For those of you who work in Europe, or willing to go some distance to attend a great conference, check out this link: https://familyconflict.eu/en/ sa
Among the speakers will be Amy Slep (USA), Zeev Winstok (Israel), Elizabeth Bates (UK), Emily Douglas (USA), and myself.
And don’t forget about our own ADVIP International Conference in Portsmouth, N.H., July 14!
Dear ADVIP Members:
As you know, the Association of Domestic Violence Intervention Programs (ADVIP) consists of mental health professionals, batterer intervention providers, and research scholars dedicated to evidence-based practice worldwide. ADVIP is an international organization, with members in 17 countries. Since 2013, members have networked with one another and shared research, news and clinical experiences on our organization’s website, www.domesticviolenceintervention.net. This year’s international conference will prove to be a special one.
For more information about the conference, or to register, go to our home page at www.domesticviolenceintervention.net and click on the link on the home page. ALL ADVIP MEMBERS ARE ALLOWED A SUBSTANTIAL DISCOUNT ON THE REGISTRATION FEE!
(NOTE: Following our conference, at the same location, is the Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference. This is a separate event, requiring separate registration For more information, go to: https://cola.unh.edu/frl/conference)
Scheduled for the ADVIP July 14 conference are presentations from some of the world’s leading domestic violence scholars, including Chris Murphy, Erika Lawrence, Julia Babcock, and Arthur Cantos. The focus this year will be on the movement towards evidence-based practice, and how research can better inform domestic violence intervention with perpetrators. Included will be presentations on differential treatment, addressing the needs of specific populations (e.g., women, trauma victims), finding common ground across treatment models, and working within one-size-fits-all standards. The afternoon program will explore a new treatment model, based on principles from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, as well as the Colorado Model of intervention. Our conference concludes with a panel presentation on existing political and policy obstacles to evidence-based treatment – including resistance to the couples format, a proven, effective modality.
Mindful Workbook for Women is an acceptance-based, cognitive behavioral participant workbook adapted from the Emotionally Intelligent Batterer Intervention program. This comprehensive treatment manual is also a self-help guide for high-conflict couples. Research shows that shame is highly correlated with domestic violence. Many individuals enter treatment overwhelmed and defeated by shame. With a strong emphasis on compassion, curiosity, and accountability, Mindful Workbook for Women teaches self-acceptance, empathy, and impulse control. Accountability is a tool used to strengthen self-esteem and regulate emotions. Given that the vast majority of domestic abusers suffer from a history of trauma, Mindful Workbook for Women is a trauma-informed treatment program. Participants learn to identify and override harmful thinking patterns while healing old wounds. Individuals become vulnerable, transparent, and authentic as they develop an internal locus of control through powerful cognitive restructuring techniques. Readers express feeling grounded and empowered as they learn to slow down through mindfulness training. Mindful Workbook for Women promotes healthy boundaries, assertiveness skills, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, empathy, and responsible parenting throughout the program.This workbook can be adapted for domestic violence treatment programs ranging in length from 16 to 48 weeks. For male or co-ed groups please see Emotionally Intelligent Batterer Intervention. For more information on program implementation visit facebook.com/treatment.program/
CALL FOR PAPERS
Association of Domestic Violence Intervention Programs
2018 World Conference:
“Moving Towards Evidence Based Practice”
Saturday, July 14, 2016, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Sheraton Harborside Hotel
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U.S.A.
Submission deadline: March 3, 2018.
(Preceding the July 15-17 Family Research Laboratory International Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference at the same location.)
ADVIP, the Association of Domestic Violence Intervention Programs, consists of mental health professionals, batterer intervention providers, and research scholars dedicated to evidence-based practice worldwide, with members in 17 countries. Since 2013, members have networked with one another and shared research, news and clinical experiences on our organization’s website, www.battererintervention.org. This is our second general conference, to be held Saturday, July 14, between 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Sheraton Harborside Hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, prior to the International Family Violence and Child Victimization Conference.*
This year, we are looking for papers on the effectiveness of domestic violence perpetrator programs, also known as batterer intervention programs(BIPs), throughout the world. We seek research papers, as well as descriptions of promising programs and case studies. Presentations will vary in length, from 20-45 minutes.
