launched in December 2002, is a joint initiative between the Greater London Domestic Violence Project and the Greater London Alcohol and Drug Alliance.  During 2002, discussions between members of GLADA and the GLDVP identified gaps in the current service provision for both survivors and perpetrators of domestic violence who are misusing substances in London.  GLDVP and GLADA wanted to find positive and creative ways to work towards more inclusive service provision so decided to hold the Separate Issues ~ Shared Solutions Seminar in December 2002 to bring together service providers and policy makers from both sectors.  The decision to launch an ongoing project, the Stella Project, was made in order to ensure that the development of work across the domestic violence, drug and alcohol fields was encouraged and supported in the long, as well as short, term.

The aims of the Stella Project are:
to increase safe choices for women and children experiencing domestic violence by raising awareness and standards within existing substance misuse services and domestic violence projects in London and to hold perpetrators accountable for their behaviour by raising awareness and standards within service providers in London

The objectives of the Stella Project are:
to map gaps in service provision, exclusions, the level of need and promising practice in London in the field of domestic violence and substance misuse, from the perspective of both the survivors and the perpetrators of domestic violence; to use these findings to develop a toolkit and guidance defining minimum standards and highlighting good practice for service provision both in the domestic violence sector and substance misuse sector; to use the dissemination of the toolkit and guidance as an opportunity to encourage networking and information sharing between the substance misuse and domestic violence sectors, in order to improve collaboration and referrals; rollout awareness raising and training on substance misuse for workers in the domestic violence sector, and domestic violence for workers in the substance misuse services as part of the dissemination plan for the toolkit and guidance.

The Stella Project works firmly from the perspective that there is not a causal link between substance misuse and violence; drug or alcohol use should never be accepted as an excuse for violent of abusive behaviour and neither should women's substance use be used to justify their experiences of violence.

Much progress has been made since the initial seminar in December 2002:

• a Seminar Report has been produced;
• a Working and Steering Group has been established to guide the work of the project;
• research has been jointly commissioned with the Home Office Drug Strategy Directorate into domestic violence and substance misuse in order to progress policy and practice in these overlapping fields;
• and we are in the process of recruiting for a Stella Project Co-ordinator who we hope will be in post by August 2002.