Family Hubs aim to support the whole family and, when this comes to Domestic Abuse, it’s important to offer services for victims and perpetrators. Michelle Joyce-Gillespie, Programme Lead at Sefton Council, outlines the male domestic abuse perpetrator programme they offer: ‘Commit to Change’.
Commit to Change – by Michelle Joyce-Gillespie, Programme Lead, Sefton Council
The programme is free and available to:
- Men 18+ living in Sefton
- Who speak English fluently
- Have a child/children working with Early Help or Children’s Social Care
- Who have been identified as displaying abusive behaviour to their partner/ex partner/within a family setting
Our Aim:
- To halt or avoid the use of violent, abusive, and controlling behaviour within a relationship.
- Create awareness of the effects of abuse and violence on families.
- Help men deal with arguments without resorting to abuse.
- Help men increase in confidence and self respect.
- Give men skills to help them have healthy relationships.
Programme Delivery:
The programme is delivered in a group setting over a 32 week period focussing on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy techniques in looking at behaviour changes. The programme is delivered from Family Wellbeing centres to enable collaborative working with our Victim Support Services, Early Help and social care workers, and ensures a whole family approach is taken in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. The Commit to Change programmes in Sefton continues to develop, and over 12-month period 20 participants have benefited from the programme during 2019-2020 and 10 completed the programme. The 10 participants who completed the programme have not engaged in harmful abusive behaviours which have require further interventions or resulted in police call out.
We have 4 practitioners trained across Early Help to deliver the interventions and with additional funding secured a further 6 practitioners will be trained across Sefton by 2021.
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