Daphne Programme – Year 2000

Final Report

Project N°. : 2000/DAP/269/WC

Title:

‘Working with Men - as part of a multi-agency approach to tackling domestic abuse’

Start Date : 12 February 2001 End Date : 11 February 2002

Co-ordinating Organisation name: The City of Edinburgh Council

Contact person :

Name: Ellen Kelly, Equalities Manager

Address: Corporate Services Department, City of Edinburgh Council, 12 St Giles Street

Postal code: EH1 1PT

City: Edinburgh

Country: Scotland-UK

Tel. N°.: +44 131 469 3898Fax N°.:+44 131 469 3913

e-mail:

Partner Organisations’ names and countries:

Transnational Partner: City & Shelter - European White Ribbon Campaign, Coordinating Office in Brussels

Local (Scottish) Partners:Edinburgh Women's Aid

Edinburgh Women's Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre

Lothian and Borders Police

Lothian NHS Board

North Edinburgh Area Renewal (NEAR)

Contents

Executive Summary in English / page / 4
Executive Summary in French / page / 5
Executive Summary in Spanish / page / 6
1 / Aims of the project
1.1 / The problem / page / 7
1.2 / Beneficiaries / page / 8
1.3 / Expected results / page / 8
2 / Implementation of the project
2.1 / Planned activities that were implemented / page / 9
Delivering the project / page / 9
2.1.1 / Developing links with European partners / page / 10
2.1.2 / Delivery of training / page / 11
2.1.3 / Consultation / page / 12
2.1.4 / Establishing a Partnership Group / page / 13
2.1.5 / Professional supervision / page / 14
2.1.6 / Monitoring and evaluation / page / 14
2.2 / Planned activities that were not implemented / page / 15
2.3 / Unforeseen activities / page / 15
2.4 / Revision of timetable / page / 16
2.5 / Role, activities and contributions of each partner / page / 16
3 / Results and impacts of the project
3.1 / Results obtained from the project / page / 18
3.2 / Evaluation of results / page / 19
3.3 / Involvement of ultimate beneficiaries in evaluation of results / page / 20
3.4 / Impacts of results / page / 20
4 / Dissemination and follow-up
4.1 / Dissemination of results / page / 23
4.2 / Follow-up of project / page / 24
4.3 / Ensuring the visibility of the European Commission's contribution / page 24
5 / Conclusions / page / 25
Annex 1: / Keywords / page / 26
Annex 2: / Final Accounts (provided as a separate document)
Annex 3: / List of materials produced during the project / page / 28

Working With Men

as part of a multi-agency approach to tackling domestic abuse

project co-financed by the EU’s Daphne Initiative 2000

Executive Summary

Aims

The ‘Working with Men’ project set out to contribute to the European knowledge base on work with violent men by developing a transferable model of good practice in multi-agency cooperation in this field. The

project aimed to help prevent violence against women and protect children by preparing a multi-agency approach to setting up a voluntary intervention programme in Edinburgh for abusing men who wished to address their behaviour.

Implementation

Implementation activity was based on research on previous work undertaken with violent men, and also drew on good practice from existing initiatives aimed at increasing the safety of women and children. Information and experience was exchanged with members of the European White Ribbon Campaign and other relevant national and international organisations. A consultation exercise was carried out to raise awareness of the potential value of work with men amongst local agencies from a range of disciplines. Training in skills in working with men was delivered to staff of local agencies. This led to the establishment of a multi-disciplinary Partnership Group of mostly senior staff from local agencies, which then developed a plan for action to set up a service for men. A model of good practice was drawn up from work carried out during the project, and the project results will be disseminated widely so as to contribute to the local, national and international policy debate on violence.

Conclusions

The transnational and national exchange of experience and information carried out by the Edinburgh project ‘Working with Men’ showed that perspectives on and approaches to working with violent men vary quite markedly. A common factor, however, was that work on men’s violence tends to focus on the women victims. ‘Working with Men’ has demonstrated that sometimes agencies focus solely on work with women because of the practitioners' perceptions towards the abusing men. The project has demonstrated that this can be overcome through awareness and skills training, resulting in a more inclusive approach to tackling men’s violence toward women and children. Furthermore, by promoting the effectiveness of work with men, this project has succeeded in forming a multi-disciplinary Partnership Group of agencies motivated to develop a city-wide non-court-mandated service for abusing men who want to change their behaviour. It was concluded that multi-agency approaches to tackling domestic abuse will be less effective at increasing the safety of women and their children unless work with the perpetrators is introduced.

