CHANGE 1992-1993 Annual Report
Foreword by
Central Regional Council Social Work Department
The CHANGE Project is now
firmly established as a service provider to the Courts. Their
men’s programme is increasingly viewed by Sentencers as a
credible disposal when dealing with the perpetrators of domestic
violence. As well as providing a specific programme Project
staff have also worked to encourage an inter-agency approach
within the Region through direct liaison with other agencies,
their Advisory Group meetings and their training and consultancy
work.
Men who participate in the
CHANGE men’s programme do so as a condition of a Probation Order
and it is especially important that liaison between CHANGE staff
and the CRC Social Work Department Offenders Teams is frequent
and open. It is therefore pleasing to note that these
relationships continue to develop - for example in early 1993
the staff from three Regional Offenders Teams met together for a
day with CHANGE staff to exchange ideas, knowledge and skills.
At this time agreements were also reached on certain working
practices with the aim of improving the sharing of information,
and thus the service provided to the man, his partner and the
Courts.
Much has been done by the
Project to raise public awareness of the issues involved in
domestic violence and the project continues to work towards
providing effective and lasting solutions to this problem.
Jim Crawford
Acting Director of Social Work
FACING UP TO THE
CHALLENGE
While there can be no doubt
that the use of violence within any relationship is unacceptable
and by definition criminal in its nature, the use of the
Criminal Justice System as the sole solution to such a complex
issue very rarely provides the desired result for the victim.
The development of a positive response by agencies such as the
Police Service demands considerable understanding of the issues,
complemented by a willingness to share, listen and learn from
those who, through experience, can contribute to that greater
understanding.
One of the aims of Central
Scotland Police is, through Partnership Working, to
develop the best quality support and service to those who become
victims of crime. An objective of all my officers is: "To
endeavour to protect people and property from consequences of
crime by effective investigation and detection. Informing them
of the progress of enquiries, paying particular regard to the
vulnerable, who will be supported and encouraged to make use of
the assistance of other caring organisations."
Action is often greater than
words and I am pleased to say that our relationship with the
three Women’s Aid Groups in the Region has been strengthened
considerably during the past year. Their involvement in a number
of areas, from the training of police officers, to assisting in
the preparation of new publicity material at both local and
national levels, is most welcome. The appointment of a nominated
Women’s Aid Liaison Officer within my Force contributes to the
speedy resolve of problems relating to policy and practice as
soon as they arise.
In the course of the year new
monitoring procedures have been put into effect which, for the
first time, provide a much clearer picture of the nature and
extent of police intervention in domestic violence incidents
across the Region. The aim of this new initiative is to attempt
to identify vulnerable women throughout the Region who are the
subject of domestic violence and to implement a package of
procedures to support and assist the victims and their families.
I am hopeful that through these measures the quality of service
provided to this particular group of people will be greatly
enhanced.
The CHANGE Project continues
to serve the Courts in Central Region and play its part in the
joint approach to the issue of domestic violence. They have
welcomed the new initiative and view it as a valuable,
additional source of statistical data. No single agency holds
the key to the development of a solution to the problem of
domestic violence. However, through dialogue, shared experiences
and close working relationships we can strive to work towards
that goal.
W Wilson
Chief Constable
CONVENOR’S REPORT
On behalf of the Management
Committee I welcome this opportunity to introduce the CHANGE
Project’s Third Annual Report.
The Project is now well into
its fourth year and nearing the end of its initial funding
period under the Urban Programme. During the last year the
Management Committee and the Project staff have undertaken
several important tasks - our application for further Urban Aid
funding and accommodation, a general assessment of the Project
and an evaluation of areas of work which CHANGE should pursue
and develop in the future.
On the basis of their three
years’ experience of running the men’s programme the
co-ordinators are presently compiling a manual relating to their
work. Liaison with statutory and voluntary agencies continues to
play an important role with CHANGE and a good relationship
continues with Central Regional Council Social Work Department
Offenders Teams, involving regular meetings throughout the
course of the programme.
Issues which have been
identified as important for the future development of the
Project and which will be expanded upon later in this report
include the setting up of a prison-based programme, continuing
training and consultancy work, and contact with other men’s
programmes. A critical issue, that of women’s safety and support
while their partners are on the programme, is presently being
re-examined by a working group involving CHANGE, Women's Aid and
Social Work.
