Engaging with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence

This handbook guides practitioners with practical exercises and techniques to help them make the most of limited client contact with perpetrators of domestic violence.Engaging with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence: Practical Techniques for Early Intervention provides guidelines for initial interviews and risk assessment and then outlines techniques for: building a working alliance, encouraging disclosure, analysing incidents of abuse to aid safety planning and raising awareness of the impacts on victims. It draws on a range of ideas from theory and practice, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), narrative therapy and the feminist Duluth Model. The interventions outlined are designed to be suitable for use by social workers and other professionals in brief, safety-focused interventions aimed at planning for safety and motivating clients as they start the process of change.Child protection and family workers can complete training without learning about how to work with domestic abuse perpetrators - but intervening at an early stage can make a real difference to increasing family safety.This concise book equips practitioners with the knowledge and techniques they need to make the most of limited client contact with perpetrators. It outlines how to briefly assess perpetrators, how to prepare them for a perpetrator programme, and describes a range of interventions that can be used to reduce the risk they represent in the meantime. Drawing on approaches from motivational work, anger management, CBT and feminist models, but written in practical and easy to follow language, the book provides guidance for carrying out interviews and assessing risk, how to use safety plans, signals and time outs, understanding the impact of abuse on victims, how to analyse incidents of abuse and how to make an effective referral.This reliable guide is a useful reference for any child protection worker wanting to make the most of the valuable opportunity they have to engage with domestic violence perpetrators.