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This program helps stop family violence through its unique family intervention approach.
Family Violence Prevention Services (FVPS) provides effective prevention and treatment services to families where aggression or violence is a problem. Separate counseling groups for men, women, and children meet weekly for 21 weeks. All groups are led by experienced, professional counselors.
This approach is based on William Glasser's Reality Therapy. It emphasizes choice, consequences, and responsibility.
Each year, less than 5% of the court ordered clients who complete the FVPS counseling program return to court on domestic violence charges. This low recidivism rate is characteristic of the program over the nearly two decades it has been in operation.
FVPS is viewed by law enforcement agencies and the courts as a effective alternative sentencing program. The program has helped relieve overcrowding in the jails and keep men and women at home, on the job, continuing to do their part to support their families while they get the help that they need.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Family Violence Prevention Services (FVPS) is a privately operated, non-profit, tax-exempt organization. It consists of nine separate components which combine to provide effective domestic violence treatment and prevention services to residents of several western North Carolina counties. These components are as follows: (1) victim intervention, (2) court liaison, (3) men's therapy groups, (4) women's therapy groups, (5) children's therapy groups, (6) couple's therapy groups, (7) violence prevention projects in the schools, (8) information and referral telephone services, and (9) community information and education. The program is now in its eighteenth year of operation.PHILOSOPHY: We believe that most violence takes place in families that continue living together, and that violence affects all members of the family. We believe also that, in many instances, further violence can be prevented without breaking up the family. Most victims of relationship violence don't want to end the relationship, they just want the violence to stop. Further, we believe that all family members should have access to services in their community that will help them prevent the reoccurrence of violence. Finally, we believe that violence is learned behavior and that it can be unlearned.
SERVICES: Victim intervention services focus on victim contact before court. Its objectives are to provide adult victims of family violence with information about community resources that can benefit them and their children, and to encourage victims of violence to testify in court against their aggressors. A locally-based FVPS staff person reviews court records several times each week for prospective victim contacts. Victims are then contacted by telephone or by letter.
Court liaison services are provided each week in District Criminal Court. The objective of this service is to ensure that appropriate families are enrolled in the program. The court liaison provides relevant information about the aggressor to the court, and gives supports to the victim during the court procedure. The court liaison also conducts detailed interviews with the couple after their case is heard, and arranges for the family to begin counseling when appropriate.
Separate therapy groups meet weekly in the evenings for families, from 6:00 until 8:00 at each of three local meeting places, and on Saturday mornings for men only, from 8:00 until l0:00 at a fourth meeting place. The program lasts for twenty-one weeks, and those who are referred by the courts must attend a minimum of eighteen meetings. The objectives of these groups are as follows:
1. men's therapy group - to stop the aggression that exists in relationships between men and women. Therapists use a discussion format to explore men's use of aggression in relationships and to propose non-aggressive alternatives for solving problems. Strategies are provided for protection against the aggression of others. Responsibility for one's actions and consequence of choice are emphasized.
2. women's therapy group - to stop the aggression that exists in relationships between men and women. Therapists use a discussion format to explore women's use of aggression in relationships and to propose non-aggressive alternatives for solving problems. Strategies are provided for protection against the aggression of others. Responsibility for one's actions and consequence of choice are emphasized.
3. children's group - to provide a safe, accepting, and fun environment where children can learn to express and to better understand their emotions and feelings. Staff members encourage expression through playing games and telling stories. Children learn that their feelings are valid and that they should be expressed. They experience appropriate adult responses to their behavior, and they learn to develop close, trusting relationships with adults. Trained volunteers assist experienced program staff.
4. couple's therapy group - to increase the likelihood that couples who choose to remain together may do so without further aggression. This group is open to couples and families who have successfully completed the separate-group domestic violence component of the program.
Violence prevention projects in the schools teach non-violent problem solving relationship skills to elementary and secondary level students. The elementary level component features a teacher taught curriculum, while the secondary level component utilizes counselor led discussion groups.
