Lessons Learned - the Domestic Violence Intervention Project

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Lessons Learned - the Domestic Violence
Intervention Project

• Chris Newman, DVIP

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Why work with abusers?

•  
• punishment alone is not enough to deter
  perpetrators from re-offending
• most domestic violence offences are not reported
• psychological and emotional abuse are difficult
  to punish in law
• many women stay with, return to or continue to
  have contact with violent and abusive partners
• men who abuse are likely to go on to abuse other
  women, even if they serve a prison sentence for
  domestic violence
• some men want to change
• It involves men working to end violence against
  women

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Life on three planets
Child protection (public law) Child as
victim mother seen as failing to protect - focus
on changing her Father often invisible
Domestic violence (civil and criminal
law) Focus on offence and offender and
changing him Woman as victim Child invisible
Child contact (private law) Mothers resistance
considered hostile Presumption of Contact
father as victim (?)
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Implications for developing effective
interventions for perpetrators?

• If the system matters as Gondolf tells us, then
  in each of these arenas a perpetrator programme
  will need to be tied into the system in a
  different way if it is to
• Increase victims safety
• help to hold abusers accountable
• meet the needs of the other agencies which are
  working to ensure the victims safety. 

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The Domestic Violence Intervention Project
Self-referred clients

Perpetrator services Assessment 32
session structured group programme
ongoing follow up group
Victim support services Individual work
Structured workshops Support
groups Safety planning
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Advantages of an independent sector project

•  
• Independent of both courts and probation. So
  could argue for consequences for non-
  participation
• Men come to the programme from a range of routes
  - reduces resentment and sense of persecution
  by the system
•  
• Not driven by institutional targets. For instance
  completion rates
•  
• Ability to hold to a position of principle,
  avoiding government or institutional pressures
•  
• Ability to campaign for safe practice in the work
  
•  
• Small size of organisation means can respond to
  change quickly
•  
• And offer services at low cost compared to larger
  organisations.
•   

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The Domestic Violence Intervention Project

London Probation Area
Self-referred
Perpetrator services Assessment 32
session structured group programme
ongoing follow up group
Victim support services Individual work
Structured workshops Support
groups Safety planning Programme for mothers in
care proceedings
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Hester and Radford Domestic violence and child
contact Social Policy Research 100 June 1996

• Many professionals in England interpreted the
  Children Act 1989 in a way which allowed contact
  with fathers to take precedence over child
  welfare.
•  
• Fathers commonly used contact with the children
  as a route to further abuse the mother. Domestic
  violence injunctions and policing practice in
  both countries gave women only limited protection
  from further abuse.
•  

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Hester and Radford study

• Only 7 of the 53 mothers interviewed in England
  were able - eventually- to arrange contact which
  did not threaten their own safety and/or their
  children's well being.
• Most mothers initially wanted children to
  see their fathers contact arrangements broke
  down because of violence.
• No evidence to support claims made by many of the
  professionals interviewed that contact broke down
  because mothers were 'hostile' to the idea of
  contact  

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Hester and Radford 1996

• Hester and Radford concluded that contact should
  not be presumed to be in the best interests of
  the child if there has been domestic violence to
  the mother

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Experts report and guidelines to the court - 2000

• Domestic violence is a serious failure in
  parenting
• In deciding the issue of contact the court is
  asked to consider
• The history of domestic violence
• The motivation for seeking contact
• Victim empathy, attitude to past violence and
  capacity to change
• The effects of the domestic violence on the
  resident parent and children

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• The risk to the children if contact is ordered
• The wishes and feelings of the child
• Whether to make treatment for the abuser a
  condition of future contact or seek advice in
  assessing the risk of harm to the child
• Whether or not conditions or non-molestation
  orders should be made and whether contact should
  be supervised

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The Safe Contact Protocol

• Protocols between the SCP agencies - CAFCASS,
  Supervised Contact Centres, DVIP, the Mens
  Centre
• Agree a format for specialist risk assessment
• prevent applicants seeking endless alternative
  expert reports in order to get a more favourable
  response (while allowing for a second opinion)
• prevent applicants from finding alternative brief
  anger management or other inappropriate therapies
  to address their abusive behaviour
• or from finding a contact centre which will take
  the case even when a CAFCASS reporter has advised
  that contact is not safe.
• Workers from the partnership agencies meet
  regularly to share training and discuss cases and
  protocols.

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Risk assessment for the family courts
Perpetrator services
Supervised Contact

• Assessment of
• Risk
• Victim vulnerability
• Child/ren

Social Services or CAFCASS
Victim support services
Childrens services
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Work with social services

• Help shift the focus away from victims (usually
  mothers) to the actual source of risk the
  abuser.
• Enable early intervention with perpetrators,
  rather than waiting until concerns about the
  child rose to the point that court action had to
  be taken to protect the children.
• Act as expert witness in care proceedings
• Provide interventions with mothers involved in
  care proceedings

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The Domestic Violence Intervention Project
London Probation Area

Self-referred
Perpetrator services Assessment 32
session structured group programme
ongoing follow up group
Victim support services Individual work
Structured workshops Support
groups Safety planning
Childrens services Supervised
contact Assessment Therapeutic work
Social Services
CAFCASS
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• Start with, and stick to, the principle that
  victims safety is paramount
• Recognise that you need to adapt to a range of
  different environments - community activism,
  criminal justice, family courts, child
  protection, lobbying and campaigning
• Establish clear principles for best practice in
  the work, and then work out how these can be put
  into practice within the different environments
• Offer yourself as a specialist resource to larger
  agencies - helping managers and individual
  practitioners respond more effectively to DV.
• make links with all those involved in struggle to
  end domestic violence. This will mean trying to
  understand their ethos, training and working
  practices

