CHANGE Conference

September 1990

University of Stirling

 

 The Men’s Programme

Men come onto the CHANGE Programme as a condition of a probation order via the three local Sheriff Courts. What I want to do in this part of our presentation is look at how that works in practice and then look briefly at the content of the programme.

 1. Taking referrals

 The system which we have set up in consultation with Social Work, Procurators Fiscal, Sheriffs and Sheriff Clerks means that potential clients can be identified at a number of stages: 

  • the Fiscal marking a case for the Sheriff Court can draw the Sheriff's attention to the possibility
     

  • the Sheriff can call for a CHANGE assessment to be carried out at the same time as a Social Enquiry Report
     

  • a social worker undertaking an SER can suggest a CHANGE assessment in his or her report
     

In practice what happens is that we receive a request from the Sheriff Clerk's office on a pro-forma which we devised. One of us then contacts the local Social work office to find out who is compiling the SER  to liaise with them. The man is then contacted and an appointment made to interview him, either at his residence or in the Social Work office, depending on what is convenient.  

The purpose of the interview is to assess three main things:

 1. The history, frequency and severity of his violence to his partner.

 Our prime concern at this stage is his partner's safety. Being put on probation and attending the CHANGE Programme means that offenders remain in the community and we need to ensure that by recommending him for a place we are not placing his partner in danger.

2. Whether he takes responsibility for his violence and motivation to stop it.

Men very often minimise, deny or blame their violence on someone or something else. In order to work with a man we need to have him accept that he was the one who used violence and must take responsibility for it. At this stage all we ask is that men admit that they used violence and we ask them their understanding of what happened. Very often they express their inability to explain their violence, putting it down to a 'blind rage' or 'seeing red' or 'losing the place'. As for motivation to stop, at this stage we ask only a willingness to stop. Our experience so far has been that men are often frightened by this aspect of their behaviour and want to understand it. However, we recognise that at the time we are interviewing a man he will have his own agenda for saying he wants to stop. He will by now be in the 'hearts and flowers' stage of the cycle of violence, remorseful and anxious perhaps to stay out of prison or to get his partner back.  As to the last, he is told that acceptance onto the programme offers no such guarantee and that his partner will be contacted to be given details of the programme.  She will be told that she must put her own safety and wishes first and is under no obligation to do anything while he is on it.

3. His cognitive ability to benefit from the programme

Some of the material that men have to tackle on the programme will require an ability to learn from and to analyse past behaviour so we need to assess a man's ability to handle such material. Some men have reading difficulties which we can assess at this stage by asking him to read out loud the Agreement to Participate (which I shall come to soon). We don't feel that literacy problems alone should prevent us accepting a man, we can adapt to them, but we do require a willingness and ability to learn.

Having assessed these points the man is then asked to read out a copy of the Agreement to Participate and a copy of the group rules. He is asked whether he feels able to comply with both.

This is the Agreement to Participate. 

1) I agree that I am violent to my partner and that I am willing to stop my violence.

As I have said, at this stage men will qualify their acceptance of this statement in three ways; by denial, minimisation and blaming.

- They deny their violence by saying they didn't mean it or it was a one-off incident which will never happen again

- they minimise their violence  by saying.. 'but I only...' or that it wasn't as bad as the police, courts of their partner made out

- and they blame their violence on someone or something else. 'She provoked me,'  ' I was drunk ', 'I'd had a bad day etc.'

We make a note of what is said so that when the man has learned about these issues we can see if he is more able to take responsibility for what he did.

2) On (date) I was required by  (……….Sheriff Court) to participate in the CHANGE Men's Programme as directed, and as a condition of a Probation Order.

We explain how participation in the CHANGE Programme works as a condition of a  probation order. If he breaches any of the terms of the agreement with CHANGE we can refer him back to his social worker who in turn will refer the matter to the court. The other terms of the order are between him and his probation worker, but he is told that we will maintain close contact with him/her while he is attending the CHANGE programme.

3) I agree to complete 16   sessions of the Programme

He is told that the Programme consists of a two hour group meeting held locally in educational premises and that the programme will take him at least sixteen weeks to complete. 

4) I agree to participate in the CHANGE men's programme as directed.

The programme consists of a number of different Modules, some lasting half a session, some one session and others that may need two sessions. Each module has completion criteria, that is, work that each man must do both in the class and as homework, before he can be said to have completed it. We keep class records on each man so that he, ourselves and his probation worker can see how he is progressing with the CHANGE programme.

The programme is in two halves and men will not be allowed to move onto the second part until they have completed all the first part.

5) I agree to abide by the rules of the CHANGE Programme .   

There are 8 group rules to which men must agree:-

1. I must be on time. If I am late I will have to repeat the sessions I am late for.

 

We explain that it is very important for everyone that we arrive and start punctually, probably men will be keen that we end punctually. The work we do in the group is serious and requires concentration. We feel men should respect the other members of the group by not arriving late. Late arrivers will not be admitted to the group that week and will have to repeat the session missed. 