The Management Committee
should like to thank members of the Advisory Group for their
continuing support and informative contributions. We should also
like to thank Alice Ann Jackson and Ann Dixon for their
stimulating talk on the Matrimonial Homes Act, and Ruth Lewis
and Kate Cavanagh who gave an interesting report of the progress
of their evaluative research on men’s programmes.
The Management Committee note
the recent departure of Ian Ross as Director of Social Work. We
should like to express our appreciation of his assistance and
consistent support of the Project since its inception.
Finally, we should like to
thank the staff, Dorothy Anderson (Administrator), Monica Wilson
and David Morran (joint Co-ordinators) for all their hard work
and success in establishing CHANGE as a professional, well
respected Project.
Sue McLaughlin
Convenor
CONSOLIDATING THE
WORK OF THE CHANGE PROJECT 1992-1993
The men’s programme
Last year the Annual Report
indicated that referrals to the programme were consistently
being made by local courts, and that a total of seventy men had
been referred for assessment. Our current referral figure stands
at ninety-six. As before there is a discrepancy between the rate
of referrals and whether or not the programme agrees to work
with these men. The main reasons for non-acceptance by the
programme continue to be the men's denial of responsibility for
their use of violence and an unwillingness to address this as an
issue in their lives.
So far the programme has
worked with approximately forty men, or just under half the
total referred. As in the past we have tried to give very clear
messages to sentencers and social workers about the
circumstances and particulars of men with whom we can or cannot
work. However over this past year there has been even closer
consultation between CHANGE and the Offender Services section of
the Social Work Department and CHANGE has been regularly present
at Probation reviews. CHANGE has also selected and adapted
particular themes or issues which social workers can address
with men who are otherwise unsuitable or unable to participate
regularly in the group setting thus making the programme a more
flexible resource than before.
CHANGE has been working with
groups of men now for almost three years. During this process
the various methods and exercises used in group sessions have
been refined and adapted to the extent that each weekly session
can rely on optional themes being addressed according to the
nature of the group and the individuals involved. The
co-ordinators have also been busy (and well aware of the
widespread interest in obtaining more details about the
practicalities of undertaking work with men in groups) setting
down how these themes and exercises have been established and
refined, and are currently working on developing a fuller
account of their practice and experiences within the programme
itself. We hope to produce this manual on accountable practice
later this year.
Support work for women
partners
One of this year's main
developments has been in response to the recognition that the
needs of the women partners of men on the programme were not
being sufficiently met. Our practice has been that CHANGE makes
contact with individual women where possible, by phone or by
letter. All women for whom we have a postal address receive an
information leaflet which describes what the programme broadly
consists of and what it aims to achieve. Emphasis is placed,
both in a covering letter and in the leaflet itself, on the fact
that CHANGE offers no guarantees that men will change and that
women should consider their own safety first. The phone numbers
of local Women's Aid groups are prominently displayed and women
are advised to contact them.
Those women who agree to a
meeting with CHANGE are told about the programme in greater
depth and their questions can be more easily answered. In such
cases we have found that women are likely to want further
contact with CHANGE and some will make use of the support
services of their local Women's Aid group. However, the numbers
involved have been small and in most cases our contact with
partners has been minimal until this year.
CHANGE made a deliberate
effort to establish and maintain contact with women partners
during this last year and we currently have regular contact with
all the partners of the men we are working with. Our closer
working relationship with Social Work Offender Teams has
facilitated this. Social workers supervising probation orders
which require men to attend the CHANGE programme have agreed to
keep in close contact with women partners and to invite their
attendance at certain meetings and reviews. Thus the woman's
right to information and contact with agencies is established
from the outset and in this way we have hoped to encourage
contact from women who may formerly have feared reprisals if
they were seen to take up our invitation to make contact with
us.
However, contact with CHANGE
and involvement with probation work generally are unlikely by
themselves to meet women's own support needs. The original plan
had been that women would be referred to local women's aid
groups for this. Experience has shown that for a variety of
reasons few women take up this option. Therefore in order to
increase the range and quality of support available for women
partners CHANGE, Women's Aid and representatives of Social Work
Offender Services are now meeting regularly to take this issue
forward. Currently a joint leaflet is under preparation and an
information pack about the programme is planned.
