The Suzy Lamplugh Trust is due to host a Stalking Awareness Conference on 9 April 2019 in London. The timing of the Conference is pertinent, as it follows the passage of the Stalking Protection Bill in March 2019, designed to strengthen the law and protect victims of stalking.
This year’s Conference theme is about stalking as a public health issue, which will present opportunities for policy makers, practitioners and experts within the health community across government departments, clinical commissioning groups and local government to meet and begin contributing to dialogue and solutions to mitigate the sheer impact of stalking.
A joint report on key findings from ‘Stalking and Health – Understanding the impact’ (based on a survey conducted between January and March 2019), will be launched at the Conference. The report by the National Stalking Consortium (which includes the Alice Ruggles Trust, Suzy Lamplugh Trust and National Centre for Cyberstalking Research amongst other stakeholders) will highlight statistics and conditions on mental health due to stalking. It concludes that front line teams (across all public services) need guidance and training enabling them to better assist those being stalked – thereby reducing cases of PTSD, depressions, as well as femicides on what is a largely gendered crime.
Suzy Lamplugh Trust defines Stalking as “A pattern of fixated and obsessive behaviour which is intrusive and causes fear of violence or engenders alarm and distress in the victim”.
Stalking is a public health issue which has a huge impact on health and well being of victims. It differs from harassment in that a perpetrator of stalking will be obsessed with or have a fixation on the individual(s) they are targeting. Stalking can take place in many forms, affecting all aspects of everyday life.
Research has shown:
- Stalking is one of the most common forms of interpersonal violence in the UK affecting 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men across their lifetime
- A reported 1.1 million people experience stalking in England and Wales each year; 734,000 women and 388,000 men.
- Those experiencing stalking can display symptoms in line with PTSD, anxiety and depression
Suzy Lamplugh Trust has been influencing UK policy for over two decades; including campaigning for the introduction of the Protection of Harassment Act 1997, amended in 2012 to make stalking a criminal offence for the first time. In 2019, the Law around stalking was strengthened to further protect victims at an early stage. The Trust has been running the National Stalking Helpline since its launch in 2010, supporting around 30,000 victims of stalking so far.
Our work continues, and the National Stalking Awareness Conference 2019 aims to highlight the impact of stalking; challenge and improve existing understanding of stalking within the Health sector for victims as well as perpetrators and focus on addressing the lack of specialist health services for victims of stalking. Please find more information and book your ticket here.
Written by Sara Hindley, Training and Marketing Assistant, Suzy Lamplugh Trust.
Better Health For All 
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