Callers to the 24-hour, toll-free information and referral telephone line receive information from experienced staff about their options, and specific services available to them and their families from community human service providers.
Community information and education efforts are ongoing. The objectives are to create an awareness of family violence as a serious community problem, to familiarize the community with the services of FVPS, and to encourage support of the program. A quarterly newsletter, periodic newspaper articles, presentations to civic and professional groups, radio and TV public service announcements, and participation in media talk shows on family violence are all part of this effort. A periodically updated website increases the program's ability to accomplish its objectives.
NEED FOR PROGRAM: Violence in the family is a social problem that is receiving increased attention at the state, and national levels. Broken families, emotionally damaged children, lost productivity in the work place, and increased demands for medical services are just some of the human and social costs of violence. The phrase "cycle of violence" describes what takes place when parental violence is witnessed by the children and then repeated in the children's peer relationships. There is an increasing need for early intervention to prevent relationship violence and to help break the cycle of violence in families.
Violence in the schools has become a serious problem. Much of the violent behavior that occurs in the schools is a re-enactment of violence that has been learned at home. Children from violent and otherwise dysfunctional homes are often violent and dysfunctional at school. Teachers are not trained to deal effectively with the problems these children present. Problem children are often removed from the positive learning experience of the classroom. Eventually they may even be excluded from school altogether because of their overly-aggressive, disruptive behavior towards their peers and others.
FVPS offers a unique variety of services to the community which would not be available otherwise. Counseling services include weekly men's groups, women's groups, couple's groups, and a children's program. All staff therapists are Master's level professionals who are experienced in marriage and family counseling and knowledgeable in family violence treatment and prevention techniques. Other locally-based services include court liaison, victim intervention, violence prevention in the schools, and community information and education.
EFFECTIVENESS: An important objective of FVPS is to stop the violence that takes place in relationships between men and women. In a recent three year period, less than 15% of all court ordered clients who completed the program returned to District Criminal Court on misdemeanor assault charges. This low recidivism rate is a characteristic of the program over the years it has been in operation. Adult victim response samples taken at different intervals during and after the partner's participation in the the program show an average 86% decrease in reports of violence in the relationship over time.
Family Violence Prevention Services has demonstrated that family violence treatment and prevention services can be provided effectively, efficiently, and economically to those who need them. The program maintains cooperative working relationships with other human service agencies in the community. FVPS is viewed by law enforcement agencies and the courts as an effective alternative sentencing program. The program has gained broad recognition and acceptance for the service it provides.
RELATED ARTICLES: Thirty years ago, family violence was not recognized as a serious social problem. How families got along was their business. Violence in the family was considered to be a "family matter" and of no concern to outsiders. This six-part series of articles, "Family Violence - Then and Now", examines some of the major aspects of this continuing problem, and offers an effective approach to solving it. Source: Barnett, O. W., et al. (1997). Family Violence Across the Lifespan: An Introduction.
By almost any measure, the United States is a violent country. The U. S. murder rate is by far the highest in the industrialized world. Recent surveys suggest that Americans are well aware of the violence problem in American society and now consider violence to be the most urgent problem confronting the nation. A remarkably high proportion of this violence occurs within the family.
We like to think of the family as being relatively immune from violence, a place of safe harbor, a place where a loving family provides sustenance and care. The family is supposed to protect us from the violent world. All too often, however, this is not the case. Research consistently demonstrates that men, women and children are actually more likely to be assaulted in their own homes than on the streets of our most violent cities.
The family is the most important agent of socialization for our children. As the poet, Alexander Pope, observed: "Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd." Research evidence continues to point to the profound influence childhood victimization plays in producing the next generation of abusers. The greater the severity and frequency of the victimization within the family, the greater the likelihood of severe and frequent violent offending outside the family. Some practitioners believe that, if we can reduce all family violence - not just the abuse and neglect of our children - we can prevent future violence by its young victims.