Prison - based work
We recommend the
establishment, and wide dissemination, of programmes in prison
which first encourage men to recognise their violent behaviour
towards women and then to change it (para 74) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
VOL. 1 : Third Report, Home Affairs Committee, February 1993.
From the early days of CHANGE,
staff have been aware of the widespread interest among
prison-based professionals in developing or adapting aspects of
a programme for male domestic violence offenders to a prison
setting. Numerous informal discussions with governors,
prison-based social workers and teachers, and occasionally with
serving offenders themselves have considered some of the
possibilities and problems in undertaking this kind of activity.
Following a recent series of more formal and detailed
discussions, it now seems possible that CHANGE will work closely
with one adult institution over the next year in developing a
suitable prison-based programme for men.
Many men in prison express and
display a confusing double standard towards the issue of
violence against women. On the one hand men who are known to
have been sentenced for acts of violence against women are often
ostracised and under pressure to conceal this as it is
considered 'unmanly' behaviour. On the other hand most prisoners
are daily influenced by and conform to a set of beliefs in which
it is held to be right and proper to keep women in line by a
variety of coercive and abusive techniques and behaviour.
Letters from wives or girlfriends are scrutinised obsessively
for any signs of perceived 'lack of loyalty'. Frequently there
are friends of the man on the outside who will report back on
what the woman is 'up to'. Women are also placed under
considerable overt and covert pressure by men not to raise or
discuss problems that they and their families are experiencing
as the man 'cannot handle that' while he is inside. Women's
anger at men is rarely heard as men will be released one day and
likely to call this anger to account.
The establishment of any
programme 'which encourages men to recognise their violent
behaviour towards women and then to change it' calls for caution
and an awareness of the prison environment. Care needs to be
taken as to whether this work is aimed at a particular group of
offenders or, given the level of misogyny apparent among the
male prison environment generally, whether it is more
appropriate to adapt programmes for a wider range of men in
prison addressing issues such as intimidation and coercion of
partners and women in general. Work with prisoners must
acknowledge the limits the environment imposes and the fact that
what men say while they are inside, while often honestly
expressed, is not what they might actually do upon release.
Staff and prisoner alike therefore need to be fully aware that
participation in such programmes is part of a process and not a
'cure'. Partners must not be encouraged to think otherwise.
The opportunity to become
involved in working with men in prison in examining their
behaviour, attitudes toward and abuse of women is clearly work
which requires to be undertaken carefully and systematically. It
is work however which the Home Affairs Committee has recently
recommended needs to be carried out within prisons in England
and Wales. CHANGE has been recognised locally as being able to
play a valuable practical and consultative role in developing
this work, and staff hope in the course of the following year to
be able to document and report more fully on our experiences in
this area.
Liaison with other agencies
During the last year we have
continued to liaise locally with other statutory and voluntary
agencies in line with our policy of encouraging a co-ordinated
response to domestic violence.
Our contact with Central
Scotland Police has expanded so that, along with
Social Work, we now have a closer working relationship with the
Child Protection Unit who hold the responsibility for collating
information on and monitoring the police response to domestic
incidents. We have continued our input into police in-service
courses at Randolphfield.
Our contact with team staff of
the Offender Services Section of the Social Work Department has
also increased over this year and we have worked to consolidate
agreed practice. We found the in-service day we were asked to
undertake in January very constructive.
We are pleased that we are one
of the bodies being consulted over the development of material
on women and violence to be used in secondary schools in Central
Region. This is an area CHANGE believes to be of particular
importance and we look forward to seeing the outcome of
developments.
CHANGE continues to contribute
to the direct work with offenders undertaken by SACRO Intensive
Probation Project in Central Region, presenting a workshop on
the theme of 'men and violence to women’ to groups of young
offenders.
Networking
Following the third CHANGE
conference which was reported in last year's annual report, this
year has seen the formation of a practitioners' network for
those of us working with men on domestic violence programmes in
the UK. Two practioners' forums have been held to date: one in
Keighley in May 1992 and a second in Wolverhampton in November.
