About Make a Change

What is Make a Change?

Make a Change (MAC) is a community-wide, early response approach to people who are concerned that they are using harmful behaviours in their intimate, or previously intimate, relationships. It was developed by Respect in partnership with Women’s Aid Federation England.

Participants join a group programme (or in some cases work with Make a Change one-to-one) to work on understanding their behaviour in relationships, and receive support to make positive changes for themselves, their partner or ex-partner, and their children (if they have any). Separate, confidential support is also offered to their partner or ex-partner.

Make a Change works directly with people using harmful and controlling behaviours, while also empowering the people around them – local communities, friends, families and professionals – to see themselves as part of the solution, and to work together to address the problem.

Get in touch for support or to talk about Make a Change:

What is a community-wide, early response approach?

Make a Change aims to provide support to people who are concerned about their behaviour at the earliest possible point. This means we offer help before other similar programmes can, and ideally before the need to involve a professional agency – like the family court, social services, or police.

Anyone can refer in to Make a Change, including someone’s current or ex-partner, and we actively encourage self-referrals from anyone worried about their own behaviour. It’s completely free to receive support. All we ask is that the person is concerned about their behaviour and willing to make a change.

We also proactively offer support to partners and ex-partners (and in some locations, their children) to make sure they can get help at an earlier point and don’t have to reach out for it themselves.

As well as working directly with people using and experiencing harmful behaviour, Make a Change offers support to the wider community to help people who have concerns about someone else’s relationship. This includes training professionals on recognising the signs that harmful behaviour is happening and what to do, as well as considering how best to support friends and family, who are often the first to know that something is wrong.

It’s never ok to frighten, control or harm a partner or ex-partner. By empowering whole communities to understand the problem and how to tackle it, we hope to identify it sooner, stop it happening and support people to be safe and happy in their relationships.

Our partners and quality standards

The Make a Change model is grounded in an established evidence base for safe and effective work with people using harmful behaviour and is delivered by services that are Respect accredited or working towards this standard.

Our integrated support services for partners and ex-partners of people on the programme are delivered in line with the Women’s Aid National Quality Standards.

Funding and availability

Make a Change is available in a number of locations across the UK, and is funded through a combination of the National Community Lottery Fund and local area contributions.

If you want to contact us about commissioning Make a Change in your area, please email Rebecca.Vagi@respect.org.uk.