Travailler avec les Hommes

dans le cadre d'une stratégie multi-agences de lutte contre la violence conjugale

projet cofinancé par l'Initiative Daphne 2000 de l'UE

Resume Executif

Objectifs

Le projet ‘Travailler avec les hommes’ a cherché à apporter sa contribution à la base de connaissances européennes sur le travail avec des hommes violents, en développant un modèle de bonnes pratiques transférable, grâce à une coopération multi-agences dans ce domaine. Le projet visait à aider la prévention de la violence contre les femmes et la protection des enfants en préparant une stratégie multi-agences pour mettre en place un programme d’intervention bénévole à Edimbourg destiné aux hommes violents qui souhaitent remettre leur comportement en question.

Mise en application

L’activité de mise en application était basée sur des recherches de travail antérieur entrepris sur des hommes violents, et s’inspirait aussi des bonnes pratiques utilisées dans des initiatives existantes destinées à augmenter la sécurité des femmes et des enfants. Des informations et expériences ont pu être échangées avec les membres de la Campagne Européenne Ruban Blanc ainsi que d’autres organisations nationales et internationales pertinentes. Un exercice de consultation a été mené pour sensibiliser les agences locales de diverses disciplines sur les bénéfices potentiels d'un travail avec les hommes. Quelques stages de formation pour apprendre à travailler avec les hommes a été donnés au personnel des agences locales. Ceci a conduit à l’établissement d'un Groupe de Partenariat pluridisciplinaire constitué essentiellement du personnel cadre des agences locales, qui a par la suite développé un plan d'action pour mettre en place un service destiné aux hommes. Un modèle de bonnes pratiques a été conçu à partir du travail effectué au cours du projet, et les résultats du projet ont été largement disséminés de façon à contribuer au débat de politique local, national et international sur la violence.

Conclusions

L'échange national et transnational d’expériences et d'informations mené par le projet Edimbourgeois ‘Travailler avec les hommes’ a montré que les perspectives et approches de travail avec des hommes violents varient considérablement. L’un de points communs toutefois a été que le travail sur la violence masculine a tendance à se focaliser sur les femmes victimes. ‘Travailler avec les hommes’ a démontré que parfois, les agences focalisent uniquement le travail sur les femmes du fait des perceptions des praticiens vis-à-vis des hommes violents. Le projet a démontré que ceci peut être surmonté grâce à une prise de conscience et une formation pour entraîner une approche plus inclusive lorsqu’on s’attaque au problème de la violence masculine vis-à-vis des femmes et des enfants. De plus, en encourageant l'efficacité du travail avec les hommes, ce projet est parvenu à former un Groupe de Partenariat pluridisciplinaire d’agences motivées pour développer un service urbain non lié au tribunal destiné aux hommes violents qui veulent changer leur comportement. On a conclu que des approches multi-agences de lutte contre violence conjugale seront moins efficaces à augmenter la sécurité des femmes et des enfants à moins qu’un travail avec les auteurs des violences ne soit introduit.

Trabajar con los Hombres

como parte de un enfoque multi-institucional para combatir el abuso doméstico

proyecto cofinanciado por la Iniciativa Daphne 2000 de la UE

Resumen Ejecutivo

Objetivos

El proyecto ‘Trabajar con los Hombres’ tenía la intención de contribuir a la base europea de conocimientos sobre el trabajo con hombres violentos, mediante el desarrollo de un modelo transferible de buenas prácticas en la cooperación entre las diversas instituciones de este campo. El proyecto tenía como objetivo prevenir la violencia ejercida sobre las mujeres y proteger a los niños, mediante la preparación de un enfoque multi-institucional para establecer un programa de intervención voluntaria en Edimburgo para hombres violentos que quisieran encarar su comportamiento.

