Why It Works
Cost effective
Today's Temper Domestic Violence course is the product of nearly three decades of clinical experience.
Our therapeutically informed approach, known as the Heart Of England model, has been vindicated by a plethora of new evidence from neuroscience and in the outcomes we see.
It is cost effective at just £480 per place. We are not aware of a more efficient, effective way of producing behaviour change.
High completion rate
Domestic abuse interventions are only effective with follow through. We have a completion rate of more than 90% compared to 25% among accredited Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programmes.
In almost all cases individuals are intrigued and fascinated by our course and become so involved in it, and with one another, that they rarely think of leaving, even though the work is challenging.
On occasions when someone cannot complete the second weekend because of illness or sudden work commitments, virtually all will start again so that they can complete it.
We build trust quickly
Trust is the base ingredient for effective psychotherapeutic work. Our groups are small — we accept a maximum of eight people onto each course. Clients therefore quickly build trust with one another and the facilitators.
We work intensively
Domestic abuse courses over 36 hours don't have better outcomes (Paulin 2014). Our course runs for 36 hours across two weekends a month apart. This is convenient and effective.
Convenient because:
- minimum time is wasted on transport and settling in
- minimal time is lost by clients in work (and earning potential)
Effective because:
- intensive work promotes deeper self enquiry, building self awareness quickly
- there is no 'hiding place'
- facilitators are on site all day to offer extra individual support
- clients have a month to practise their new skills
This is why people have travelled the length and breadth of England, Scotland and Wales to attend and people have also flown in from central European countries and indeed from Asia.
We work experientially
Our course centres on experiential learning via guided exercises because humans integrate learning with practical experience. Some exercises are challenging and disorienting, for good reason.
Change happens fast
Once the right emotion is 'touched', the behavioural changes can and do happen quickly.
We develop communication skills
Our attendees are asked to repeatedly practice listening, feeding back and eye contact, which is often the first time they have received this kind of guidance.
We are Person Centred
Therapeutically informed approaches are more effective than purely educational programmes that are confrontational and rigid.
We do more than educate
While we do use psycho-education, the emphasis is on experiential learning and the development of personal insight with opportunities to reflect and be vulnerable in a group therapy setting. Purely educational programmes do not result in long-term reduction of intimate partner violence (Slabber 2012).
We work with the client's traumatic history
Many people who come to us have never had the opportunity to take stock of all the trauma and difficulty they have experienced from a young age.
Abusive behaviour is almost always a result of unprocessed trauma. This can only be approached when we have established trust and safety in the group.
The research clearly indicates that an effective approach for male perpetrators of intimate partner violence is to provide therapeutic treatment that focuses on the perpetrator's traumatic history and other individual difficulties (Vlais 2014).
We are non-ideological
There is a shortage of services for individuals who want to change their abusive behaviour in the UK. One reason for this is political. To receive referrals via Social Services and the family courts, organisations have been encouraged to get their Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programmes (DAPPs) accredited by the domestic abuse organisation Respect.
Unfortunately, Respect's guidelines reflect an ideological vision of domestic abuse rather than evidence. Accredited DAPPs failed domestic abusers, their families and the taxpayer, so commissioning arrangements for them in private family law cases came to an end on 31 March 2023.
Temper Domestic Violence has never been accredited, which fortunately means we are able to continue providing high quality, effective domestic abuse services independent of government funding.