SUBMISSIONS: Send a one-page proposal, no later than March 3, 2018, to John Hamel, Ph.D., LCSW, at johnmhamel@comcast.net, with: (1) your name, contact information and credentials as either a domestic violence researcher, treatment provider, or both; (2) your curriculum vitae, if available; and (3) a summary of the paper. Note: Clinical papers MUST include information and relevant references, regarding the evidence base for the program you are describing. Anyone may submit, but priority will be given to submissions by ADVIP members. If you are not already a member, go to www.battererintervention.org and click on the “JOIN ADVIP” link on the home page.
* A separate entity ( https://cola.unh.edu/frl/conference ), not formally affiliated with ADVIP.
Conference Chair: John Hamel, Ph.D, LCSW
johnmhamel@comcast.net
(415) 472-3275 San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Emotionally Intelligent Batterer Intervention is a comprehensive participant workbook for domestic violence groups. This cognitive behavioral treatment manual is also a self-help guide for high-conflict couples. Research shows that shame is highly correlated with domestic violence. Many individuals enter treatment overwhelmed and defeated by shame. With a strong emphasis on compassion, curiosity, and accountability, Emotionally Intelligent Batterer Intervention teaches self-acceptance, empathy, and impulse control. Accountability is a tool used to strengthen self-esteem and regulate emotions. Given that the vast majority of domestic abusers suffer from a history of trauma, Emotionally Intelligent Batterer Intervention is a trauma-informed treatment program. Participants learn to identify and override harmful thinking patterns while healing old wounds. Individuals become vulnerable, transparent, and authentic as they develop an internal locus of control through powerful cognitive restructuring techniques. Readers express feeling grounded and empowered as they learn to slow down through mindfulness training. Emotionally Intelligent Batterer Intervention promotes healthy boundaries, assertiveness skills, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, empathy, and responsible parenting throughout the program. Emotionally Intelligent Batterer Intervention exceeds the standard level of care for domestic violence treatment programs ranging from 16 to 52 weeks in length. For more information on program implementation visit facebook.com/treatment.program/
I and several other batterer intervention providers in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area (U.S.A.) have been working with our local Probation departments to discuss ways to improve our perpetrator programs. A major issue has been a tendency by “rogue” judges to ignore current laws, and sentencing some defendants to an 8-hour or 16-hour anger management program instead of the 52-week psycho-educational group mandated for everyone convicted of a domestic violence offense. Judges do this for many reasons, but one of them is that prosecutors often bring weak cases to court, involving first time offenders who have committed a low-level misdemeanor offense, and/or those where the victim refuses to cooperate. We are concerned that some of these defendants may pose a greater risk to victims than what the judges have determined, but at the same time we recognize that other defendants pose a very minor risk and do not require the full 52 mandated number of sessions. We believe that current one-size-fits-all policies are a major part of the problem; but while judges may demand some discretion in their sentencing decisions, we argue that it makes more sense, in terms of victim safety and offender accountability, for sentencing decisions to be made on a more systematic and rational basis.
Recently, we have been advancing the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model of offender rehabilitation as a possible solution to this ongoing problem. A very well-written article on the RNR model and its applicability to domestic violence cases can be found in the Research section of our website (or go directly to: http://www.domesticviolenceintervention.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Stewart2013.pdf).
The responsivity piece of the model calls for a treatment approach that acknowledges the large degree of heterogeneity among perpetrators, and the importance of establishing treatment goals based on a sound assessment and the unique characteristics of each client. I have been using such an assessment protocol for my perpetrator programs for several years, and it is available for free to anyone who is interested. E-mail me at johnmhamel@comcast.net, or call me at (415) 472-3275.