Implementación

La actividad de implementación se basó en la investigación del trabajo que se había llevado a cabo previamente con hombres violentos, y también recurrió a las buenas prácticas de iniciativas ya existentes cuyo objetivo era el aumento de la seguridad de mujeres y niños. Se intercambiaron información y experiencias con miembros de la Campaña Europea del Lazo Blanco y otras organizaciones nacionales e internacionales pertinentes; se llevó a cabo un proceso de consulta para sensibilizar a las instituciones locales de una gran variedad de disciplinas sobre el valor potencial de trabajar con los hombres; y se proporcionó formación al personal de las instituciones locales sobre las aptitudes necesarias para el trabajo con los hombres. Esto llevó a la creación de un Grupo de Cooperación mayoritariamente formado por responsables de instituciones locales, el cual posteriormente desarrolló un plan de acción para crear un servicio de ayuda a los hombres. Se redactó un modelo de buenas prácticas a partir del trabajo llevado a cabo durante el proyecto, cuyos resultados se difundirán ampliamente con el fin de contribuir al debate político local, nacional e internacional sobre la violencia.

Conclusiones

El intercambio nacional y transnacional de experiencias e información llevado a cabo por el proyecto ‘Trabajar con los Hombres’ de Edimburgo mostró que las perspectivas y los enfoques sobre el trabajo con hombres violentos varían notablemente. Sin embargo, un factor común fue que el trabajo que se refiere a la violencia masculina tiende a centrarse en las mujeres víctimas. ‘Trabajar con los Hombres’ ha demostrado que algunas veces las instituciones se centran únicamente en el trabajo con las mujeres por la imagen que los profesionales tienen de los hombres que cometen abusos. El proyecto también ha demostrado que esto se puede superar mediante la sensibilización y la formación de aptitudes, lo que tiene como resultado un enfoque más global para combatir la violencia masculina ejercida sobre mujeres y niños. Es más, al promover la eficacia del trabajo con los hombres, este proyecto ha conseguido formar un Grupo de Cooperación multidisciplinario de instituciones motivadas por el desarrollo de un servicio para los hombres violentos que desean cambiar su comportamiento, el cual abarca toda la ciudad y es independiente de los mandatos judiciales. Se concluyó que los enfoques multi-institucionales para combatir el abuso doméstico serán menos eficaces en el aumento de la seguridad de las mujeres y sus hijos si no se introduce también el trabajo con los autores de la violencia.

1Aims of the Project

1.1The Problem

The City of Edinburgh has a multi-agency strategy to tackle violence against women which was developed by a city-wide group, the Promoting Women's Safety Working Group, in 1998. This group identified that women experiencing violence contact a wide range of statutory and voluntary agencies, and that it would therefore be beneficial to provide a coordinated, flexible, multi-agency response to women experiencing violence. The resulting strategy, which has five aims and associated strategic objectives, was primarily aimed at women and their dependants experiencing violence and abuse. Two of the aims - to protect and to prevent violence against women and their dependants - included activities to promote opportunities for men to address their behaviour and to encourage attitudinal change.

In addition, North Edinburgh Area Renewal (NEAR), a local strategic planning body, carried out a survey of local people's concerns which identified domestic violence as one of the main issues. Amongst a number of suggestions, local people requested a service to help men address their violent behaviour.

Edinburgh is the home of one of Europe's longest running court-mandated intervention programmes for men convicted of violence against women partners. City agencies had expressed their frustration at how few men had access to this service because only a small number are ever convicted.

Though a fee-paying service for abusing men also exists, and accepts non-statutory referrals, agencies felt that the fee deterred many abusing men with restricted income from seeking help. In addition, this service was not strategically linked to a city-wide policy on tackling violence against women.

The city-wide group responsible for advising the City Council and other partner organisations on matters relating to the safety of women decided that there was a need for a voluntary intervention programme for abusing men who wished to address their behaviour. Research suggested that a similar problem existed in other European cities, and it was felt that a pilot project in Edinburgh could contribute to the European knowledge base on preventing violence against women and children.

1.2Beneficiaries

The beneficiary group for this project is women, children and young people, in particular:

• women whose partners for a variety of reasons had not yet or would never come to the attention of the criminal justice system;

• children and young people who had repeatedly witnessed domestic abuse but where to date any professional intervention had been focused solely on them or their mothers.

1.3 Expected results

This project planned to:

• identify, through exchange of experience with the European White Ribbon Campaign network, elements

of transnational transferability of the project;

• learn from the experience of those in similar fields within the European Community through exchange

of experience with the European White Ribbon Campaign network;

• deliver four training sessions to staff of local agencies on work with men who abuse women partners;

• establish a multi-disciplinary Partnership Group, drawn from across the public and voluntary sectors,

that would seek to set up a service for men who wish to address their violence;

• establish a group of practitioners who would go on to develop service provision outwith the criminal justice system for men who wish to change their abusive behaviour;

• develop a model of good practice in multi-agency work with perpetrators;

• evaluate the results of the project.

