CHANGE 1998-1999 Annual Report
Convenor’s Report
On behalf of the Management Committee I welcome the opportunity
to introduce CHANGE’S ninth Annual Report.
Last year the decision was made to register CHANGE as a company
limited by guarantee. This took effect from March 1998. The
company is registered as "CHANGE (Men Learning to end their
Violence to Women) Limited".
I am pleased to report that in December 1998 CHANGE obtained
Scottish Office funding for the development of a National
Training Initiative targeted at Criminal Justice Service
personnel in Scotland. In March this year, we received the good
news that three years’ funding had been granted to implement the
Initiative.
Since the end of Urban Programme funding in September 1996 the
Management Committee has recognised that the future of CHANGE
lies primarily in the areas of consultancy and training. Despite
a lack of resources and on a part-time basis, Monica Wilson
continues to promote the work of CHANGE in her involvement in
conferences, seminars and also with the Practitioners Network, a
national forum for agencies and individuals working with violent
men.
CHANGE’S Scottish Office funding will continue until March 2002,
and while financial limitations will require Monica to remain
part-time, we are fortunate to have been joined in January by
our new part-time administrator, Susan Peebles.
The Management Committee would like to extend our sincere thanks
to Monica and Susan for their commitment and hard work,
particularly during the last few months.
Muriel Young
Background
Introduction
CHANGE began as a pilot project in September 1989 with the
central aim of providing a criminal justice based re-education
programme for men convicted of offences involving violence
towards their wives or female partners. The programme aimed to
complement the work of Women’s Aid and others with the survivors
of domestic violence by challenging men to take responsibility
for their violence and offering them an opportunity to change
their violent and abusive ways.
The perspective adopted in developing the programme was that
male violence is intentional, albeit not always conscious,
behaviour that men use to maintain power over and to control
women in intimate relationships. It stems from the historic and
cultural legacy of patriarchy whereby men are socialised into
believing they are superior to and have rights over women. The
project aimed therefore to impact on institutional responses and
the wider community as well as on individual men. By offering a
programme that focused on offending behaviour, sentencers had an
option that addressed men’s violent behaviour. By working
closely with social workers and placing the programme in the
context of a probation order this would both signal the
seriousness with which such offending was regarded and offer an
opportunity to monitor the offender’s behaviour while on
probation. Emphasising the criminal nature of domestic violence
and placing the responsibility on the man to change that
behaviour would also help to demonstrate to the community in
general that this behaviour is criminal and unacceptable.
Assessing Men for the Programme
Staff assessed a man's suitability for the programme at the
request of the Sheriff Court. An assessment report was compiled
in consultation with social workers. Those assessed as suitable
then attended the programme as a condition of a probation
order.
An important element at the assessment stage involved addressing
the safety of women partners. Women were advised that the
programme could not guarantee protection and were given
information about the organisations and services which exist to
support women. Where men were accepted onto the programme
partners were kept informed of their progress and advised if men
were suspended from it for any reason.
The Work of the Men's Programme
The focus of the CHANGE programme is men taking responsibility
for ending their violence. The programme stresses that violence
is a criminal offence, that it is not acceptable to women or to
the community
Participants working in small groups are required to complete a
minimum of twenty seven modules over six months in sessions each
of two hours duration. Each module relates to a specific theme
concerning violence, its causes, consequences and how to stop.
The requirements of attendance and participation are demanding
and rigorously enforced. The work is not complicated and is
directed at men from all educational backgrounds.
Liaison with Probation Staff
Programme staff were in regular contact with those holding
probation orders and submitted written reports to and attended
probation review meetings with them throughout the man's
attendance at the programme.
Evaluation
As the CHANGE men’s programme was designed to operate as a
pilot, it was subject to a formal research study together with a
similar scheme, the Domestic Violence Probation Programme in
Lothian Region. The impact of men’s programmes was compared with
other criminal justice sanctions such as fines, probation and
prison. The findings of the three year Scottish Office and Home
Office sponsored study were published in 1996. An important
finding was that:
‘a significant proportion of the offenders who participated in
the men’s programmes reduced their violence and associated
controlling behaviour and their women partners reported
significant improvements in the quality of their lives and their
relationships with these men.’
In its final year of Urban Programme funding, an evaluation
report was compiled by the sponsoring agency. That report
concluded that CHANGE: 'appears to have made a significant
contribution to raising professional awareness and developing
professional practice in an area of work which had not been
previously tackled'
While the men’s programme was central to the project, CHANGE was
also charged to develop training and educational materials for
use by social, legal, voluntary and community agencies; and to
raise general public awareness about the nature of men’s
violence to women. Before Urban funding ceased therefore, six
months were devoted to the production of a Training Manual which
would document the skills and knowledge gained over the
project’s lifetime so that they might be preserved, developed
and disseminated among other professionals.
Current circumstances
When Urban funding ceased in August 1996 CHANGE moved to
premises in Grangemouth and continued operation in a part-time
manner generating income through training while seeking longer
term funding. Last year the decision was made to register as a
company limited by guarantee. This took effect from March 1998.
