Engaging Men

The LCCEWA is committed to working to build individual and collective capacity to effectively engage men who use violence in order to increase safety for women and children.  Through collaboration with community partners including Changing Ways, our local Partner Assault Response (PAR) program, we are working together to build a shared understanding of risk assessment in order to recognize and respond to domestic violence in our community.

 Since 2003, there have been over 350 domestic homicides and 500 deaths in Ontario: The vast majority (71%) appear predictable and preventable

 

Centre for Research for Education on Violence Against Women & Children (CREVAWC)

Make it Our Business (MIOB) Pilot

 The Centre for Research received a grant from the Department of Justice to do a pilot project with sites in London, Toronto, and Ottawa. Three components to the project include:

  1. MIOB Domestic Violence in the Workplace Training

  2. B-Safer risk assessment training

  3. Develop fee-for-service risk assessment & safety planning 

Risk Assessment Leadership Infographic.jpg

 

In May 2019 a Leadership Summit was hosted by CREVAWC with cross-sector leaders to discuss how to prevent domestic homicide through a collaborative community approach to addressing and managing risk.  In October, a B-Safer training has held with a targeted group who will use the tool in their work.  This was followed by a practical discussion about how to implement B-Safer in

 

The Brief Spousal Assault for the Evaluation of Risk (B-SAFER) is a set of comprehensive structured professional judgment (SPJ) guidelines for assessing and managing risk for intimate partner violence. The B-SAFER (Second Edition) was developed in Canada by Dr. Randall Kropp, Dr. Stephen Hart and Dr. Henrik Belfrage, and is often used by professionals working with victims and/or perpetrators of intimate partner violence including criminal justice, mental health, social work, health care, and victim support professionals.

  

Domestic Violence Safety Project

Lessons Learned

The 2012 pilot project involved a partnership between Changing Ways, London Police Service, John Howard Society, Women’s Community House, Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women and Children, and OISE, University of Toronto.

The goal was to support men facing charges of a domestic violence offence during their involvement with the criminal justice system

Premise:

  • Women and children are safer when their partners are provided with services and support to target those dynamic risk factors that contribute to creating heightened risk
  • Interventions are directed at risk management strategies that ensure both accountability and support

Eligibility:

  • Men charged with a domestic violence offence who were not incarcerated and who were not eligible for the Early Intervention Program

Process:

  • Following a domestic violence charge, men in police cells were offered the program and, if they accepted, their information was given to Changing Ways for follow up
  • Men met regularly one-on-one with a men’s counsellor for both support & accountability
  • A risk assessment using the B-SAFER tool (https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/fl-lf/famil/rr05_fv1-rr05_vf1/p5.html) was conducted at each session to capture the evolving picture of dynamic risk
  • The counsellor worked closely with the man to help him identify those risk factors that created a risk of reoffending; identify a safety plan; identify more resources that he could utilize in a crisis; and connect him to community resources

  • Key risk factors included:

    • Unemployment
    • Poverty
    • Homelessness
    • Substance abuse
    • Mental Illness
    • Isolation

Results - Results from men who participated in the pilot vs the control group were statistically significant and pointed to lasting change as results were measured at different intervals including one year later.

  • o Men were significantly more stable, with less transience, and were able to identify their dynamic risk factors and have strategies in place to mitigate them, and were more connected to community resources.
  • o Results were also significant for London Police Service with the pilot program men being 50% less likely to be charged and/or arrested resulting in less police involvement, and with a 30% reduction in policing costs.

Other Project Sites

  • Women’s Rural Resource Centre of Strathroy & Area worked closely with the Strathroy-Caradoc Police Service to target lower risk offenders with earlier intervention
  • Following from the success of the London pilot, a provincial pilot was conducted with High Risk Domestic Violence Safety Project being implemented in Sudbury, Woodstock and Ottawa.

  • Lessons learned in the provincial project included:

    • The men were similar in all jurisdictions
    • Systemic resistance and entrenched biases against domestic violence offenders is deep and problematic
    • Community development is critical
    • There’s a wide range of diversity in the criminal justice response
    • There’s a critical need for training and capacity building
    • Information sharing is possible even between sectors
    • Lack of anonymity can be a barrier as well as lack of resources

On March 24th, 2015 the Working with High Risk Domestic Violence Offenders Conference was held with participation from a wide cross sector of organizations. Included were lessons learned from the justice sector, VAW/shelter experience, and discussion focused on pushing this work to a wider range of community partners that work with men to build their capacity to listen for risk, understand the context and be aware of patterns of behavior in order to help change the trajectory of violence with even simple interventions.