A new government campaign is asking people to respond more confidently when someone tells them about abuse, with a new online support area bringing together guidance for survivors and the people around them.
The Respond strand of the ENOUGH campaign centres on a simple sequence: listen, believe and support. Its practical focus is the first conversation after a disclosure. The campaign offers examples of supportive language and pointers to signs that someone may be at risk, alongside videos and graphics intended for use in different settings.
Support for the first conversation
Abuse is not always disclosed first to a professional service. A person may choose to tell a friend, relative or peer. That can leave the person listening unsure what to say, particularly if the disclosure is unexpected or raises immediate concerns about safety. The campaign is designed to help people handle that moment without dismissing what they have been told or making the conversation about themselves.
The new Support Space on the ENOUGH campaign website is aimed both at people who have experienced abuse and at those supporting someone else. It brings together guidance, information and routes to specialist support. The launch does not announce a new statutory entitlement or a replacement for specialist services. It is an information resource intended to make it easier to find advice and support options.
The campaign’s message is not that one conversation can resolve the harm caused by abuse. Rather, it recognises that a response from someone trusted may affect whether a person feels able to seek further help. The material is designed to give friends, families and others a starting point when they are confided in, including examples of how to offer support and when to be alert to possible risk.
Part of a wider campaign
Respond sits within ENOUGH, a cross-government campaign addressing violence against women and girls. Other strands include challenging abusive behaviour and educating young people. The campaign’s broader ambition is to address attitudes and behaviours linked to such violence, while this new strand focuses specifically on how members of the public can respond to disclosures.
The government has also set out wider funding and justice measures alongside the campaign. These include a stated £550 million investment over three years in specialist services for victims and witnesses, offering practical and emotional support such as counselling and advice about attending court. That funding is separate from the launch of the Support Space; the announcement does not say that the new online area itself provides counselling or direct casework.
There are also plans for every Crown Court in England and Wales to have at least one courtroom specially set up to hear rape and serious sexual offence cases over the next two years. Those plans are part of the wider policy context, rather than a service delivered through the campaign website.
Finding guidance and urgent help
The ENOUGH website’s Support Space is available to people seeking information for themselves or for someone they care about. The site also directs people to ways of reporting abuse. It advises anyone who is in immediate danger to call 999. For other situations, the new material is intended to help people identify options and reach specialist support, rather than suggesting that friends or relatives should manage serious risk on their own.
For Londoners, the resource is part of a national campaign rather than a London-only service. Its relevance is in the everyday situations it addresses: a disclosure may happen at home, at work, online or among friends, and the person listening may need clear guidance on how to respond. The launch adds a central online place to find that information, while specialist services remain important for people who need tailored help.
The Respond campaign’s central instruction is deliberately straightforward: listen, believe and support. Its new online space brings that message together with information for survivors and those seeking to help them.