 

 

2. I may only miss sessions through illness or other urgent reason and any sessions missed must be made up.

 

I have already covered this in the agreement to participate, it is in the group rules as a reminder.

 

3. I must be sober. If I am under the influence of alcohol or other drugs I will not be allowed to take part in the group that week and will have to repeat that session.

 

We tell men that this rule means even a pint before they come in. Again, the work we are doing in the group is serious and men need to have a clear head in order to do it. Arriving under the influence of drink of drugs makes us think a man is not serious in his efforts to end his violence, and shows a lack of respect for the others who are taking the work seriously.
 

4. I must undertake all work given to me including "homework" in order to complete the programme.

 

We have already covered this point, but it is in the rules to act as a reminder.

 

5. I must not use any violence in the group.

 

We know men have already agreed not to be violent while on the programme, and we hope they will be able to continue this agreement for the rest of their lives. However, we have put in this rule because we believe that in order to be successful, we all need to feel safe in the group and we need to be able to feel free of any anxiety.  Within this rule we include all acts which violate another person, so we include in it not only attacking someone else, but also touching them without their permission, verbally abusing them or making fun of them.

 

6. If I am disruptive or unco-operative I may be suspended from the Programme.

 

The CHANGE programme will need men to co-operate both with us and with each other if we are to succeed in our aims. One of these aims is to help men to learn to act in a co-operative rather than in a competitive way so we need them to start now by  recognising that they will need each other's help and support to get through the work we have to do, and that anyone who tries to disrupt that work is not respecting the needs of the others in the group.

 

7. I must keep the names of all other group members confidential.

 

In the group work we expect men to be very frank and open with us and with each other about things they have done in their relationships with their partners. So to encourage them to feel safe in doing that we ask them to agree to keep the names of the others in the group, and what is said by them, confidential. Each man is of course free to tell his partner, or others, what he has said and learned.

 

8. I must refer to my partner by her name at all times.

 

The reason for this rule is because we know that one way in which people make it possible for themselves to use violence against another human being is to distance themselves from that person by using names which turn that person into an object. As human beings, we find it difficult to hit other people, but easier to hit things.  If we can turn people into things it stops us thinking that those others have   the same kinds of lives as us, the same hopes and feelings,  and can feel the same pain as we do. Thus when men call their partner 'her' or use names like 'that bitch' they are turning her into an object rather than talking  about her  as a person.

 

6)I understand that I must contact CHANGE  if I am going to be absent due to illness or other urgent reason, and that I must make up any session missed. I understand that missing more than two sessions in a row without reason will result in my suspension from the Programme and referral back to the Social Work Department.

7)I understand that the CHANGE Project will report information regarding my attendance and participation in the Programme, or any acts of violence to the Social Work Department.

8) I understand that CHANGE will contact (partner’s name) to give her information concerning the CHANGE Programme and my involvement there. She will also be advised if I am put off the CHANGE Programme before completion.

Each man knows that we will contact his partner to give her information about the CHANGE programme and we will be letting them know of his progress on it. We also say that we will make it very clear to her that; 

1. She is not to blame for his violence.

           2. She cannot stop his violence, and she is under no obligation to stay                with him or to do anything else. 

3. We cannot offer her any guarantees that being on the programme will stop his violence and that we therefore advise her to put her own safety first.

9) I understand that I must notify the CHANGE Project of any change of address. 

10) I understand that violations of Probation conditions are grounds for removal from the Programme and referral back to Court.

I AGREE NOT TO BE VIOLENT WITH ANY PERSON DURING MY PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAMME.

Men are told that being on the programme will not prevent their social worker from taking action if they breach any of the other conditions of your order. If this happens, they may be asked to leave the programme.

There is a space for signatures at the end. This is not signed at this point, but the court is told that the man has seen it and knows the terms. If the court refers him to the Programme, the Agreement is signed in the presence of the social worker handling the man's probation order and each party keeps a copy, the Social Worker, CHANGE and the man.

After assessing the man and before submitting any report to the court we contact the man's partner to ask if she would be willing to meet so she may be given information about the programme, particularly that she is not expected to stay with him or do anything other than consider her own safety and needs; and to answer any questions she may have.  She is also advised on where she can obtain support via her local Women's Aid group.

For a number of reasons felt it was important from the outset that we undertake the assessments for the courts ourselves even though this is a time consuming activity.  For a start the process is not cut-and-dried in the sense that there is a formula to work to. Personal judgement plays a major role in the assessment and the accuracy of that judgement can only be measured by the outcome of the programme. Secondly we feel it is important that doing assessments and giving our reasons for accepting or rejecting clients is part of our accountability to the courts and the community.

The report that is submitted to the court gives in some detail why we consider a client suitable or not. So far we have had twelve requests for assessments out of which we felt unable to accept the man in only 3 cases.
 


 

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