PAIV Professional Principles

Respect and Openness

Batterer treatment professionals agree to approach all their clients with respect and openness to their potential to live their lives without the use of violence, abuse and control

Premises of the Work

Batterer treatment professionals understand that the purpose of their work is to prevent further victimization. This includes a concern for the well being of the victim and her children, the domestic violence perpetrator and the professionals providing the treatment.

Successful work with batterers depends on the ability of the professional to maintain his or her awareness of the impact of the violence and abuse on the adult victim and her children. With this as the starting point, the professional has a firm anchor for entering into a dialogue with the client about his awareness his pattern of violence and the process of change. Losing a connection to either client or the victim will lead to unbalanced, dangerous and/or ineffective work.

Batterer treatment professionals agree that an essential component in working with domestic violence perpetrators is having the client address his behavior from the perspective of the control he exerts over other people.

Batterer treatment professionals understand that domestic violence occurs in all communities, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or sexual orientation. We are committed to understanding how each individual perpetrator utilizes his personal characteristics, his environment and the array of resources at his disposal to be abusive and controlling. Knowledge of and sensitivity to the client’s frames of reference are an indispensable to effective engagement of all clients.

Batterer treatment professionals realize that the overall dynamics of domestic violence are similar from individual to individual offender. We also acknowledge that patterns of violence and abuse vary in severity, frequency, level of coercive control and impact. We recognize that each client has their individual understanding of their lives, life goals and potential motivation to change. Batterer treatment professionals agree to maintain connection to each individual client’s situation, including his particular risks for new violence, the particular impact his violence has had on the lives of others and his own particular process of change.

The Diversity of Work with Offenders

Because violence and control cannot be separated from gender roles and access to resources, and because the power of violence to create fear and control is intimately connected to physical size and strength, women domestic violence offenders require specialized treatment/intervention different from male offenders.

Work with domestic violence perpetrators may include issues related to child abuse, substance abuse, and sexual violence. In addition to men who batterer their female partners, our clients may be teens in dating violence relationships and/or who are violent with their family members, gay and lesbian batterers, and parents who have been abusive with their children.

Intervention Goals

Batterer treatment professionals understand that while work with domestic violence perpetrators requires specialized training, supervision and structured educational material, it does not depend on a particular curriculum or model. Our focus is on the professional expertise of the practitioner and his or her ability to connect with their client and the experiences of battered women and their children. It’s through the professional’s ability to establish authenticity and credibility through a thorough examination of their own relationship to issues of control, a sensitive understanding of the dynamics of domestic violence, and the process of change that the greatest effectiveness will be achieved.

Batterer treatment professionals understand that any treatment intervention or modality that they engage in should include the following goals:

1. The client engaging in a genuine process of change and accountability relevant to his pattern of abuse, violence and control.
2. The client making real changes in his behavior that take into account the impact his pattern of violence, abuse and control has had on his victims, family and others.
3. An increase in the safety, self-determination and satisfaction of the client’s past and current partners/family.

Collaboration

Batterer treatment professionals strongly support a coordinated yet distinct and separate relationship with public agencies that have the responsibility for monitoring criminal offenders and protecting children. We believe that we can assist them in their responsibilities by assessing and making recommendations on clients. These recommendations can include but are not limited to appropriateness for treatment, length of treatment, treatment goals and steps the monitoring agency should take to increase the safety of the victims.

Batterer treatment professionals are responsible for providing referring agencies with initial and on-going assessments of clients’ progress according to general principles of the field about dangerousness and change. For the fullest accuracy and value, these assessments draw upon information provided by the client and collateral information sources, e.g.. police reports, victim advocates, criminal court files, child welfare agencies, other treatment professionals and the victim, when explicit permission is provided.

Batterer treatment professionals consider contact with the partner and/or victim of a client’s violence an integral element of any treatment/intervention program. We consider it our ethical responsibility to provide the victim and/partner information to help her evaluate the role the program may have in her safety and self-determination. She should also be given the opportunity to share information in confidence about her experience of the client’s abusive behavior.

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