Season 9, Episode 9.12 — Coercive Control Beyond the Home

What if coercive control does not always end when the relationship ends? What if patterns of control can continue through institutions, systems and everyday decision-making?

In this episode of Silent Screams, Loud Strength – Unmasking Justice, Samantha Avril-Andreassen explores one of the most significant developments in contemporary safeguarding: recognising that coercive control is not confined to the private sphere. While domestic abuse legislation has transformed public understanding of controlling and coercive behaviour within intimate relationships, many of the same dynamics can emerge in the way organisations communicate, make decisions and exercise authority.

This episode examines how repeated barriers, fragmented communication, unnecessary bureaucracy, prolonged delays, excessive procedural demands and poor inter-agency coordination can unintentionally reinforce patterns of disempowerment for people who are already vulnerable. Although these institutional actions differ fundamentally from criminal coercive control between individuals, they can produce cumulative effects that reduce autonomy, participation and trust.

Drawing upon safeguarding legislation, governance principles, trauma-informed practice and operational accountability, Samantha explores the importance of distinguishing between deliberate interpersonal abuse and systemic failures that can nevertheless leave individuals feeling unheard, powerless or excluded. Understanding this distinction is essential for organisations committed to improving safeguarding without conflating institutional shortcomings with criminal behaviour.

Introducing the SAFECHAIN™ principle of Institutional Coercive Control™, this episode provides a governance framework for identifying where organisational systems, structures or cultures may inadvertently mirror patterns of control by limiting participation, reducing transparency or creating avoidable dependency. The framework encourages institutions to examine not only what decisions are made, but how those decisions affect dignity, agency and public confidence.

The discussion also considers the role of leadership, governance, proportionality and cross-sector collaboration in preventing cumulative institutional harm. Effective safeguarding requires organisations to look beyond individual procedures and assess how the overall system is experienced by the people it exists to serve.

Produced by the SAFECHAIN™ Institute as part of THE DIRECTIVE™, this episode brings together the central themes of Season 9 by demonstrating that safeguarding is not simply about recognising abuse within relationships. It is equally about designing institutions that promote participation, accountability, transparency and respect for individual rights.

Because coercive control is ultimately about the misuse of power.

Understanding how power operates—both between individuals and within institutions—is essential if safeguarding systems are to protect, rather than unintentionally perpetuate harm.

THE DIRECTIVE™ reminds us that good governance is measured not only by the decisions institutions make, but by whether those decisions strengthen autonomy, preserve dignity and enable people to participate fully in the systems that exist to serve them.