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London council pioneers domestic violence support scheme

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March 28, 2024

Harrow Council has launched a pilot scheme which will see violent couples participate in face-to-face therapy sessions.

The authority has provided £200,000 in funding for the scheme, which aims to “break the cycle” of intimate partner violence and reduce future outbreaks via special counselling sessions in a “supportive environment”. One couple has already begun to participate.

The pilot scheme, based on approaches pioneered in the United States, will be run by counsellors and psychotherapists from the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships in central London. Participating couples will be focused on identifying the circumstances in which they typically resort to violence and the sessions will each be informed by social worker interviews with any children of the family.

Susanna Abse is Chief Executive of the Tavistock Centre. She said:

“We are really delighted to be delivering, in partnership with Harrow council, such a new and innovative way of helping with the major challenges faced when interpersonal violence occurs between couples.”

Meanwhile, Harrow Councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick said she hoped the scheme would have a real impact on the participating families.

“If the abusers understand the impact their behaviour has on their family, we hope they can change. We are delighted we are the first place to tackle the causes of domestic abuse.”

But the announcement was met with scepticism by some women’s groups, including the End Violence Against Women Coalition, who insisted that domestic violence was rooted in the exertion of male power.

Acting Director Sarah Green said:

“The assumption in such couple counselling approaches tends to be that both parties must be at fault and they simply need to learn better behaviours. Domestic violence is about bullying and control, not misunderstanding. It is a choice, and it is deeply related to power between men and women.”

Read more here.

The blog team at Stowe is a group of writers based across our family law offices who share their advice on the wellbeing and emotional aspects of divorce or separation from personal experience. As well as pieces from our family law solicitors, guest contributors also regularly contribute to share their knowledge.

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Comments(4)

  1. Luke says:

    I am not surprised that women’s groups are whining – the pilot scheme is not explicitly saying:
    “Man Bad, Woman Good”
    – so one would expect them to get their panties in a wad 😀

  2. JamesB says:

    I like it where when people are arguing they are told to stop and each say one thing that they like about the other person. Seems like a nice thing that.

  3. JamesB says:

    That would seem like a Nice thought to end the year on. Happy New Year everyone.

  4. stitchedup says:

    “But the announcement was met with scepticism by some women’s groups, including the End Violence Against Women Coalition, who insisted that domestic violence was rooted in the exertion of male power.

    Acting Director Sarah Green said:

    “The assumption in such couple counselling approaches tends to be that both parties must be at fault and they simply need to learn better behaviours. Domestic violence is about bullying and control, not misunderstanding. It is a choice, and it is deeply related to power between men and women.””

    These people are not the least bit concerned with or interested in stopping domestic violence or abuse. Any level headed person with an ounce of real life experience will tell you that women are fully capable of being violent towards their partner and are supremely capable of emotional and psychological abuse. It’s time politicians and the judiciary stopped listening to these lunatics and the media should stop giving them air time. Not only can both genders be at fault, the female can be the sole perpetrator!!! I find gut wrenching that these organisations are prepared to criticise a scheme that is trying to help families resolve conflict rather than escalating it… Many of these “women’s groups” are simply antifamily feminist organisations… The very kind that Erin Pizzey predicted will eventually destroy the family.

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