Alison Bird (ISJC)

Alison Bird is Services Director and Clinical Lead for Stalking at Changing Pathways, an Essex-based charity supporting victims of stalking and domestic abuse. Alison has worked nationally and locally with victims for over a decade.  

Alison was one of the first established Independent Stalking Advocacy Case Workers (ISACs) in the UK and is currently an Accredited Independent Stalking Advocacy Case Worker (ISAC). She is also the Training and Best Practice Lead for ISAC and is a leading expert in the field and specialises in supporting & advocating for high risk stalking victims/survivors. As well as the general public, this has included MPs and other high profile figures.

A speaker at national conferences, Alison also trains the police, Crown Prosecution Service, social care, statutory & non-statutory agencies and workplaces to enhance the understanding and the assessment of risks around stalking, domestic abuse, honour based violence and coercive control.

She was part of the consultation with key stakeholders & MPs for both the Stalking Protection Orders 2020 and the long awaited Domestic Abuse Draft Bill.

As part of the National Stalking Consortium she & her peers influence policy & policy makers on stalking matters.

In 2017 Alison was one of the expert panel members, as well as a critical reader, for the HMICs high profile inspection ‘Living in Fear’ examining how police and CPS were responding to stalking victims 5 years after the legislation was brought in. The inspection showed there is still a long way to go before agencies fully understand what stalking is and how to respond to victims appropriately.

Alison is keenly interested in the link between trauma experienced by domestic abuse and stalking survivors - both children and adults - and this is reflected in her trauma-perceptive approach. As a trained Domestic Homicide Chair the theme of trauma is paramount in all Domestic Homicide Reviews.

Alison continues to work passionately to educate all key organisations and advocates for victims and survivors of some of society’s most serious yet underestimated crimes. Despite protective legislation, training, sentencing guidelines and an increasing crime profile, victims are still too often let down by the system.