Few will argue that family violence is a social problem today. Yet it is important to understand the history of the family violence problem. Family violence was a social condition long before it was recognized as a social problem. Historically, men have dominated and controlled women. With respect to the family, early marriage laws actually gave men the legal right to hit their wives. English common law held that women were inferior to men. A woman had no legal existence apart from her husband. Her husband owned and controlled her.
The victimization of women was ignored until the late 1800's, when concern about domestic violence began to grow. The most significant wave of legal reforms occurred in the 1870's, when Alabama and Massachusetts introduced the first spouse abuse laws. With these new laws, it became illegal to "beat a wife with a stick, pull her hair, choke her, spit in her face, or kick her to the floor." However, the term, "battered women", was not widely used until the early 1970's.
During the late 1960's and 1970's, violence directed at women received renewed attention, largely as a part of the women's movement. Recognition of equal status for women in areas such as jobs and pay spread to a growing pressure for equality in marital relationships. In 1964, the first shelter for battered women and their children was established in Pasadena, California.
Women's organizations were also increasingly active in the United States during the 1970's. In 1974, the National Organization for Women (NOW) decided to make battered wives a priority issue. Organizations such as the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, began political efforts to establish better social services for battered wives and to force changes in the law that failed to protect women from spouse abuse. By 1986, there were over 700 shelters across the United States. The combined efforts of these organizations and others has raised awareness of domestic violence as a social problem, and today concern for battered women is at an all-time high.
While the women's movement has been largely responsible for shaping our understanding of what constitutes family violence, there is still no one universal definition of family violence or family abuse. In fact, researchers may use different definitions, depending on their particular research requirements, as well as their own personal viewpoints.
Limiting family abuse only to physical aggression fails to capture the seriousness of other harmful family interactions. Sexual abuse, for example, may only occasionally involve physical violence but can have damaging effects that last a lifetime. Child neglect and emotional abuse are forms of maltreatment that can be even more devastating than physical violence. A man or woman can be threatened or intimidated by a partner without ever being touched.
Today, there are many myths and misconceptions about family violence: about what it is, why it is, who becomes involved, and what their motives are. Providing information about what is and what is not accurate about these myths and misconceptions is one important role of the social scientist.
This is the first article in a six part series, entitled "Family Violence - Then and Now". Visit our website at www. serve.com/fvps and send your suggestions and comments to our email address at fvps@twave.net
David Maupin was educated as a clinical and school psychologist, and is now a marriage and family therapist in private practice. He is founder and director of the Family Violence Prevention Services program, a professional counseling service that helps families stop violence. For more information, call 828-632-7364.
Family violence has attracted the attention and study of numerous segments of society. Researchers from a broad range of perspectives (sociology, criminology, psychology, law, medicine, and others) have become highly involved in finding solutions to the problem of family violence. However, because information and ideas have generally not been shared, it has been difficult to form a comprehensive overview of family violence.
In many respects, family violence is incomprehensible. How could a husband or wife who supposedly love each other be physically violent? How could a mother purposely hurt her child? Research suggests, nevertheless, that family violence is far from uncommon. Given this reality, it may be helpful to consider some of the social and cultural conditions that not only make violence comprehensible but also, in some respects, make it a "normal", or culturally approved, part of family life. We can start with some broad explanations of violence such as as cultural acceptance of violence, structural characteristics of the family, deterrence factors, social structural factors. Then, we will look at some individual explanations.
Cultural acceptance of violence. On many levels, violence is an accepted, encouraged, and even glorified form of cultural expression. There may be a spill over effect in which the acceptance of violence in the culture contributes to violence in the family. Hitting a spouse is less tolerable than hitting a child, and hitting a woman is less acceptable than hitting a man. Still, a sizable minority of Americans think that hitting a spouse is permissible, whereas hitting a stranger is seen as an unacceptable form of violence, and perhaps a criminal act.
Structural characteristics of the family. Family life can be so stressful that many families are unable to cope with their problems. The continual interaction and power imbalances inherent in family living can create stresses and provoke violent assaults by family members on each other. Also, the privacy of families makes violence relatively easy to hide and sends a clear message to outsiders that it is "hands off" where family matters are concerned. Lack of public scrutiny sometimes decreases accountability of family members which can lead to abuse.