The company is registered as "CHANGE (Men Learning to end their
Violence to Women) Limited". Staff currently comprise a
part-time Director and a part time Administrator.
In November 1997 Russell House Publishing in Dorset released the
published version of the CHANGE manual; Men Who Are Violent
To Women by David Morran and Monica Wilson. This publication
has been central to CHANGE’s development.
Activities 1998 – 1999
Income and Funding
This year has proved a positive one for CHANGE. At the start of
it, we had no guaranteed income and were unsure whether funding
would be secured to allow the organisation to develop and
progress. Then the business plan which we submitted to the
Social Work Services Inspectorate (SWSI) of the Scottish Office
in May 1998 was acknowledged to the effect that funding options
were being explored in reference to Section 9 Funding
(training).
In September we were informed that a small sum of Section 9
funding would be granted for the remainder of the current
financial year, for the development of a National Training
Initiative targeted at Criminal Justice Service personnel in
Scotland. The grant also enabled us to upgrade our office and
appoint a new administrator, Susan Peebles. In the interim
CHANGE submitted a funding bid for a three year rolling
programme of training to implement the Initiative. The plan was
that by April 1999, CHANGE would be ready to begin delivering a
three year national training programme for which funding was
sought under Section 9.
In March 1999 we heard that this application had been
successful, although the money agreed was not the full amount
bid for. Nonetheless an examination of the budget indicates that
it is viable, providing staff costs do not increase (i.e., both
staff remain part-time), and we are able to earn money from
training contracts outside Scotland.
Section 9 Funded National Training Initiative
The National Training Initiative, which CHANGE is now funded to
deliver, aims to promote effective practice in working with men
convicted of violence towards their wives or female partners.
Initially CHANGE was in discussion with SWSI and the Association
of Directors of Social Work (ADSW) Criminal Justice Standing
Committee who have nominated a small working party which now
liaises with CHANGE. The work of the Scottish Partnership on
Domestic Violence will also influence this development.
To fulfil the aim of promoting effective practice CHANGE is
offering consultancy to authorities embarking on the planning
and development of criminal justice based work with violent men,
promoting a multi-agency approach. Subsequently we will offer
general awareness-raising courses concerning perpetrator work
targeted at workers in all agencies of the justice system. The
next stage will involve training courses in the delivery of the
specialist service of a men’s programme, which will also be
relevant in one-to-one work. Liaison will be undertaken with
local Women’s Aid groups where possible, to offer complementary
training in awareness-raising training around the experiences of
women, and partner contact/support.
Part of the task is making plans to ensure maximum uptake and
use of resources and developing monitoring and evaluation
methods and tools. Proposed monitoring methods will include the
setting of annual training targets in agreement with SWSI and
local authority social work departments. All activities relating
directly to training will be monitored in relation to their
implementation into practice. In the longer term, external
evaluation of the impact of subsequent changes in local practice
in terms of effectiveness would be desirable if resources
permit.
As South Lanarkshire Criminal Justice Services had already been
in discussion with CHANGE before funding for the Initiative was
made available, it was agreed that they would be used to pilot
the scheme. Several planning meetings were held in early 1999,
which included the involvement of local Women’s Aid groups. So
far Women’s Aid has undertaken two days’ awareness training for
criminal justice staff, and so has CHANGE.
By the end of the period covered in this Annual Report, CHANGE
will be starting to implement the three-year rolling programme
of training across Scotland.
Conferences and training
On 15 May 1998 CHANGE was invited to contribute to a conference
with the theme ‘Preventing Domestic Violence: working with male
perpetrators’ held at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. The
contribution consisted of a one-hour presentation and
facilitating two workshops. Among the other speakers was Nicola
Harwin from WAFE who gave cautious support for programmes like
CHANGE.
The fourteenth meeting of the Practitioners’ Network was held in
Plymouth on 21 & 22 May 1998 hosted by Plymouth Everyman Centre.
A major issue currently for the Network is whether we should
formally constitute, enabling practitioners to have a ‘voice’ on
issues about working with violent men. A small working party has
been formed to take the matter forward including representation
from CHANGE.
On 5 November 1998 CHANGE undertook an afternoon seminar at a
conference which was held to celebrate twenty years of the
Women's Shelter Movement in Austria. Held at the Rathaus in
Vienna, the event focused on the issue of women and ambivalence
and featured speakers from around Europe. Subsequently the
Austrian Family Ministry formalised an agreement to translate
the CHANGE Manual into German for internal use. Once completed
this will be followed in summer 1999 by CHANGE undertaking
training in Salzburg for potential programme facilitators.
On 5 February 1999, CHANGE once again undertook a half-day
seminar for final year social work students at Glasgow
University.
Future Plans
For the next three years, CHANGE will continue the work already
begun on the National Initiative and will seek to build on the
interest from outside Scotland in developing and expanding its
remit.
