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Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) nursing students are gearing up to receive innovative training aimed at helping them identify signs of domestic abuse, marking a groundbreaking development in the UK. The Unlock Safety Initiative, a collaborative effort between QUB, the Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), and the Executive Office’s Change Fund, intends to educate 600 aspiring nurses annually on recognizing abuse indicators, responding to disclosures, and connecting patients with appropriate support services. Given that nearly 30,000 domestic abuse incidents were reported by police in Northern Ireland between June 2024 and 2025, accounting for approximately 20% of all reported crimes, the significance of this training cannot be overstated.
Kellie-Ann Winchester, a second-year adult nursing student at QUB, emphasized the importance of this training in enabling nurses to detect signs of domestic violence and engage in conversations about it more effectively. The program, designed to be integrated into the nursing degree curriculum, will equip nurses with the necessary tools to address violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland comprehensively. Nurses who complete the training will be awarded a badge to signal to patients that they are open to discussing such sensitive matters with them.
According to Johanna McMullan, the director of education at QUB’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, the training offered through this initiative will have a profound and enduring impact on the students. She stressed that difficult conversations around abuse are a crucial part of nursing care, especially considering that students are likely to encounter situations involving abuse during their careers. Sarah Mason of Women’s Aid NI hailed the launch of the training as a positive step towards prevention, particularly in light of the charity’s support for over 7,600 women and 5,200 children in the past year.
In the quest to ensure that healthcare workers are well-equipped to identify abuse, Prof Rita Devlin, the RCN’s director in Northern Ireland, highlighted the significance of this training for cultivating a workforce prepared to address domestic abuse from the onset of their careers. With women comprising nearly 90% of the nursing workforce, this initiative is poised to empower nursing students to tackle the complexities of domestic abuse effectively. The initiative’s holistic approach to training students to confront such challenging issues underscores a commitment to promoting a safer environment for women and girls in Northern Ireland
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