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Men take responsibility, abuse reduces by 60 per
cent To help these men overcome their abusive behaviours, and to contribute to the safety of families, a group treatment program for men involved in family violence has been running for around 15 years. It seems to be working well. "Research endeavours show there's a significant reduction of physical abuse and also a fairly good reduction of emotional and verbal abuse," says Theodon. "Those percentages are actually quite high, over 60 per cent in both areas, which is seen as fairly significant." Men's Program - Family Violence, offered by the John Howard Society of Peterborough, is frame-worked around the concept of taking responsibility. "The philosophy of the program is based on each individual taking responsibility for their behaviour," says Theodon. "It's helping them recognize that there are choices in how one can demonstrate emotions including anger." The program begins by ensuring that everyone in the group is working from the same definition of what constitutes abuse. "Most are clear about what physical abuse is. We work on identifying the various behaviours that constitute the other abuses, like emotional isolation, using male privilege, using children," says Theodon. From there, the program focuses on leading the men to take responsibility for their actions in terms of these abuses, through a cognitive restructuring model of treatment. Co-therapists, male and female, lead the group in weekly sessions that begin with a check-in of where the men are at in their lives and relationships. "Using those current life experiences, we build on components within the program," says Theodon, adding that the use of co-therapists has been established to be particularly effective in demonstrating how a healthy relationship functions, and also in bringing the perspective of both genders to the issue. Follow-up with the participants as well as partners or ex-partners of the participants has shown a significant reduction in recurrences of violence. What's particularly noteworthy, says Theodon, is that they've had calls a few years later from individuals who've gone through the program already. "They find themselves with pretty significant issues in relationships about two to three years later and wonder if they can come and talk… They'll often then repeat the group. What's most encouraging in terms of evaluation is that they had the wherewithal to realize they were getting into deep issues. They made the call sooner, not waiting until they were going to court. It's encouraging to realize the program did plant the seed. It did help keep someone safe."
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