2Implementation of the Project

2.1Planned activities that were implemented

Delivering the project

As partners in the project, six key local organisations formed the Steering Group to oversee the project, and appointed a Development Worker through open recruitment. The Steering Group supported the Development Worker with ongoing monitoring and evaluation and arranged for specialist supervision from a professional in work with violent men.

The Development Worker appointed had extensive experience in:

• delivering the Domestic Violence Probation Project (DVPP), Edinburgh’s long-standing court-mandated intervention programme for men convicted of abuse towards their women partners;

• establishing RESPECT, the UK’s National Association for Perpetrator Workers and Associated

Support Services;

• co-authoring the ‘Making Men Visible’ presentation pack.

The role of the Development Worker was to implement the bulk of the project workplan, including:

• developing links with the project’s European partners;

• delivering training;

• carrying out local consultation;

• establishing a Partnership Group;

• participating in and contributing to the national and international debate on preventing violence against women and children through work with men.

The Development Worker also drew up the planned model of good practice in multi-agency cooperation on work with perpetrators in order to increase the safety of women and children at risk from violence.

2.1.1Developing links with European partners

The role and contribution of the European partners, the European White Ribbon Campaign (EWRC), are described in section 2.5. The principal activities carried out with the European partners were as follows.

ORGANISATION / ACTIVITY
European White Ribbon Campaign (EWRC) Coordinator /
  • examine perspectives on and approaches to men's violence

  • compare contrasting national campaigns

  • discuss further contacts across Europe

  • visit European Women’s Lobby and European Commission

  • ongoing exchange of information with EWRC coordinator and active promotion of each other's work

European Women's Lobby - evaluator of EWRC project funded under Daphne Initiative 1999-2000 /
  • exchange of information

El Grupo de Hombres de Sevilla (Seville Men's Group) - EWRC member /
  • examine perspectives on and approaches to men's violence

  • compare contrasting national campaigns

  • ongoing exchange of information

Fundacion Mujeres (Gender Violence Prevention Fund) - partners of EWRC in project funded under Daphne Initiative 1999 /
  • examine perspectives on and approaches to men's violence

  • compare contrasting national campaigns

  • ongoing exchange of information

Seville civil lawyer working with abusing men - EWRC member /
  • examine perspectives on and approaches to men's violence

  • compare contrasting national campaigns

  • ongoing exchange of information

Madrid psychotherapist working with men - EWRC member /
  • examine perspectives on and approaches to men's violence

  • compare contrasting national campaigns

  • ongoing exchange of information

'Los Hombres contra la Violencia' (Men Against Violence Group) - Nicaraguan member of EWRC /
  • host Edinburgh leg of tour of Europe

Womankind - associated with EWRC /
  • help organise and host seminar

3rd International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health, Finland, July 2001 /
  • represent the 'Working with Men' project

  • transnational networking

  • disseminate early project results

UK National Domestic Violence Conference, Manchester, November 2001 /
  • lead workshop on delivering a Daphne-funded project

EU questionnaire for Council of Ministers Employment and Social Affairs, 2002 /
  • make significant contribution to compiling indicators on the fight against domestic violence

More information on some of these activities is given in section 2.3.

2.1.2Delivery of training

The project delivered four training sessions to staff of local agencies. As well as training, these sessions were used to raise awareness of the issues relating to violence against women and children and to engender interest of local agencies in participating in the Partnership Group.

In preparation for the delivery of training, two Focus Groups were held with participants from previous DVPP workshops. The Focus Groups were used to assess the impact of the workshops on participants' practice.

Training Session 1: Couple Counselling

The Development Worker presented this pilot project to the manager of Couple Counselling and undertook a session of training for all the counsellors.

All 12 participants in this training session were qualified in the field of relationship counselling, but as a group, and as a service, were concerned by their lack of confidence in working with clients when issues seemed to be rooted in men’s violence. The service already had a policy to discontinue counselling with a couple where it became evident that the man was continuing to use violence towards his partner. However, the counsellors wanted further training in detecting situations where a problem of violence had perhaps been hidden and, additionally, some skills in motivating abusing men to make changes in their behaviour.