Deterrence factors. When there are few social or legal costs for violence, it becomes easier to abuse a family member and get away with it. One researcher describes this deterrence as "stakes in conformity." Reference is made to commitments to conventional goals, involvement in conventional activities, attachments to significant others, and beliefs that violence is wrong. People who have few stakes in conformity are free to commit deviant acts.
Deterrence theory assumes that humans will rationally weigh the costs and benefits of a behavior. Many professionals agree that: 1) the reason family violence is so common is that the potential cost of committing a violent act against a family member is so low, and; 2) increasing the legal costs of antisocial behavior will inevitably lead to a decrease in the amount of that behavior.
Social structural factors. Rates of family violence are higher in lower-income families. The unequal distribution of opportunities, along with the stress that come with poverty (financial worries, ill health, crowded living conditions) produce high levels of frustration in lower-income families. This stress and frustration sometimes result in aggression directed at innocent, yet convenient victims (spouses and children).
Psychologists describe a situation where frustration caused by blocked goals can lead to aggressive behavior against a family member. When the person or situation responsible for the frustration is not available as a target of the aggression, people sometimes direct their aggression out on an innocent person, or scapegoat.
Cultural and structural factors can help explain why family violence exists in a society but they don't help us understand why individual family members are violent. Researchers have pointed out the importance of childhood socialization in the developmental problems of family-violent offenders. We know that children learn specific forms or techniques for using violence as well as attitudes and thinking that justify violence.
One of the more widely accepted explanations for this behavior is social learning theory and a process called modeling. According to this theory, a person learns social and emotional behaviors by simply observing and imitating others. Violence tends to perpetuate itself from one generation to the next, "like father, like son". Also, a large number of studies have linked exposure to violence in one's childhood, whether directly or through observation, to violence in adulthood. Children in violent families, for example, may lack opportunities to learn appropriate conflict resolution skills and nonviolent assertiveness behaviors. These missed opportunities can result anger control deficits seen in adult batterers.
Family violence is a serious and complex social problem, and there is no one theory that can adequately explain it. Currently the trend is towards a multidisciplinary approach that will allow researchers and practitioners with differing views to share information and move more quickly to preventing future violence in families.
This is the second article in a six part series, entitled "Family Violence - Then and Now". Visit our website at www. serve.com/fvps and send your suggestions and comments to our email address at fvps@twave.net
David Maupin was educated as a clinical and school psychologist, and is now a marriage and family therapist in private practice. He is founder and director of the Family Violence Prevention Services program, a professional counseling service that helps families stop violence. For more information, call 828-632-7364.
Although marital violence as a social problem has come to provoke public outrage, on a more personal level its acceptance remains at surprisingly high levels. Defining just what constitutes marital violence is a problem. Even among researchers, there has been a long-lasting debate between mainstream sociologists and feminist scholars: one group believing that marital violence is mutual and family based, the other contending that marital violence is male based.
Defining personal interactions as abusive is a very personal matter. One approach to defining marital violence has been to break marital violence down into distinct, measurable categories such as verbal aggression, mild physical aggression, and severe physical aggression.
Attempts to assess marital violence have failed to provide clear-cut results. There continues to be controversy between those who accept official estimates and those who believe self-report surveys are more accurate estimates of the frequency of marital violence. While men and women probably initiate marital violence at approximately the same rates, research has consistently indicated that women are more likely to be injured as a result of the violence than are men.
Some explanations for marital violence have come from observing social and cultural characteristics, socialization, and substance abuse. Marital violence occurs most frequently between ages 18 and 30. Official estimates suggest that males are more seriously assaultive than females, and they commit a greater proportion of intimate homicides.
