What happened to you? A new approach to Perpetrator Programmes
If you integrate ACEs science into perpetrator programs, recidivism plummets, and men (and women) heal
A new approach to perpetrator programmes in America that are “integrating trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are delivering astounding results.”
The article ‘If you integrate ACEs science into batterer intervention programs, recidivism plummets, and men (and women) heal’ written by Jane Stevens and recently published by ACEs Connection  states that “the recidivism rate for traditional batterer intervention programs ranges from 20 to 60 percent, according to research cited in a report published by the Duluth Model. These new programs, developed over the last 10 years, are seeing recidivism rates that range from zero to four percent.
As the article states…
“Traditional batterer intervention programs have a big gaping hole: They’re good at describing what men and women do to abuse their partners (intentionally control or dominate an intimate partner), and what they should stop doing (stop using power tactics against their partners), but they don’t get at the roots of why men and women abuse their partners: their adverse childhood experiences.
Basically, the programs do two things differently:
- They ask people who’ve abused: “What happened to you?†and in that process, ask them about their childhood adversity and educate them about what happened to their brains and behavior as a result of the toxic stress from the ACEs they experienced that led them to abusing others;
- And they’ve designed the entire program to model healthy relationships so that people who abuse can experience what they didn’t see or learn growing up, It starts by naming the Batterer Intervention Program something else, such as Building Healthy Relationships or Breaking the Cycle.”
To read the full article click here…