A third meeting takes place in London in May this year. For this
meeting CHANGE has circulated members with a short questionnaire
about the work they do and what they offer, and this information
will form the basis of a directory of men's programmes. An
extended version of the questionnaire is being trawled more
widely to locate others who may be undertaking this or similar
work the results of which will be published as a reference work
which can then be updated on a regular basis.
Training for outside agencies
In response to the continued
high rate of requests for information about our work from
Probation Departments outside Scotland CHANGE held an
Information Day at the University in December last year. The day
was designed to give Probation Departments an idea of the work
we do and what sorts of training and consultancy work we might
be able to offer. This has led so far to our undertaking a
training course for the Inner London Probation Service for which
we developed a four day training package which we can now offer
elsewhere.
In addition, we also undertook
another two day in-service course for social workers in Fife
Region in December and discussions are now in hand for further
input later this year.
Jordanhill College/Glasgow
University
In March 1993 CHANGE was
invited to undertake a half day seminar for a joint group of
final year students from the West of Scotland consortium Diploma
in Social Work course, comprising Glasgow University, Caledonian
University and Jordanhill College. This seminar on an 'area of
particular practice' focused on issues and implications of
working with perpetrators of male violence in the home. It was
well received and CHANGE anticipates undertaking similar
seminars in the future.
Student placements
CHANGE is consistently
receiving enquiries from social workers in training, requesting
information for their research or practice. CHANGE has also been
approached by the Universities of Dundee and Stirling requesting
that we provide practice placements for student social workers.
While we are enthusiastic about doing so and feel that CHANGE
could offer an innovative and exciting placement, difficulties
of time, resources and the type of placements sought (i.e.
prolonged block placements) have so far resulted in us having to
turn down these requests. The Management Committee and staff,
however, are currently looking at ways in which CHANGE could
offer placement opportunities to students in the future.
Conferences
As part of the Project's remit
to raise general awareness of issues of domestic violence,
CHANGE continues to be active in accepting invitations to
contribute presentations and workshops to a wide range of
professional conferences and meetings. Such invitations reflect
the growing awareness and recognition among other professional
bodies of the work being piloted by the Project. This year
contributions have been made to the following events:
In June CHANGE was
invited to give a keynote speech and workshop at the Annual
Conference of the Confederation of Scottish Counselling Agencies
(COSCA) held in Stirling. Monica undertook this and felt the
contribution was well received. Following this event CHANGE took
up membership of COSCA.
David and Monica jointly
presented a paper at a Fulbright Colloquium on Penal Theory and
Penal Practice; a forum attracting international participation,
held at the University of Stirling in September. The
collected papers are shortly to be published as a book.
Also in September we
contributed two workshop sessions to the "What Works?"
conference of probation officers, social work professionals,
researchers and academics held at Salford University. The
workshops were well attended, reflecting the increasing interest
of the Probation Service in developing this kind of
intervention.
In November David
presented a paper on ‘Developing an Integrated Criminal Justice
Response to Domestic Violence in Scotland’ at the Annual
Conference of the American Society of Criminology, New Orleans.
Comments from men
During this year we took the
opportunity to ask some of the men we have worked with what it
was like to be a man on the CHANGE Men's Programme. Here are
some of their answers.
What is it like at being on
the CHANGE Men's programme?
"A bit daunting at first, you
didn't know each other or what you're going to face. I felt a
bit stupid, a bit embarrassed at first."
"Initially you're wondering
what you're going to face."
"I didn't expect it to be like
this: I thought we'd be hammered, I thought you would treat us
hard, like criminals, and tell us what to do all the time"
"It's stressful, especially at
first"
What is it like working in a
group?
"I wasn't keen on being in a
group at first, but now I see it differently. I think working in
a one-to-one situation would be more intimidating: you'd feel
more 'got at'."
"I think we started to work as
a group after about two or three weeks, but it's not a case of
'us' men against 'them', the group leaders."
"You open up more in a group
situation than if you were just yourself; then you'd keep things
back more. When someone opens up about something it encourages
you to do the same. You can relate to what other men are saying,
see yourself in it."
"We've got to know a lot about
each other, we've all got the same problems, more or less.
Having the coffee break helps to get to know each other better:
we talk about each others' problems."
