

Culture starts at the top. Embedding a workplace response to domestic abuse signals the kind of organisation you choose to be.

Safeguarding Officers

You carry the responsibility. The ABC Framework gives you a practical tool to sit alongside your existing safeguarding processes.

Business Owners

Your people are your business. Protecting them protects everything you've built.

Trade Unions

Your members trust you to advocate for their safety and wellbeing. This gives you the tools to do exactly that.

Whatever your sector, whatever your size — if people work for you, the ABC Framework is relevant to you.

In Their Own Words

“Before Samantha’s training, we had a wellbeing policy but no real confidence to use it. The ABC Framework gave our managers a practical language for something they’d always found difficult to approach. It’s already changed how our team responds.”

Head of People & Culture, NHS Trust

“Samantha Billingham’s work on the ‘Protect Animals. Protect People’ campaign with Naturewatch Foundation has been both highly professional and deeply impactful. Her passion, dedication, and lived experience bring a unique authenticity to her advocacy. Samantha has amplified survivors’ voices while also helping to shape policy and raise awareness of animal cruelty as a critical warning sign of domestic abuse. Her efforts inspire confidence, build trust, and create meaningful change. We are truly grateful for her leadership.”

Mark Randell
Campaign Manager and Retired Senior Detective

“Samantha and ‘Stronger beginnings’ are invaluable assets to the domestic abuse sector. Sam brings not just a wealth of knowledge, experience and humility, but she is a natural trainer, exceptional communicator and a dream to work with. Her assistance with a wide range of training and consultancy projects has been crucial to their impact and success; I highly recommend her to anyone wishing to better understand the reality of domestic abuse and coercive control.”

Bridie Anderson
Company Director, Better Lives Training & Consultancy

Let's Start a Conversation

Whether you’re ready to book training or just want to find out more, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a message and I’ll get back to you personally.