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Setting Up a Domestic Violence Service
Author(s) -
Vetere Arlene,
Cooper Jan
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
child and adolescent mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1475-3588
pISSN - 1475-357X
DOI - 10.1111/1475-3588.00048
Subject(s) - domestic violence , confidentiality , work (physics) , service (business) , human factors and ergonomics , social work , poison control , psychology , frame (networking) , suicide prevention , occupational safety and health , social psychology , applied psychology , medicine , computer security , political science , medical emergency , business , computer science , engineering , law , mechanical engineering , telecommunications , marketing
Background: This paper describes some of the issues we confronted and resolved in setting up an independent dedicated domestic violence service. Method: In our project we work with violent behaviour that is known or suspected in the contexts of both assessment and therapy. We describe our policy on domestic violence, including confidentiality, our reflecting practices, our relationships with referrers as a means of managing the risk of violence, and the assessment and evaluation procedures we use for the assessment of risk of violence. We include some discussion of the effects of domestic violence on children and the effects of doing this work on ourselves. Conclusions: We conclude by discussing the moral issues involved for us as therapists in doing this work, the impact of the legal frame within which we work, and some of the social and psychological theories we find helpful in understanding the causes and effects of violent behaviour in the family.