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Hi Wastedyears,
It’s not a silly question at all. An IDVA’s main role is to support you around your safety through safety planning and helping you to understand your options so you can decide what you want your next steps to be. They may carry out risk assessments with you to help them understand the specifics of your situation so that they can help you plan how best to stay safe. They can link you in with different services, like housing, accessing legal advice, benefits, healthcare, the police, social services, depending on what you want. They can also advocate for you with services if you need their support to make sure your rights are being upheld and your voice is being heard. They won’t tell you what to do but rather empower you to make decisions for yourself. Contact would be arranged so that it is safe and works for you.
They should be able to talk through any questions that you have when you first meet with them and let you know about how regularly to expect contact as well as how you can contact them when you need. You could also contact the service that the IDVA works for before you meet them and ask about the support (this is likely to be your local domestic abuse service).
This is just a general explanation, some of the other women on the forum may be able to share a little about their experiences of working with an IDVA too.
Take care and keep posting,
Lisa
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