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Intimate Partner Abuse Education Program

A structured group education program for individuals identified by courts, DCF, or self as perpetrators of intimate partner abuse.

Our certified Intimate Partner Abuse Education Program is a forty-week program, which provides educational groups for perpetrators of intimate partner abuse and resource information to partners and victims as part of a coordinated community response. Since 1999, our IPAEP has represented a critical component of a coordinated community response to domestic violence by documenting abuse, assessing dangerousness, monitoring behavior, creating a paper trail regarding compliance with conditions of probation and providing information and resources to the victims. Our program can give offenders a reason to change and a method for doing so, but it is up to the individual abuser to decide whether or not he or she will continue to be violent. Our curricula examine all forms of abusive behavior and their impact toward intimate partners and children, and the cultural and social influences that contribute to violence. The female/male co-facilitators encourage offenders to adopt respectful and non-abusive behaviors toward their intimate partners and children, in part by modeling equal relationships. In the IPAEP, power and control are viewed as the primary problems, unlike anger management programs, where anger is viewed as the primary problem. Groups are held for two hours, once a week, for forty weeks.

FAQs

An intake fee of $75 is required at the initial appointment. The weekly fee is $40.00, or $20.00 with community service at a non-profit of the client’s choice.
Yes, the referral party receives monthly reports on the client’s attendance and participation.
We offer the program to Portuguese-speaking clients as well as English-speaking.
We offer groups for women as well.
We strive to end domestic violence by providing educational groups for offenders and resource information to partners and victims as part of a coordinated community response.
The relationship between substance abuse and domestic violence is complicated, but it is clear that when an offender has a drinking or other drug problem, there are two separate issues that need to be addressed: domestic violence and substance abuse. Certified IPAEP’s are required to screen all participants for substance abuse and refer them to collateral treatment when needed.
Victims have reported renewed violence in retaliation for disclosures they made during couples counseling. Therefore, couples counseling can only be effective after the offender has completed a certified IPAEP.
Outcome studies have shown that offenders who complete certified IPAEP’s are much less likely to commit new acts of violence than those who don’t attend programs or those who fail to complete them. Several studies have replicated the finding that 2/3 of men who complete batterer intervention programs do not recidivate within an 18 month follow-up period.

Testimonials

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