Following the Justice
Department’s letter of January 2004 stating that domestic
violence was now a priority for programme development, Scottish
practitioners considered that a joint bid was the best way of
ensuring the distillation of good practice from 15 years’
experience in Scotland coupled with knowledge from developing
research about ‘what works’ in this field.
The Caledonian
intervention system developed by key practitioners from CHANGE,
DVPP and SACRO has the backing of a number of local authorities,
viz; the City of
Edinburgh and
the Lothian and Scottish Borders consortium; Dumfries and
Galloway; the Forth Valley partnership; Glasgow City and South
Lanarkshire.
The key practitioners involved are founder members of
Respect, the National Association for Domestic Violence
Perpetrator Programmes and Associated Services. This development
will be in line with Respect’s Statement of Principles and
Minimum Standards of Practice (SoP), (2000 & 2004) as
endorsed by the Scottish Executive’s National Strategy to
Address Domestic Abuse (2000).
The original CHANGE and DVPP programmes were both based on
knowledge gained from North American projects including the
Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project. They were based on
what the research at that time deemed to be effective practice,
while acknowledging that such research was sparse and not
conclusive. Since then much more has been learned about the
ramifications of domestic abuse as well as what appears to make
for effective intervention practice. CHANGE, DVPP and Sacro have
recognised these developments and have attempted to update their
practice accordingly. However, this can be problematic given the
day-to-day demands of each agency’s commitments. We therefore
embraced the opportunity afforded by the accreditation process
to start again from scratch and design a model intervention
system based on current theory, experience and best practice:
the Caledonian.
While the
evidence for ‘what works’ with men who abuse is not conclusive,
it is compelling. There is a strong international consensus that
perpetrator programmes should be accompanied by adequate
provision for the safety and security of women and children,
including services such as advocacy, safety planning, support,
education groups and safe housing (Barnish, 2004). As well as
giving priority to the safety and autonomy of abused women,
these services can play a key role in ensuring the
accountability of programmes and the monitoring of abusers’
behaviour (Mullender & Burton, 2001, Respect, 2004). Emphasis on
perpetrator programmes as public safety programmes rather than
as treatment may ensure the focus is kept on victim safety,
particularly as victims are more likely to stay with
perpetrators if they are enrolled onto programmes (Gondolf,
1988b). This is in
line with the Executive’s three-fold intended outcomes for
community-based interventions: public protection, reduction of
custody and social inclusion of rehabilitated offenders (McNeill
et al, 2005). We also suggest that the
development of Multi-Agency
Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) on the lines of those in
England and Wales and the use of Multi-Agency Risk Assessment
Conferences (MARAC) will lead to better inter-agency links and
keep agencies focussed on women’s and children’s safety (Hester,
et al, 2006; Robinson, 2004).
The Caledonian system of intervention is informed by
a growing body of research about the nature of domestic abuse,
the experiences of practitioners, the needs of women and
children who have been subject to men’s abuse, the
characteristics of men who abuse, and an understanding of ‘what
works’ to keep women and children safe and to assist men who
abuse to change.
The historical context is of particular importance in
understanding violence against women in general and domestic
abuse in particular, as throughout history such behaviour has
been accepted and even encouraged (Dobash & Dobash, 1979). The
current social context is influenced by history and enables us
to understand the ambivalence in social attitudes to domestic
abuse which has seen institutions and social attitudes reluctant
to accept both the prevalence of and responsibility for the
phenomenon. This is notable in the responses to campaigns by
women’s advocates over the last thirty years for recognition of
the problem and provision of services to women and children
which have been dogged by denial that domestic abuse is
widespread and a reluctance to devote sufficient funding to the
issue. While much has now been achieved in changing, for
examples, police and criminal justice responses, there still
remains much to be done to educate and change institutional
responses and social attitudes to domestic abuse.
The most complete theoretical explanations of domestic abuse
take an ecological approach which considers the interactions
among historical context, broad social context, interpersonal
context and the individual’s intra-psychic features (Dutton,
1995; Edelson & Tolman, 1992). This multi layered approach to
understanding domestic abuse places it in an historical and
social context, then examines the individual’s developmental
experiences within this context, and then looks at those
individual factors which relate directly to his use of abuse to
his partner. These last include such matters as his
developmental history, his possible experience of abuse and
neglect as a child, his exposure to violent models, his degree
of empathy, his ability to manage his emotions, his response to
handling conflict and the level of anxiety over relationship
changes. The individual response is influenced by his exposure
to elements in the previous levels.
From each of these theories we can identify appropriate
targets to address in domestic violence intervention. Given the
complexity of the factors contributing to domestic abuse, the
Caledonian uses a multi-method approach and seeks to effect
change among the dynamic elements of the ecological system well
as encourage change by individual men.
The Caledonian therefore takes the form of an intervention
system comprising:
1.
The development of interagency protocols coupled with training,
designed to maximise women’s and children’s safety and thus
reduce likelihood of men’s re-offending.
2.
A two year programme of intervention work with men comprising
preparation and motivation sessions; a groupwork element of a
minimum of six months duration, individual programmed work for
men deemed unsuitable for group work and post group relapse
prevention work.
3.
A service to women partners, ex-partners and children including
personal contact from a women’s services worker.
CHANGE continues to work with
Edinburgh’s DVPP, the SACRO Forth Valley Partnership and a
number of interested local authorities to develop the Caledonian
System. Drafts of the theory, and men’s programme manuals were
submitted, and a presentation made to the Panel in October 2005.
The feedback from the panel was constructive and encouraging and
further funding was granted by the Justice Department to allow
the work to continue through 2006-7 with the goal of completion
by March 2007. An interim submission was made to the Panel in
October 2006 for guidance.
