Community Care have noted down the few key points from the guidance on working with perpertrators, they are as follows:

Identifying the perpetrator 

To identify who is doing what to whom, with what consequences and in what context, in order to understand who is the perpetrator and who is the victim and tailor responses appropriately, practitioners need to look at as many of the following as possible:

• injuries and whether they could have been caused in self-defence;
• fear and coercive control;
• a history of violence and threats;
• the context in which incidents took place.

Seeing the larger picture, not just 'the incident'

Research with men who have used violence and abuse against a partner shows that they often talk about domestic abuse as though it was ‘a one off’, or that a single act of physical violence is disconnected to the use of power, coercion and control within their relationships more generally. Domestic abuse is never a single, one-off ‘incident’ and practitioners shouldn’t use this language because it can have a reinforcing message. 

Understanding coercive control

It is linked to this larger picture and not just ‘the incident’ where a more nuanced understanding of domestic abuse is important. The concept of ‘coercive control’ – now a criminal offence – can be useful in getting a deeper understanding of partner violence. Stark’s (2009) concept of ‘coercive control’ emerged out of accounts from female victims and how their day-to-day lives were controlled by their partners. It was the ‘everydayness’ that was the most restrictive and impactful on their lives – their freedom to be who they wanted to be and live their lives in the way they wanted to that was narrowed because of the potential for violence and abuse.

Article published by Community Care: 2nd October 2017

To read the full article by Community Care click here.

If you are a Community Care Inform subscriber, you can read the guide on Inform Adults and Inform Children.

For more information and support about working with perpetrators and referring to perpetrator programmes, contact the Respect Phoneline.

Warwickshire Safeguarding Adults Board have a webpage full of information about Adult Safeguarding and Domestic Abuse, click here to find out more.

If you suspect that you, or someone you know are subject to Domestic Abuse and Violence, click here to see how to recognise and report abuse.