Court preparation
What a Safety Plan Looks Like Before the First Court Date
Safe contacts, transport, childcare arrangements, and the go-bag. We also explain why the plan gets reviewed again once bail conditions are set.
Read the articleSocial workers, clinic staff, and legal aid attorneys often ask the same questions before a first referral: what to send, what to leave out, and how the intake call actually runs. These three pieces answer most of that, written from our own casework rather than from a policy manual.
Court preparation
Safe contacts, transport, childcare arrangements, and the go-bag. We also explain why the plan gets reviewed again once bail conditions are set.
Read the articleLanguage access
How we book and brief interpreters, and how written summaries are handled so nothing identifying leaves the file.
Read the articleReferrals
What a referral should contain, the difference between a counselling and a court-preparation referral, and what happens if the first call goes unanswered.
Read the articlePractitioners who need the referral pack can reach the unit at info@theintensiveabuseunit.com or by phone on 016 246 3007.
There are other services in the province doing this work, and we work alongside several of them. What referrers tell us is that the difference is in how the first weeks are handled: a structured intake, a written safety plan the client can actually keep, and a named person who stays on the case rather than a queue that resets each month.
We do not ask for a full history in the first call. The intake conversation covers immediate safety, who else knows, and what the client wants to happen next. Graphic detail is not required for us to open a file, and it is not written down.
Counselling, court preparation, and shelter referrals sit with the same practitioner. That matters when a protection order date moves or a placement falls through, because nobody has to explain the situation from the beginning again.
We hold working relationships with legal aid clinics, shelters, and public health services across the Western Cape and Gauteng. When we pass a client on, we say who to ask for and what to bring, rather than handing over a phone number.
Written materials are drafted in English with isiXhosa and Afrikaans summaries, and interpreters are booked for sessions where the client prefers to speak in another language. A safety plan a client cannot read is not a safety plan.
No names, no identifying case details, no graphic descriptions leave the file. Referrers get confirmation that a client was seen and what the next step is, not a summary of what was said in the room.
Social workers and clinic staff can read more about how we work on the capabilities page, or check the background of the practice on the company page.