cultural context model: Therapy for couples with domestic violence, The

Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Jul 1999 by Almeida, Rhea V, Durkin, Tracy

Culture circles are structured differently for men and women. For men, personal accountability to others is emphasized over concern with self. The men are encouraged to take the time to attend to their impact on others and are held accountable for their destructive or controlling behaviors by sponsors and other men in the culture circle. For women, culture circles emphasize empowerment and the need to take less responsibility for the overall well-being of their families. We encourage women to stop overfocusing on their guilt and to begin to experience anger as an appropriate response to being controlled or abused.

Evidence of change. Throughout Phases I and II, we use the dimensions of power and control (see Fig. 1) to evaluate the degree to which men are working to change patterns of dominance. We determine this not only by the attitudes and behaviors that men show in their culture circles but, more importantly, by what women are reporting in theirs. Specifically, changes by men are reflected in all aspects of the relationship, including nonthreatening behavior, respectful and affirming ways of relating, trust and support, honesty and accountability (including acknowledging past use of violence), admitting being wrong, accepting responsibility for self, communicating openly and truthfully, responsible parenting/caregiving, economic partnership, and, finally, negotiation and fairness through seeking mutually satisfying solutions to conflict and showing the ability to compromise (Almeida, Woods, Font, & Messineo 1992; Pence & Paymar, 1990). These changes are essential to initiating couples work.

Phase HT Intervention: Conjoint Therapy

Phase III marks the beginning of couples and/or family therapy. To underscore the essential, conjoint work only begins for batterers after they have successfully completed the 9-month program and shown the necessary changes in behavior and attitude and, for nonviolent men, once they have made clear moves toward equitable, noncontrolling ways of relating to their partners. Within an accountability framework for therapy, the coupleunit boundaries remain flexible and open to conversations among other men, for the batterer, and among other women, for the victim. Therefore, couples work is done in conjunction with each partner's ongoing participation in their respective culture circles. Couples treatment should only occur with men who have been educated about, and made substantive changes in, their destructive forms of power and control over partners and children. When even subtle patterns of dominating behavior resurface, therapists should take them seriously and not go with "business as usual." When men resort to old patterns, they should be challenged within the larger community context and not within the couple-and-therapist system. Instead, we take information gained in marital and family sessions back into the larger culture circles, always maintaining the collective process of accountability and continuing to ensure safety for the family. In our 15-year experience using this format, no woman participating in our program has ever been physically hurt.