ADVANCE-D

About Us

The ADVANCE-D team consists of academics, psychologists, practitioners and administrators

King's College London University of Edinburgh

Experts

We are experts in research, risk assessment and practice in IPV and substance use.
Explore our training modules →

IPV and substance use professionals

Our team have worked with experts by experience, IPV and substance use professionals and been informed by academic, policy and practice information to develop the programme.

The two ADVANCE-D leaders are Professor Liz Gilchrist and Professor Gail Gilchrist.  Despite the names, they are not related, but ‘happenchance’ means that the name Gilchrist should be easy to remember!

With over 30 years of experience researching IPV and substances use, we can provide advice or undertake research to determine need, or to evaluate your service or practice. We are trained in a range of research methodologies including qualitative research, feasibility studies, randomised controlled trials, process evaluations and statistical analysis.

We can offer to partner with your organisation to develop innovative assessments and interventions, to adapt interventions for particular participant groups, or to bid for funds to undertake such work. And we can offer consultancy research and evaluation input to conduct research for you to identify gaps in provision, or to undertake service evaluation for you to help you better understand your service users and your current provision, with a view to enhancing, developing and growing your offer.

  • Professor Gail Gilchrist

    gail.gilchrist@kcl.ac.uk

    I am a Professor of Addictions Healthcare Research at King’s College London. I have over 30 years experience of conducting substance use research in the UK, Europe and internationally. My early research on women in substance use treatment found that they were more likely than women in the general population to have experienced IPV. Moreover, those who lived with a substance user were almost 4 times as likely to have experienced IPV in the past year than those who had not. This shifted the focus of my research to men in substance use treatment and to understanding the role of substance use in IPV perpetration and developing and testing effective interventions to change their behaviour.

  • Professor Liz Gilchrist

    liz.gilchrist@edinburgh.ac.uk

    I am a Forensic Psychologist who has been working in both academia and practice for 40 years. I have worked as a psychologist in the courts, police stations and with lawyers and in prison, probation, victim support work and social work. I have researched and published extensively in the areas of intimate partner violence, substance use, parenting risk and justice. I undertake risk assessments with offenders and assessment of safety and support work for victims, and train people to assess risk. My expertise is in understanding risk, helping people understand themselves and helping people change. My research in innovative interventions showed that giving men different types of groups really helped them to see themselves differently and act differently. I manage the risk issues within ADVANCE-D and am one of the primary trainers of staff.

What We Do

We offer comprehensive training on all elements of ADVANCE-D to enable local delivery of the programme

Training and certification for facilitators to deliver ADVANCE-D

In order to deliver ADVANCE-D and maintain programme integrity, facilitators and partner support workers are required to complete self-directed online training and certification. Prior to delivering ADVANCE-D, facilitators will complete around 30 hours comprehensive training with self-assessment in all elements on the theories informing the ADVANCE-D Programme, the theory of change, and the how and why of the elements of the programme. Facilitators should have groupwork experience and an ability to work from a non-judgemental stance to undertake this training.

We provide comprehensive training on all elements of ADVANCE-D and provide transferrable skills in risk assessment, working with substance use and IPV and delivering supportive interventions. Certification for facilitators includes the submission of a written risk assessment on a case study provided and delivery of core elements of a group session and coaching session Partner support workers receive training on theories of IPV and substance use, models underpinning the ADVANCE-D intervention, the full ADVANCE-D programme, including guidance and skills around contacting and supporting partners and ex-partners, which offers around 20 hours of CPD. Certification for partner support workers includes the submission of a written risk assessment on a case study provided and delivery of introductory and follow-up calls. Read more about the training programme here [link to PDF document on training program]. Once certified, an annual licence is granted to access the ADVANCE-D platform and materials. Programme management by a trained clinical lead is available.