title: Approaching the subject of violence: a response-based approach to working with men who have abused others.
abstract: Traditional effects-based approaches to therapeutic work with men who have abused others often attempt to intervene by correcting personal deficits assumed to be causing the violence. This not only creates a hierarchical counseling relationship but also can inadvertently excuse aggressive actions. In this article, we outline a response-based alternative that emphasizes questions of choice, agency, and volition within a collaborative therapeutic relationship. Rather than impose external correction, we pay attention to details of how men describe their violent acts and position themselves as agents of those acts as we work toward supporting them in their own acts of self-correction.
authors.affiliation: City University of Seattle, Calgary, Alberta, Canada ticknodd@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Todd
authors.affiliation: Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Weaver-Dunlop
authors.affiliation: Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ogden
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D002755:Choice Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D000066511:Intimate Partner Violence / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012941:Social Responsibility; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: counseling; interpersonal violence; perpetrators; response-based