Canada, and the state of Colorado in the United States, use the RNR model for perpetrator treatment. How is intervention determined in your area, and are you satisfied with the status quo?
Call for Papers and Sessions
The organizers would like to welcome academic contributions for the Interpersonal Violence Interventions – Social and Cultural Perspectives 2nd International Conference, 14th –16th June 2017 University of Jyväskylä, Finland Web site: www.jyu.fi/ipvi
How has violence been understood in different ages and cultures? How is it defined today? Conference’s aim is to bring together researchers and experts on interpersonal violence in the fields of social and legal studies, history, cultural research, psychology, philosophy, political science and health care or from any relevant discipline.
Keynote Speakers:
Russell P. Dobash, Professor Emeritus, University of Manchester, UK
Rebecca Emerson Dobash , Professor Emerita, University of Manchester, Uk
Marianne Hester, Professor, University of Bristol, UK
Minoo Alinia, Associate Professor, Södertörn University, Sweden
Brett L. Shadle, Associate Professor, Virginia Tech, USA
Bob Pease, Professor, University of Tasmania, Australia
Following the first successful IPVI conference 2013, at the University of Jyväskylä, the purpose of this conference is again to create a forum in which researchers and experts from different disciplines and fields can present their research, development projects and practical implications. The conference will offer great opportunities for promoting interdisciplinary and multi-professional cooperation.
Proposals for oral presentations, posters and sessions with short abstracts (max 300 words) can be submitted between 15th September and 15th November 2016. Decisions on acceptance will be sent at latest by 20thJanuary 2017. The language of the conference is English. Accepted abstracts will be published in the electronic conference abstract book.
The following topics will be especially emphasized:
Cultural perspectives and community-responses to violence
Encountering violence in educational, social and health care settings
Gender and violence
Hate speech and violence
Honour, shame and violence
Interpersonal violence: international comparisons
Non-physical violence, bullying, and virtual violence
Religion, authorities and violence
Sexual violence
Violence and institutions
Violence and lifespan: children, youth, adults and elderly
Violence and media
Violence crimes and criminology
Violence in family relations
Violence intervention and prevention
Violence research theories and methodologies
Violence, ethnicity and colonialism
Workplace violence and harassment
Organizers:
Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä
Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä
Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä
Department of Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä
National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland
For further information and electronic abstract system, please visit:
Web site: www.jyu.fi/ipvi
Email: ipvi-info@jyu.fi
It used to be that, when we trained mental health professionals, probation officers, victims’ programs, attorneys, and correctional officers all over the world, we had to convince people there was such a thing as female domestic violence.
But over the past decade, the landscape has shifted—and instead we hear pleas everywhere for a quality treatment program for women who abuse that is specifically targeted to women’s issues.
So, after years of pilot group testing, integrating rapidly emerging new research trends, and borrowing from the tremendous success of “The STOP Program for Men” (now in its Third Edition, published by Norton in 2013), this new treatment program was hatched: “The STOP Program: For Women Who Abuse” (Norton, 2016), focusing on innovative strategies for women who abuse their partners.
Like the men’s manual, this new program integrates contemporary interventions and client-centered guidelines to successfully treat domestic violence offenders—who happen to be female.
This program is timed to address the rapidly increasing awareness of female domestic violence and need for quality treatment services. Developed and field-tested for over twenty-five years among military and civilian populations internationally, this program offers therapists, social workers, and other counselors a new level of sound, psychologically-based interventions that actually reach the very women who often seem so unapproachable in a treatment setting.
Presented in a 26-week or 52-week psychoeducational format, “The STOP Program: For Women Who Abuse” is packed with updated skills, training exercises, articles, video clips, handouts, homework, and other resources–that push participants to examine the complex roles of trauma, emotional dysregulation, self-esteem deficits, and history of personal victimization in their relationship problems. And the program gives them new tools to manage these unique issues.
