Treatment of Male & Female Domestic Violence Offenders: Issues, Controversies, Approaches, and Practical Techniques

This workshop focuses on some of the controversies and current issues in the field of spouse/partner abuse, including approaches and techniques that have been utilized for those accused or confirmed of abusing their partner, typologies of male and female offenders, recent research concerning the effectiveness of intervention, and the types of treatment or other interventions that might be appropriate. This workshop discusses and demonstrates intervention approaches and techniques for both male and female offenders, including an abuse-specific couples approach.  Topics included in this presentation are definition of intimate partner abuse vs aggression, readiness to change, best practices, trauma informed and empowerment-based intervention, and evaluation of effectiveness.  Examples from specific treatment programs (Ending Spouse/Partner Abuse by Geffner and Mantooth; Treatment of Women Arrested for Domestic Violence: Women Ending Abusive/Violent Episodes Respectfully by Koonin, Cabarcas, & Geffner) are presented, and the various exercises and techniques in it are discussed. Finally, the criteria for successful treatment are presented. The first part of this workshop will focus on current issues, research and best practices, and the second part focuses on specific treatment techniques and video case examples.

Objectives:
 

After this session, participants will be able to:

1. List 2 ways brain functioning relates to IPV/IPA.
2. List 2 reasons readiness to change is important in IPV/IPA treatment.
3. Describe 3 intervention best practices.
4. List 2 differences of female and male offender treatments.
5. List 3 techniques for treating IPV/IPA offenders.  
6. Describe 2 ways to determine effectiveness of IPV/IPA treatment.