Treating Men Who Batter

Men who act abusively have their own story to tell, a journey that often begins in childhood, ripens in their teenage years, and takes them down paths they were hoping to never travel. Men Who Batter recounts the journey from the point of view of the men themselves. The men's accounts of their lives are told within a broader framework of the agency where they have attended groups, and the regional coordinated community response to domestic violence, which includes the criminal justice workers (e.g., probation, parole, judges), and those who staff shelters and work in advocacy. Based on interview data with this wide array of professionals, we are able to examine how one community, in one western state, responds to men who batter. Interwoven with this rich and colorful portrayal of the journey of abusive men, we bring twenty years of fieldwork with survivors and those who walk alongside them as they seek safety, healing and wholeness for themselves and their children. Women who have been victimized by the men they love often hold out hope that, if only their abusers could be held accountable and receive intervention, the violence will stop and their own lives will improve dramatically as a result. While the main purpose of Men Who Batter is to highlight the stories of men, told from their personal point of view, it is countered by reality checks from their own case files and those professionals who have worked with them. And finally, interspersed within its pages is another theme: finding religious faith or spiritual activity in unlikely places.

The articles in this collection discuss recent research on violence against women. They are premised on the notion that gender inequality is the source of such violence, and that the social institutions of marriage and family are special contexts that may promote, maintain, and even support men's use of physical force against women.

Men who Batter Women presents a unique psycho-analytic perspective on clinical studies of the roots of male violence towards women. Most published work concentrates on the experiences of the female victims of domestic violence. This book is unusual in that it focuses on the male perpetrators. Adam Edward Jukes considers both feminist approaches to male violence and those perspectives that treat such violent behaviour as pathological. The author suggests the practical implications of his research for clinical treatment and explores how effectively psychotherapy can be used to treat men who batter women.

What is the best way to work with fathers who have a history of abusive behavior? This question is among the thorniest that social service and criminal justice professionals must deal with in their careers, and in this essential new work Jeffrey L. Edleson, Oliver J. Williams, and a group of international colleagues examine the host of equally difficult issues that surround it. Beginning with the voices of mothers and fathers who speak about men's contact with and parenting of their children, the authors then examine court and mental health services perspectives on how much involvement violent men should have in their children's lives. The second half of the book showcases programs such as the Boston-based Fathering After Violence initiative and the Caring Dads program in Canada, which introduce non-abusive parenting concepts and skills to batterers and have developed useful guidelines for intervention with these fathers. Visionary but also practical, Parenting by Men Who Batter distills the most relevant policy issues, research findings, and practice considerations for those who coordinate batterer programs or work with families, the courts, and the child welfare system. It guides professionals in understanding men who batter, assessing their parenting skills, making decisions about custody and visitation, and modeling treatment programs that engage fathers in their children's lives while maximizing safety.

Helps abusive men understand their violence toward women and change their emotional, psychological, and physical abuse patterns.

Involuntary clients are required to see a professional, such as juveniles on probation, or are pressured to seek help, such as alcoholics threatened with the desertion of a spouse. For close to two decades, Strategies for Work with Involuntary Clients has led in its honest analysis of the involuntary transaction, suggesting the kind of effective legal and ethical intervention that can lead to more cooperative encounters, successful contracts, and less burnout on both sides of the treatment relationship. For this second edition, Ronald H. Rooney has invited experts to address recent theories and provide new information on the best practices for specific populations and settings. He also adds practical examples and questions to each chapter to better facilitate the involvement of students and readers, plus a section on motivational interviewing.