This manual includes many of the same sessions as the original STOP Program for men, with appropriate changes in pronouns, vignettes, and examples. We also have developed and integrated new material specifically dealing with issues that contemporary research and our clinical experience indicate are especially relevant for female offenders: victimization (and rationalization) issues, assertiveness vs. aggression issues, shame, grief and loss, parenting and co-parenting, boundary violations, emotional self-management and dysregulation issues, jealousy, self-esteem issues, gender rules and gender roles, and need for social support.
We are offering training workshops in this new model throughout the world. COME JOIN US IN OCT 2016 FOR THE TWO-DAY “STOP PROGRAM: FOR WOMEN WHO ABUSE” CONFERENCE IN SAN DIEGO. For more info, go to www.RTIprojects.org
And if any of you are doing similar work, please let us know so we can all share and learn.
David B. Wexler, Ph.D.
dbwexler@gmail.com
The McGill Domestic Violence Clinic (MDVC) is a state of the art facility for service provision and student training. It provides counselling on issues related to all forms of violence in intimate relationships and the effect such violence has on families and their social networks. For over 40 years the Clinic has trained graduate students from the disciplines of social work, counselling and psychology, providing them with expertise in individual, couple, family and group therapy using the most up-to-date intervention strategies. In addition to group work (treatment for men and support for women survivors), which is the central focus of the clinic, graduate student interns work with men, women, and where appropriate, their partners or families. At the Clinic, interns receive specialized instruction in the Needs ABC Model (Caplan, 2008, see: www.tomcaplanmsw.com) which espouses an integrative process oriented, emotion-focused pro-feminist approach. Through the School of Social Work student interns take Violence Against Women (SWRK 628, Krane) to deepen their appreciation of the theoretical debates and substantive issues that shape the field of intimate partner violence.
While pursuing an internship at the Clinic, students engage in assessments and offer direct service in multiple formats. Their counseling sessions are video-taped and excerpts are discussed and analyzed during weekly team supervision meetings. The supervisory team and student interns can also draw on other faculty members for consultation. All MSW interns undertake independent study projects related to some aspect of violence in intimate relationships.
There are exciting opportunities for PhD students to become involved in the clinic for professional training as well as research undertakings. Additionally, the Clinic is a training center for established clinicians and supervisors interested in meeting the requirements for membership in the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.
The McGill Domestic Violence Clinic continues to lead the way in providing graduate students with the most up to date instruction, training and information on intimate partner violence, psychotherapy, intake and screenings. There are boundless opportunities for professional growth at the Clinic!
Since 1995 it has been my honor to research intervention with Latino partner abusive men and to create solutions to this widespread problem, together with many of my colleagues here in the US and in Mexico, Guatemala and Peru. Sin Golpes is the Spanish-language treatment program for Latino men that resulted from a four-year pilot study based on my doctoral dissertation in 1999. My esteemed colleague David Wexler, Ph.D., allowed me to use his STOP Domestic Violence program as the foundation of the new program, and cultural adaptations were added based on my qualitative research. Latino men both in the US and Latin America generally respond very well to the model, which emphasizes a cognitive-behavioral skills-based approach, along with the respect of the therapist and group that springs from self-psychology, and a focus on human rights. In November of 2014, the first group of trainers was certified in Durango, Mexico, to teach the use of the Sin Golpes model to therapists and other professionals in Mexico and wherever they are invited. All of the five certified trainers have at least 4 years’ experience working with Mexican men or women offenders in the states of Durango, San Luis Potosí, and Jalisco. This year we hope to be able to complete the first phase of a longitudinal treatment outcome study, with participants from offenders’ groups in various parts of Mexico. I am very grateful for my colleagues in various parts of Latin America who have responded to the great need for treatment for those who are violent to their partners and who are passionate about expanding this work as much as possible.