There is evidence that battering is more prevalent in blue-collar and lower-class families. However, marital violence occurs at all socioeconomic levels. There are no known racial differences in either the rate or severity of marital violence. Because of men's traditional "right" to be the decision maker in relationships with their spouses, some have wrongly assumed they also have the right to control and punish their partners. It is interesting to note that, in societies where women are treated equally, they are much less likely to be abused.
Researchers consistently find that men exposed to parental violence are more likely to be violent toward their spouses that are men not exposed to parental violence. There are studies indicating that inappropriate problem-solving strategies learned in childhood can carry over into adult relationships and can precipitate male/female violence.
The role of alcohol and drugs in marital violence is not clear. One researcher was quoted as saying, " Alcohol is neither a necessary nor a sufficient explanation for family violence, but is one important factor often associated with it." By themselves, other drugs, such as marijuana, LSD, heroin, or cocaine, are equally unlikely to cause violence.
Community professionals such as clergy, medical doctors, and mental health professionals have been slow to recognize family violence as a serious social problem. Likewise, law enforcement and the courts have responded cautiously. In recent years, however, much progress has been made. And much remains to be done. In order for the violence to stop, the offending party must be held accountable. Then, professional help must be available for the entire family.
This is the third article in a six part series, entitled "Family Violence - Then and Now". Visit our website at www. serve.com/fvps and send your suggestions and comments to our email address at fvps@twave.net
David Maupin was educated as a clinical and school psychologist, and is now a marriage and family therapist in private practice. He is founder and director of the Family Violence Prevention Services program, a professional counseling service that helps families stop violence. For more information, call 828-632-7364.
The focus of this article is on men, not because women are not violent and not because their violence should be overlooked. Research suggests that in a majority of incidents of spousal violence, it is more often the man's violence that results in injuries to the woman, and, for that reason, the woman is seen as the more victimized partner. It is also a fact that marital violence is often mutual.
The first studies of men who were violent with their wives were based on reports by the wives. This early information described the men's tendency to blame others and to minimize the seriousness of their own behavior. Men who had been accused of spousal violence later confirmed these descriptions in interviews. Probably the most common explanation given by these men for their violence goes something like this: "I told her not do do it (e.g., come in late, leave dirty dishes in the sink). She knew what would happen. She did it anyway. She got what she deserved."
While there is some support for biological forces contributing to male spousal violence, most researchers consider the forces of socialization to be of greater importance since violence is thought to be a learned behavior. Childhood socialization has been an area of considerable interest. One universal finding is that exposure to violence during childhood is associated with later male-to-female violence. It has also been found that observations of abuse by children may be a more powerful indicator of future marital violence than experiencing abuse directly.
Another area of interest by researchers is adult male socialization and cultural influences. Research suggests that men can be socialized to expect their wives to treat them with deference. Male entitlement to power in marriage, and the use of dominance in marital conflicts to manage female partners all have their origins in sex-role socialization.
Influences such as television, movies, magazines, dating partners, and peer groups have also been shown to promote aggression. Men receive a number of messages that encourage them to be tough, aggressive, competitive, and emotionally distant. However, not all men who have been socialized to be dominant beat their wives. Indeed, spousal violence is not universal in our society. It is used only by some men in some relationships.
A question that is receiving increased research scrutiny is whether the male violence observed in spousal relationships might have some biological basis. There is some evidence that biological determinants, such as hormones, may influence male violence. While hormonal differences might explain, in part, why men are seen as more violent than women, hormone levels do not explain why some men are violent in relationships with women and others are not.
Some of the most serious problems these men exhibit are those occurring in their personal relationships with women. Hostility, jealousy, insecurity, and emotional dependence are among those problems. Some men can experience high levels of stress over seemingly insignificant events such as their wives' "poor" housekeeping. They will frequently misperceive such events as a sign of their wives' disregard for them. In some cases, unable to make their needs known verbally, they may resort to violence as a means of resolving the perceived problem. These kinds of marital interactions are often so intolerable to the injured spouse that there is a breakup of the marriage, the very relationship that the man is fighting to keep intact.