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• chrisdnewman_at_btinternet.com

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Objectives of the Violence Prevention Programme
To help him to end his violence and abuse by

• widening the mans definition of what constitutes
  violent and abusive behaviour.
• Helping him to recognise the mental emotional
  and physiological signs of the build up to
  violence
• to critically examine the beliefs that have led
  him to believe that violence and abuse towards
  women is justified.
• to increase his understanding of the intentional
  nature of the violence and abuse he has used.
• To increase his understanding of the effects of
  abusive behaviour on his ex-partner and
  child(ren).
• help him develop alternative non-abusive ways of
  behaving and relating.
•  

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General Risk Factors
History of domestic violence crossing a boundary once makes it easier to cross again Attitudes about the violence Circumstances History of psychological disorders
Used severe violence, with injuries requiring medical treatment Used strangulation Used or threatened to use a weapon Threatened to kill his partner Was violent when she was pregnant Used sexual violence, such as rape Assaulted other family members, including children Violence is becoming more frequent Violence is becoming more severe Severely blaming his partner Severely minimising or denying the violence Lacking remorse Having traditional attitudes about male dominance Lacking empathy for the victim Fantasising about killing her or wreaking severe violence on her Not recognising the risk Having no motivation to change Being unwilling to take part in a perpetrator programme Currently has access to the partner Partner is trying to leave or has recently left Currently isolated from support systems Step children in family Psychotic disorders. Note that psychotic persons who kill often have active symptoms such as command hallucinations Anti-social personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, a psychopathic personality or beliefs of persecution by others
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General Risk Factors
Current or recent life stresses Mental state Other relevant behaviour
Severe abuse in the perpetrators family of origin Unemployment Homelessness Bereavement Poverty Equivalent life stresses A feeling that he has nothing to lose the fuck-it factor High levels of anger and hostility High levels of hostility to his partner in particular Depression Suicidal depression Generally low mental functioning Obsessive jealousy of his partner Obsessive control of his partner Obsessive thinking about his partner following separation Current substance misuse notably of alcohol or drugs (uppers) especially where it has exacerbated the severity of the violence in the past Generalised aggression, both inside and outside the home. This may not be present in cultures that show little tolerance for public violence Recent or current suicide risk or threats of suicide
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Interventions with domestic violence

• Anger management?
• Anger management suggests that the client has
  difficulty controlling anger.
• But in DV
• Selectivity of victim
• Selective level of severity
• Instrumental, controlling nature of DV
• Also implicit blame of victim I just lose it
  when she winds me up, she pushes my buttons.

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• Anger management
• AM is usually a short-term skills-based
  intervention
• But - need to address deep seated belief systems
  and/or emotional developmental legacies.
• Therefore focus on the underlying emotion and
  cognitions at the time of an assault rather than
  solely focusing on control of the mislabelled
  anger.
• Outcome studies suggest that violence/ abuse
  elimination occurs from reconstructing clients
  entrenched belief systems and assumptions about
  masculinity and its perceived entitlements, and
  enhancing victim empathy and co-operative
  decision-making rather than from the management
  or control of anger. (Healey et al 1998)

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Couples work, mediation?

• The victim is unlikely to feel free to speak
  freely
• And if she does feel free, may be punished later
  with physical violence or other abuse for
  speaking out of turn

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Elements of domestic violence perpetrator
programmes

• Increase awareness of physiological, mental and
  emotional signs of build up to violence.
• Develop critical awareness of attitudes and
  beliefs that support use of violence.
• Demystify use of violence I just lost it vs
  intentional/functional behaviour
• Increase empathy for victims
• Increase awareness of effects of domestic
  violence upon children
• Widen definition of abuse, set it in context of
  power and control
• Teach and practice alternative behaviour.

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Safety implications of perpetrator programmes for
(ex)partners or referring agencies

• They may lie about attendance and suspension
• may use the programme material to criticise his
  partners behaviour
• may lie about what happens in the group
• may use attendance as a bargaining tool
• attendance influences the decision- making
  behaviour of others.
•  
•  

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Safety implications of perpetrator programmes for
(ex)partners or referring agencies

• and most importantly
• May create unrealistic expectations that the
  perpetrator will change.
• Therefore referring agencies need detailed
  feedback on change in risk
•  
•  

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Partner support services

• Give accurate information about the Violence
  Prevention Programme and assist victims in having
  realistic expectations
•   
• Safety planning with victims and children who are
  in dangerous situations
•   
• Support them in identifying resources they could
  use to protect self and children
•   
• Offer emotional support and groupwork to
  facilitate personal and social understanding of
  the abuse

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Assessing programme quality

• See Guidelines from Respect ( The National
  Association for Domestic Violence Perpetrator
  Programmes and Associated Support Services)
• www.respect.uk.net

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The Primary or Predominant Aggressor?(or
primary perpetrator)

• The person who
• Uses the higher level of violence,
• Has an established history of violence in the
  relationship,
• Who represents the more serious ongoing threat of
  violence.
• Look at
• the level of injury
• the history of violence
• Which party represents an ongoing threat (who is
  afraid of who)
• (Guidance on investigating domestic violence
  produced for Association of Chief Police Officers
  in 2004)