Supporting parents and children to recover from family violence.
A key feature of Beyond the Violence is it’s focus on strengthening the parent/child relationship. This not only occurs through the program content, but through the nature of the program design, which utilises concurrent parent and children’s groups followed by a family group session.
Extensive research from Australia and Internationally demonstrates that Family Violence has a significant impact on childhood development, parent-child relationships and family functioning (Downey 2009; Perry 2001; Shonkoff & Phillips 2000). Childhood trauma from family violence can significantly affect parent-child attachment, children’s emotional regulation, social skills; sense of self/identity, learning and memory (Downey 2009).
Alongside the act of physical violence, other forms of violence and control have significant impacts (Perry 2001). Emotional violence can include humiliation, coercion, degradation and the threat of abandonment or physical assault (Perry 2001). Humphries and Stanley (2006) refer to the direct and indirect ways that parenting is affected by family violence. These include the high anxiety and depression which undermines a parent’s ability to care for their children, and a preoccupation with trying to control the domestic environment so that the perpetrator’s needs are prioritised and the children’s needs for playing, attention and fun are not met, or sporadically met.
An Australian Institute of Family Studies Survey found that 52.5% of children who experienced family violence felt helpless, and 28.8% felt the fights were their fault. These effects can continue post-separation, and children can feel more vulnerable after separation (Bagshaw, 2007 in Bagshaw et. al. 2011).
The recovery process entails assistance not just for the individual women and children, but for the relationship between them (Humphreys and Stanley 2006). Humphreys and Stanley (2006) contend that this is an essential aspect of family violence intervention, which has been marginalised through failures to conceptualise family violence as not only an attack on the survivor (usually the mother), but also an assault on her relationship with her children.
Evidence informed approaches to support recovery post family violence therefore indicate:
- A parent-child dual approach is necessary to effectively support children in recovery post violence, and is consistently documented as a feature of effective intervention for these children (US Department of Justice 2010; Miller 2006).
- Children need modelling and support in the areas of friendship skills; emotional intelligence; emotional regulation; and alternatives to violence/power (DeBoard-Lucas et. al. 2013)
- Non-violent parent involvement is crucial. Support for non-violent parents needs to include understanding child development and emotional regulation; decreasing parental stress; understanding the impacts of violence on parent-child relationships; and extending social supports (DeBoard-Lucas et. al. 2013; Miller 2006).
Family Violence undermines the parent-child relationship and it is vital that this is addressed to allow families to move forward to a future free from violence. Safe, supportive relationships are the foundation for healing and recovery from trauma such as Family Violence (Downey 2009). Beyond the Violence provides opportunities for families to strengthen and repair these relationships and begin the process of moving forward with their lives.
