Male Batterers to Be Counseled Using ‘Duluth Model’ Discipline

VILLAS – Families Matter, a counseling firm here, is bringing a new discipline to the area entitled the Duluth Model. It deals with men who batter their wives or partners.
The question they pose is: Do batterers (in this instance, men who beat, terrorize, control and intimidate their wives or girlfriends) believe they have a right to control and dominate by virtue of their sex? Do they see their wives/girlfriends as possessions that they have a right to rule over as they see fit?
Is battering a spouse an attitudinal problem of male entitlement? The Duluth Model thinks so. The model was developed in Duluth, Minn. in the 1980s with women who had been battered by their boyfriends or mates. It has been translated into 22 languages and is the recipient of an award.
First, battered women believed their mates had anger issues. After speaking to counselors, and identifying the behavior of their batterers, they decided that it was a power and control issue, an issue of entitlement.
The Duluth Model is successful because it is grounded in the experience of victims. It helps offenders and society change, and pulls the whole community together to support the victim. Agencies work together to try new approaches.
“To keep women safe, we have to help men change,” said Melissa Scaia, who works for Duluth Model in Minnesota. “Our model is the most widely used model across the world.”
Patricia M. Campbell, director and licensed profesional counselor, manages Families Matter, 899 Bayshore Road. Campbell is assembling a Batterer’s Intervention Program. She hopes to begin in November based on the Duluth Model.
She has spent over 20 years working with treatment of addiction within the family and in counseling.
The program works within the court system, from the call to 911, and to the family court; there is a systematic model developed.
Participating patients can’t be under the influence of drugs or alcohol while in the 26-week program. It is designed to have the abuser come to grips with his attitudes and consequent behavior.
It is an interactive program in which the participants write what they do on a board and then take a look at it themselves. They have to grasp what they are doing and why they are doing it.
The Duluth Model has the primary goal of promoting victim safety and batterer accountability. Offenders must be held accountable for their behavior toward others, acknowledging that responsibility for violence in interpersonal relationships lies solely with the perpetrator. The program provides intervention services to court-ordered and voluntary domestic violent offenders with the goal of rehabilitation. In doing so, the victim’s safety is the primary concern in all program applications, group processes, administrative operations and any activity with or without the batterer.
It is a program distinct from anger management programs. The curriculum must include an exploration of the abuser’s own socialization in regard to learned patterns of domination, issues related to the abuser’s parenting and shall teach alternatives to the use of power and control in interpersonal relationships.
New Jersey Superior Court Family Division is reviewing the proposal but no agreement has been signed as yet.
Michelle Keating, licensed social worker and Joseph Fiordaliso, counselor, will run the program predicated on the Duluth Model. They have been to Duluth to study with the people who developed the model.
Sixty-eight percent of offenders who move through Duluth’s criminal justice system and the men’s non-violence classes do not reappear in the justice system eight years out.
The program is offered for men only, and the initial assessment shall consider the history of violence in the relationship, and if the act is part of a pattern of coercion or force to maintain control in the relationship.
Feedback to the court shall be based on the assessment of battering and shall include recommendations for appropriate intervention, including services for victims, if indicated, with the goal of non-recidivism. If there is evidence of a significant substance abuse or mental health concern, a referral will be made for further evaluation.
The Batterers Intervention Program consists of weekly 1.5-hour group sessions for 26 weeks. Attendance is mandatory and credit will not be given for any missed sessions. Participants who show a pattern of non-attendance or non-compliance with group will be discharged.
Cape May County Superior Court, Family Division, said there were 680 domestic abuse cases in 2014, and the year prior had 891 cases registered with the court.
Essentially, batterers are disassociating from their wives/girlfriends when they begin to call them names. The male batterer gets progressively more enthusiastic as he objectifies her. Their actions may become almost automatic, but with a few exceptions, every abusive act has intent. For example, a man may use degrading names, calling his partner a whore or slut prior to grabbing, shaking, or slapping her. While he does not think, “First I’m going to objectify her, then I’m going to hit her,” objectifying his partner through degrading names allows him to hit the object he has created rather than his partner. This pattern may be so ingrained in his history and cultural experience that it seems second nature to him.
Families Matter has purchased the materials from the Duluth model, and they have sent their counselors there to study it. Now they are exploring partnering with area agencies and courts that routinely deal with battering, like CARA, and Family Court.
Cost is $40 per week for a 1.5-hour group session. If financial hardship is documented, the program fee may be lowered. For information, call Families Matter at 886-8666. The program is expected to be fully functional and operating in early November.
To contact Barbara Beitel, email bbeitel@cmcherald.com.