Domestic violence can impact the physical and emotional safety of the children and the functioning of the entire family. This training will engage participants in critical thinking about their practice when there is a perpetrator pattern of coercive control and violence. Participants will learn safety-organized concepts to increase proficiency in engaging domestic violence survivors and perpetrators using solution focused strategies. Assuming the survivor is already being protective, engaging the survivor is crucial to the survivor wanting to partner with the agency. It can be a challenge to hold the perpetrator responsible and engage them in safety planning while keeping the children safe in the care of the survivor. The goal is for us all to have a common way we think about domestic violence, talk about it, document it and talk with families.
Participants will explore the difference between a traditional “failure to protect” approach and a safety-organized approach to working with families experiencing domestic violence. This training will support workers’ awareness of implicit bias, gender stereotypes and parenting double standards which impact perpetrator engagement. Participants will be introduced to Structured Decision Making assessment to move away from “failure to protect” and focus on a perpetrator’s pattern of coercion and control as the source of the harm. Luck will explore how to apply an intersecting lens when mental illness and substance abuse are intertwined with domestic violence. In addition, we will discuss risks and dilemmas associated with using restraining orders and family separation as a means for safety, trauma impact to children exposed to domestic violence and the importance of worker safety when working with perpetrators of violence. Learners will understand and practice the phases for interviewing survivors and perpetrators as well as the core components for building survivor and child centered safety and case plans. Luck will model the use of solution focused strategies for interviewing families experiencing domestic violence and provide example questions and statements.