Turning Evidence Into Practical Solutions
Research has greatest value when it improves what happens in practice.
VIASTOP develops, adapts and applies evidence-informed tools, methodologies and intervention models designed to strengthen the prevention of violence, improve professional decision-making, support victim s
afety and promote meaningful behavioural change.
Our approach combines research evidence, frontline experience and multidisciplinary expertise, while remaining responsive to the realities of the Greek social, legal and institutional context.
Risk Assessment & Risk Management
Identifying Risk to Strengthen Safety
Effective intervention in domestic violence requires professionals to recognise not only that violence has occurred, but also whether it may continue, escalate or become life-threatening.
VIASTOP has contributed to the development of the Hellenic Risk Assessment Instrument for Domestic Violence, designed to support structured identification of risks of repeat and lethal violence and facilitate a more consistent approach across frontline services.
Risk assessment is not a prediction of the future. It is a structured process that helps professionals identify warning signs, patterns of escalation, vulnerabilities and protective factors so that appropriate safety and risk-management measures can be considered.
For VIASTOP, assessment must always connect to action:
IDENTIFY RISK → ASSESS → SHARE & COORDINATE → MANAGE RISK → REVIEW
Multi-Agency Risk Management
From Assessment to Coordinated Action
High-risk domestic violence cannot be managed effectively by one professional or institution acting alone.
VIASTOP promotes multi-agency approaches that bring together relevant professionals to share appropriate information, assess risk and coordinate protective and intervention measures.
An important example is the ARTEMIS Meetings, established and coordinated by VIASTOP since May 2025 in cooperation with Public Prosecutors’ Offices.
These approximately monthly domestic-violence case-management meetings are based on the principles of Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs) and provide a structured environment for professionals to discuss cases, coordinate interventions and strengthen victim safety.
Perpetrator Intervention
Accountability, Safety and Behavioural Change
VIASTOP has developed extensive practical experience in interventions with people who use domestic violence, including individuals referred through penal mediation.
Our approach combines:
Assessment → Accountability → Behavioural Change → Risk Management → Review
Intervention addresses issues including power and control, responsibility for violence, emotional regulation, communication, the impact of violence on partners and children, and the development of non-violent alternatives.
Victim safety remains central throughout the intervention process. Work with perpetrators is therefore not treated as separate from victim protection, but as one component of a broader coordinated response to domestic violence.
Survivor-Informed Practice
Effective perpetrator intervention requires attention to the experiences and safety of the person who has experienced the violence.
Where appropriate and safe, VIASTOP’s approach incorporates survivor contact, ongoing consideration of risk and coordination with victim-support services.
This provides an important safeguard against assessing progress solely through the perpetrator’s own account.
Child Safeguarding
Children may be directly harmed by domestic violence even when violence is primarily directed towards a parent or caregiver.
Our methodologies therefore incorporate child safeguarding and consideration of children’s safety and wellbeing into assessment, intervention and case management.
This includes recognising children’s exposure to coercive control, threats, intimidation and violence within the family environment, as well as situations in which children may themselves be used as part of abusive behaviour.
Intervention Models for Different Settings
VIASTOP’s experience is also translated into specialised intervention approaches for other environments.
Change Together
Our bullying intervention approach focuses on children and young people who display bullying or harmful behaviour.
Rather than defining a child by the label “bully”, the intervention focuses on understanding behaviour, recognising harm, developing accountability, strengthening empathy and learning healthier ways of managing relationships and conflict.
Workplace Violence & Sexual Harassment
Through S.T.A.R.T. and Safe & Fair, VIASTOP contributes to practical approaches for recognising, preventing and responding to sexual harassment in professional environments, including resources and capacity-building for professionals supporting victims and witnesses.
Developing Tools With Professionals
Innovation should respond to the realities of the people who will actually use it.
For this reason, VIASTOP values multidisciplinary development, professional consultation, testing, feedback and continuous improvement.
Our objective is not to create tools that remain in reports or project deliverables. We seek to develop approaches that can be understood, applied and integrated into everyday professional practice.
Our Innovation Principles
I would make these five principles into visual icons:
EVIDENCE-INFORMED
Grounded in research and evaluated knowledge.
PRACTICE-BASED
Developed with an understanding of real cases and frontline conditions.
VICTIM-SAFETY CENTRED
Protection and wellbeing remain central to decision-making.
MULTI-AGENCY
Designed to strengthen cooperation rather than institutional isolation.
ADAPTABLE
Responsive to different populations, services and professional environments.
Innovation With a Purpose
For VIASTOP, innovation does not mean creating something new simply because it is new. It means finding better ways to recognise risk, protect people, change harmful behaviour and help professionals respond effectively.
CTA: Explore Our Tools & Resources
CTA: Work With Us