How would you describe the
sorts of things do you do on the programme ?
"You learn a lot about
yourself, try to make sense of past situations."
"We have discussions, talk our
problems over, learn our warning signals. It helps you to take
responsibility for your actions and to reason things out more,
to think and have empathy with other people."
"The work is hard, for
example, take that homework you gave us about what it's like
being a man. I'd never thought about that at all. At first I
tried to think what were the answers you wanted to hear."
"The work is hard; it's not as
easy as I thought it would be. You really have to think about
things you've never thought about before. You look at past
situations so as to help you work to be different in the
future."
What do you think you're
getting out of it ?
"Learning how to behave
differently. Learning from past actions, the pros and cons,
gains and losses."
"I think I look at my partner
a bit better, I can understand her more."
"I've learned I was violent to
get my own way in things, but it cost me my self respect and my
partner's trust."
"My attitude is different now,
and I can control my temper better."
What do you think your partner
thinks about it ?
"I think she's seen a change
in me. I am more understanding, we sit and discuss things more."
"We do a lot more as a
couple."
"She's prepared to help me
too. She helps with my homework."
"She's seen a change in my
reactions. When a potentially dangerous situation comes up I'll
try to work it out. Maybe walk away from it till the time's
right to talk it over. Normally I'd have faced it out, carried
right on without even thinking."
What advice would you give to
a man who was about to start on the programme ?
"To be open, to tell the
truth."
"It is quite difficult, but
not as bad as you think it's going to be: relax."
"Express your own point of
view, don't try to guess the 'right' answers. Take the questions
as they come."
"It is difficult at first, but
you do learn a lot about yourself."
WOMEN’S AID IN
CENTRAL REGION
Women’s Aid in Central Region
has had a long relationship with the CHANGE Project which dates
back to the early days of the Steering Group.
Currently there are two
Women’s Aid workers on the CHANGE Management Committee, one
representing Scottish Women’s Aid and one representing the three
Women’s Aid groups in Central.
Women’s Aid in Central Region
consists of three local groups working within Central Region.
These are Clackmannan Women’s Aid, Falkirk & Grangemouth Women’s
Aid and Stirling Women’s Aid.
This representation is
primarily to ensure that the needs of those women are generally
addressed and safeguarded. Through the Management Committee
CHANGE and Women’s Aid have drawn up a policy statement,
included in this is CHANGE’S commitment to abused Women.
Over the past year the three
local groups have shown their commitment to CHANGE via the
following input:
Representation on the
Management Committee
Input to a seminar for
probation officers
Introduction of a new leaflet
specifically for women whose partners are on the CHANGE
programme detailing the services Women’s Aid provides.
Monthly meetings with CHANGE
and Social Work to endeavour to provide the best possible
options and services available to abused women.
We have, however, been
disappointed in the referrals from the CHANGE programme; this
year Women’s Aid in Central Region has only had one referral.
We look forward to the next
year, when due to increased co-operation between all the
involved agencies abused women in Central Region should have
more, better and safer options.
Central Region Women’s Aid
CHANGE Management Committee
Sally Brown
Shona Campbell (Secretary)
Lesley Irving (from 28.07.92)
Elizabeth Kennedy
Doris Littlejohn (Treasurer)
James McCormick
Sue McLaughlin (Convenor)
Graeme McRoberts
Vicki Roth (to 1.11.92)
Joan Russell (from 1.11.92)
Margaret Taylor (to 28.07.92)
Helen Whincup (to 1.11.92)
Advisory Group
Mr Peter Crow, Sheriff Clerk
Cllr Moira Fitzpatrick,
Central Regional Council
Ms Felicity McClelland,
Women’s Officer
Mr Anthony McNulty, Manager
Offender Services
Ms Anne Morrison, Scottish
Women’s Aid
Chief Inspector Sam Muir,
Central Scotland Police
Sheriff A J Murphy
Sheriff A V Sheehan
Ms Sharon Stirrat, Victim
Support Scheme
Ms Senga Turner, Education
Department
Mr Keith Valentine, Procurator
Fiscal
Cllr Anne Wallace, Central
Regional Council
Mrs Muriel Young, Forth Valley
Health Board
Sheriff R E G Younger
