Safe Haven, a Columbus shelter for domestic violence victims, has received a $2,550 grant to implement a domestic abuse intervention program in Lowndes County.
United Way of Lowndes County provided the Venture Grant to the group. These grants are given to local non-profits to help them create innovative programs to reach needs in the community.
The domestic abuse intervention program Safe Haven is implementing is a 24-week program for domestic abusers aimed at changing their attitudes and violent behaviors. Safe Haven Director Joyce Tucker said the program will offer training, not counseling services. Judges in Columbus and Lowndes County could refer offenders to the program, according to Tucker.
Local judges currently refer domestic abusers to anger management classes. Tucker has previously told The Dispatch that anger management classes do not treat the root cause of intimate partner violence, which has more to do with power and control, than with managing anger.
Tucker said the Venture Grant provides the non-profit with the necessary funding to train two facilitators for the program. Two Golden Triangle residents with masters in counseling and backgrounds in social work have agreed to be facilitators, according to Tucker. She declined to name them.
The grant covers the cost of fall training in Lafayette, Louisiana, as well as transportation and boarding expenses. The center in Lafayette is the closest one that trains facilitators using the Duluth Model, a training model that stresses the need to change behaviors of batterers rather than just focusing on managing anger, according to Tucker.
How, why it works
Individuals in domestic abuse intervention program would be self-referred or referred by a judge, Tucker said. To be enrolled, offenders would pay an upfront assessment fee of $35 followed by $15 per session. The sessions will take place once a week.
Municipal Judge Marc Amos told The Dispatch he would refer some people accused of domestic violence who appear before him to the program as long as it complies with state codes.
Amos likes the idea because the program, he said, will likely be more successful than anger management classes in changing offenders’ behaviors for the long-term because of its length and intensive approach.
When planning the program, Safe Haven worked with The Center for Violence Prevention, a shelter for domestic abuse victims in Pearl, which has a domestic abuse intervention program. Officials with that center said it has a recidivism rate of less than 5 percent for individuals who complete the sessions. That center’s program coordinator, Ben Ellard, credited the success to its length and said about four or five weeks into the sessions, offenders start to acknowledge the need to change their attitudes.
Amos also said some offenders enrolled in the program may face additional legal consequences, but that would be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Could begin in November
Training for the facilitators will take place October 12-14. Tucker hopes the program can begin accepting referrals in November. The weekly sessions will be held in the Justice Court Building. Lowndes County Sheriff Mike Arledge has offered to have a deputy present for security, according to Tucker.
To reach Safe Haven’s crisis hotline, call 327-6040 or 800-890-6040.
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