Recovery after domestic, family and sexual violence: impact of a holistic clinical support program on victim-survivors.

Introduction: Recovery frameworks are crucial to mitigate harm and promote positive outcomes for victim-survivors of domestic, family, and sexual violence (DFSV). Despite this, mental health service system responses are inadequate and there is a lack of specialized support programs to promote recovery and healing. Methods: This study investigated the impact of a novel, holistic, trauma-and-violence-informed recovery framework (the s-CAPE program) on victim-survivors' recovery from trauma following DFSV, conducted at a gender-specific, trauma-focused clinical setting in New South Wales, Australia. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 victim-survivors who had undertaken the s-CAPE program. Thematic analysis was used to derive themes capturing participants' experiences and perspectives. Results: Analysis yielded seven themes exploring participants' recovery journey, their experiences at the service, its impact on their functioning, and preferences for care. Participants largely considered the s-CAPE program beneficial for their recovery and experienced benefits across a range of mental and physical health domains. Recommendations for service improvement were identified. Discussion: There is a crucial need for more gender- specific, trauma-focused mental health services utilizing holistic and trauma-and- violence-informed approaches to recovery support. These programs need to be accessible and available for broader populations, requiring increased investment, policy change, and collaboration at the systemic level.