In our latest guest blog, Dr Kathryn Lord from Cordis Bright reflects on what it means to involve expert by experience voices in our feasibility study of the Restart programme, aimed at improving responses to domestic abuse.
Commissioned by Foundations and conducted by Cordis Bright, the Restart Feasibility Study drew on the insight of experts by experience to sense-check findings and strengthen recommendations.
As organisations working to improve responses to domestic abuse, we know that meaningful change is only possible when those with lived experience are actively involved in shaping the work. That’s why, as part of the Restart programme evaluation, we worked closely with members of the SafeLives Changemakers and Pioneers groups – young people and adults with lived experience of domestic abuse – to ensure the study was grounded in real-world insight.
The Restart programme is a collaboration between The Drive Partnership, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), Respect, and Cranstoun, delivered across five London boroughs. It aims to improve responses to low-to-medium-risk domestic abuse perpetrators in families known to Children’s Social Care or Early Help. The feasibility study explored the programme’s theory of change, implementation, and readiness for future impact evaluation.
As part of the study, five experts by experience – three Changemakers and two Pioneers – joined the evaluation team to co-facilitate interviews with professionals. These conversations explored how the Restart programme is being delivered on the ground, and what is working well or where improvements could be made.
To support their involvement, we ran a series of training sessions introducing the Restart programme, the principles of feasibility studies and randomised controlled trials, and practical techniques for conducting semi-structured interviews. With coordination support from SafeLives’ Authentic Voice Coordinators, our experts by experience co-facilitated 20 out of 37 interviews. They chose which questions to ask, joined pre- and post-interview reflections, and contributed to the analysis of findings.
Their reflections and insights were invaluable at the reporting stage too. Individuals from both groups reviewed the draft report and suggested changes to language, format, and dissemination to make it more engaging for a wider audience.
One of our experts by experience, Ellie (a Changemakers member) also wrote a foreword for the report, sharing her personal experience of being involved in the feasibility study. Ellie reflected:
“Being involved in the Restart evaluation has opened my brain to a whole new world of possibilities…now I know that this work can make a huge difference to the lives of survivors. It’s a full circle effect, by helping the people who harm, we are helping the survivors. I’d never been involved in a project focused on working with those that harm and I was keen to have the opportunity to speak to professionals who are involved….”
Ellie’s words remind us why involving experts by experience matters – not just for improving programmes, but for empowering those who contribute.
Working with experts by experience also helped us reflect on our own practice, including how we communicate, how we build trust with research participants, and how we ensure that evaluation produces insights that lead to genuine change.
For domestic abuse programmes, especially those working with perpetrators, embedding lived experience ensures that interventions are not only evidence-based but also survivor informed. It helps us ask better questions, interpret findings more thoughtfully, and design services that reflect the complexity of people’s lives.
Looking ahead, we believe co-production should be embedded from the outset of any evaluation. This means involving experts by experience in designing research questions, developing tools, analysing data, and shaping recommendations. It also means investing in the right support, training, and coordination to make participation meaningful and safe.
Working alongside the Changemakers and Pioneers has shaped more than the Restart study; it has shaped us as evaluators. It reminded us to slow down, to listen harder, and to create space for voices that too often go unheard.
The Restart Feasibility Study showed that the programme has real promise, and that there is more to learn in future. One of its most important findings is that when we work alongside those with lived experience, we build stronger, more responsive programmes.
We are deeply grateful to the Changemakers and Pioneers for their time, insight, and generosity, and we look forward to continuing this journey together.