Spousal violence can be stopped and families can remain intact if that is the desire of both husband and wife. For the violent male or female to make any real changes in their behavior, they must each receive appropriate counseling. Much of the work that must be done in effective counseling programs for men and women centers on their recognition that marital violence, whether physical or emotional, is inappropriate and that it will not be tolerated.
The effectiveness of counseling programs for men depends on a variety of factors. The manner in which men are referred for counseling is important. Referrals through the court system are best. When a man is arrested, that arrest challenges his belief that his arrest and conviction were unjust and that his use of violence was justified. When he is tried and found guilty of assaulting his wife, the responsibility for change is placed squarely on him. Court-ordered counseling keeps the men engaged in therapy and has proven effective in reducing subsequent violence in the relationship.
This is the fourth article in a six part series, entitled "Family Violence - Then and Now". Visit our website at www. serve.com/fvps and send your suggestions and comments to our email address at fvps@twave.net
David Maupin was educated as a clinical and school psychologist, and is now a marriage and family therapist in private practice. He is founder and director of the Family Violence Prevention Services program, a professional counseling service that helps families stop violence. For more information, call 828-632-7364.
We know that women can be victims of family violence, and so can their children, either directly or indirectly. We are learning that family violence is a problem that affects all family members, and that this violence can often result in more than a single victim. Men are also being seen as victims: victims of violence at the hand of their spouses or partners, and victims of a set of societal beliefs that are outdated and inappropriate.
Society has a tendency to blame its victims and victims of domestic violence are no exception. It is not uncommon to hear remarks like, "Why doesn't he or she or just leave?" There are those who seem willing to blame the women victim with little or no evidence, and the longer she remains in the relationship after being abused, the more likely she will be seen as blameworthy.
The violence that men and women may endure in abusive relationships can have profound effects on them. The low self-esteem frequently found often stems from being abused and not from any inherent personality difficulty. In general, men or women entering relationships that eventually become abusive do not differ initially from their counterparts who are not abused. A common reaction by victims to violence is the development of high levels of fear and depression. The extreme stress generated by exposure to violence may evoke a post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in some women.
Women who are abused typically try a number of nonviolent strategies (e.g., threaten divorce or leave temporarily) as well as counter violence to end the violence against them. Leaving, however, does not ensure a women's safety.
Women who choose to stay in abusive relationships have their reasons. In addition to economic dependence (e.g., need for shelter, transportation, and child care), these women feel committed to their marriages and believe that their husbands or partners will somehow change. They can also imagine the loss they would experience without a husband or father in the home. Finally, they receive little social support for the decision to leave.
Men and women who remain with their abusers seem to find a way to tolerate the violence by accepting it as normal, denying that it is a serious problem, or by accepting the blame themselves.
Most men in abusive relationships with women were raised in families where violence and threats of violence were frequently used to resolve differences. They are limited in their awareness of alternative, non-violent methods of problem-solving in their relationships with women.
From childhood, they have heard it said that "A man is the head of the house", and "A man is the breadwinner for his family." If either of these statements was ever true, neither has any practical application today. Marriage is seen more as a partnership, and two incomes are required to keep the houseboat afloat. Measured against standards of an earlier time, some men see themselves as less "important" in contemporary relationships with women. Violence is sometimes seen, though incorrectly, as a means of asserting of their position in that relationship.
In the broader context, these men are victims. They are victims of the culture. Times have changed but they have not changed with the times as well as most women have. They have been left behind by a culture that encourages some forms of violent expression but punishes others. The image of "manhood" is different for them than it was for their fathers. They feel much confusion and resentment.
Finally, children are frequent victims of violence. Although children may not be the primary victims, they are victims still because they have been witnesses to the violence or have experienced neglect because of their parents' involvement with violence. Children become victims when they try to intervene between assaultive adults, when they try to protect themselves or their siblings, or when they see people they love hurting or being hurt.
Children thrive in environments where they can feel safe, where expression of emotion is encouraged, where structure is provided to encourage a sense of safety, where choice is encouraged to promote a feeling of competence, and where non-violent problem-solving is practiced.
