‘Safe Relationships’ is a domestic abuse perpetrator programme aimed at changing behaviour and attitudes and helps participants to achieve a better understanding of why they use violence and aggression in their relationships, and to identify better ways to deal with their problems.
This is a medium length programme for men who have been assessed as being a standard to medium risk of perpetrating future violence and abuse. Safe Relationships offers a significant focus on family safety planning and the effects of domestic abuse on the whole family.
The over-arching aims of Safe Relationships are to:
- Develop participants’ awareness of the attitudes and beliefs that underpin their behaviour and the factors that reinforce that behaviour;
- Encourage participants to identify and build on their strengths and skills to change their behaviour;
- Provide a safe, respectful, stimulating and challenging environment, which facilitates change and motivates participants to engage and learn. Group discussions and interactive exercises that are meaningful and relevant to the participants’ own situations will be used;
- Help participants to develop practical and sustainable strategies for maintaining change once they have completed the programme.
By the end of the programme, participants will have had the opportunity to:
- Learn their role in a healthy relationship;
- Learn to take responsibility for their behaviour without blaming others;
- Understand the impact of violence and abuse on their partners and children;
- Recognise emotions and how to manage them – including learning to notice when they are becoming abusive and how to stop;
- Learn respectful non-abusive ways of dealing with difficulties in their relationship;
- Learn crisis management skills and tools.
Safe Relationships consists of 16 sessions, comprising of both group and one-to-one sessions.