DV-ACTION Programmes
Partner Abuse Interventions
Where there is a need for a full risk assessment a Partner Abuse Intervention can be delivered alongside the assessment. This wraparound assessment and intervention provides an opportunity for parents to receive an intervention more quickly and enables parents to demonstrate that they can make positive changes to behaviours of concern.
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The traditional route whereby a generic intervention is sourced in the early stages of local authority involvement is often unsuitable for the complex needs of parents within child protection measures, resulting in a lack of progress which moves the case into care proceedings. Assessments completed within care proceedings that indicate that parents are able to make the necessary changes when offered a tailored intervention often leads to a delay in proceedings while parents complete the work or parents are not given the opportunity to attend an intervention due to restrictions in the court timetable.
Completing a targeted treatment intervention at an early stage that aims to achieving genuine progress for parents in protecting their children, shortens timescales, provides evidence as to the parents ability to safeguard the child and avoid further proceedings. The accompanying assessment report will push the case forward providing an expert opinion on the risk posed to the child, and fills a gap in evidence as to whether parents are able to safeguard their child.
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Please note that these interventions are only available when referred by a social worker in care proceedings or child protection measures.
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Types of interventions
These interventions will involve an initial 2 hour assessment interview with an expert risk assessor who will advise on the right route for the parent within an initial suitability assessment report. This will be followed by a 12-week intervention and a final interview to complete the full risk and vulnerability assessment report, which will include the progress made within the intervention.
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A Needs PAI includes a risk or vulnerability assessment alongside a 12 session programme that meets the immediate child protection concerns around safety and increasing accountability. Victim work will concentrate on domestic abuse education, safety planning and recognising risk; A Perpetrator intervention will involve motivational work to increase levels of acceptance with the aim of moving them to a position where they will be suitable for a full behavioural change programme. Where there are high levels of trauma within the parents background trauma work can be included or the full TraumaSense programme can be delivered.
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The Needs Intervention path is suitable for:
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​Victims who remain in a relationship with the abuser
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Where there is limited acceptance of the risk concerns by the parent
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Where mental health and substance misuse difficulties are likely to hinder the parents ability to engage on an intensive programme of behavioural change
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High levels of trauma
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Perpetrators whose level of denial, minimisation and blame mean they are unsuitable for a full behaviour change programme.
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Behaviour Change PAI - includes a risk or vulnerability assessment alongside a full intensive behaviour change programme. The victims programme will focus on the attachment to the abusive partner, with reflective work on how the attachment was formed and how the mothers vulnerability to further abuse can be reduced; the full Domestic Abuse Prevention Programme (DAPP) will be delivered to the offending parent.
The Behaviour Change Intervention path is suitable for:
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Victims no longer living with the abusive partner who are willing to reflect on their previous relationship
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Perpetrators that make some admissions of their abusive behaviour
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There are no mental health or substance misuse issues that would reduce the effectiveness of an intervention
Features of the DV-ACTION partner abuse interventions
Focused
Safeguarding children is the primary focus with sessions designed specifically to target immediate child protection needs.
Bespoke
Focused 1:1 sessions are delivered by a domestic abuse specialist to meet main areas of concern.
Accessible
Content is matched to the client's learning style and abilities with a tablet provided to enable access to sessions and online learning.
Available
Parents have the opportunity to undertake an intervention when other programmes may not be available.
Court Ready
A full assessment that can be used in court is provided to aid the local authority in clarifying the risk concerns.
Delivery of assessment and intervention
All programme sessions are delivered remotely on a one-to-one basis using a video calling app (such as Zoom) with a specialist treatment worker. Interventions will be overseen by an expert registered domestic abuse risk assessor who will complete the suitability and final assessment reports.
Further details on the contents of our programmes can be found through the links to the relevant page on this site.
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The content of DVACT-PAI family safety assessments are available on the DV-ACT PAI website here with details of registered expert assessors also available on the experts register page here.
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