This is the fifth article in a six part series, entitled "Family Violence - Then and Now". Visit our website at www. serve.com/fvps and send your suggestions and comments to our email address at fvps@twave.net
David Maupin was educated as a clinical and school psychologist, and is now a marriage and family therapist in private practice. He is founder and director of the Family Violence Prevention Services program, a professional counseling service that helps families stop violence. For more information, call 828-632-7364.
Family violence prevention goes hand-in-hand with the recognition that family violence is a serious problem in our communities. Such recognition isn't easy. This is a problem that often goes unnoticed. Violence in families frequently remains invisible because family members are reluctant to report it. Professionals may not detect the presence of violence or they may fail to report it when they realize it has occurred. There are those who argue persuasively that the solutions to family violence are to be found among the various social ills that directly or indirectly influence its victims such as poverty, unemployment, and inadequate housing. However, societal-level solutions are often the most difficult to describe and implement.
On a more practical level, there is considerable agreement that "violence begets violence." That is, the acceptance and glorification of violence, the victimization of children, and marital violence all contribute to the level of violence in our communities. A number of examples appear to strengthen the "violence begets violence" position. For example:
1. Children who grow up in a climate of violence, either as abused children or as observers of abuse, are more likely to commit acts of violence than children who have not grown up in a climate of violence. 2. Abused children are more aggressive toward their peers than children who have not been abused. 3. The more children are spanked, the more likely they are to be violent toward their siblings, commit juvenile delinquency and serious crimes, and to be abusive spouses or abusive parents. 4. Children and young adults who are exposed to violent television display more aggression than children who are not.
Most experts in the field emphasize the importance of preventing family violence rather than reacting to it after the fact. However, human service providers and community leaders have traditionally adopted a crisis management approach instead of developing needed preventive measures. As professionals we seem to be good at reporting and investigating, and not so good at treatment and prevention. Too many communities continue to direct the bulk of their resources toward responding to, rather than preventing, family violence.
Prevention efforts are beginning to take hold, however. An increasing number of successful projects are being directed at potential victims and perpetrators, and families at-risk of violence. School-based programs teach elementary children the social skills they will need to get along and to solve problems without using violence. Participation by high school and college students in courtship violence awareness programs may be useful in preventing family violence, and later on, marital violence.
Health care providers are receiving additional training that will help them respond more effectively to family violence. Also, training is taking place to promote interagency collaboration. When police, lawyers, and treatment providers work together, the improvement in outcomes is dramatic. Judges and district attorneys have a substantial role in the prevention of violence. It is important that the courts convey a clear message that family violence is unacceptable and that it will not be tolerated. A community that refuses to tolerate a behavior is likely to produce fewer citizens who engage in that behavior.
Some communities are being effective in preventing family violence by helping at-risk families identify and meet their needs. This is an especially popular approach for child abuse prevention because many abusive and neglectful parents may not know how to be good parents. They may be young and immature, have economic pressures, and be socially isolated. Maritally violent couples may experience similar problems. Those who focus on marital violence interventions believe that prevention efforts should take place as early as possible.
Preventing family violence begins with social awareness and the recognition that expertise, energy, and money will be needed to effectively address the conditions that produce family violence. With any problem, early detection and intervention are crucial to the prevention of more serious problems. The problem of family violence is no different. Recognizing that family violence is a serious problem in our communities, committing the necessary resources, identifying families at risk early on, and providing needed services are the heart of violence prevention.
This is the last article in a six part series, entitled "Family Violence - Then and Now". Visit our website at www. serve.com/fvps and send your suggestions and comments to our email address at fvps@twave.net
David Maupin was educated as a clinical and school psychologist, and is now a marriage and family therapist in private practice. He is founder and director of the Family Violence Prevention Services program, a professional counseling service that helps families stop violence. For more information, call 828-632-7364.
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If you have questions, comments or suggestions, email me at fvps@twave.net
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