Working with substance misusing women
experiencing domestic abuse
– building not barriers, but bridges.
Tayside Violence Against Women Training Consortium
Spring 2011
Gillian Ferguson
(Dundee
cityWomen
council) & Sarah Watts (TVAWTC)
Tayside Violence
Against
Training Consortium
Our Challenge
If a substance misuse agency ignores a
woman’s safety she may never get sober. If
domestic violence providers ignore her drug use
she may never be safe.
Marai Larasi, NIA Project
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Learning objectives for the day:
• Thinking about the connection between
domestic abuse and substance misuse.
• Exploring the additional impact upon substance
misusing women of domestic abuse.
• Understanding the effects upon parental
capacity of domestic abuse and substance
misuse.
• Improving practice working with women with
complex and multiple needs.
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Housekeeping
Breaks & lunch
Fire drills
Loos
Mobile phones
Self care & time out
Group agreed contract
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
The Chatham House (RIIA) Rule originated at
Chatham House with the aim of providing
anonymity to speakers and to encourage
openness and the sharing of information:
"When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under
the Chatham House Rule, participants are free
to use the information received, but neither the
identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor
that of any other participant, may be revealed".
Chatham House,1927
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
‘It’s just much easier to deal with one problem … so I
think that [workers] try and put people in silos and say,
“Well, we can deal with this problem and let’s hope
everything else gets sorted out.’ (female drugs worker)
‘It’s difficult for them to see it and name it for what it is
because they don’t feel confident or capable to, because
they haven’t been trained.’ (female women’s service worker)
‘Particular refuges have not been well staffed … so have
always felt that they have limited ability to cope with
women with additional substance use issues. They feel
they can cope with one issue, but they can’t cope with
additional issues.’ (Drug Action Team worker)
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Exercise 1
What role do you think drugs/alcohol play in domestic
abuse?
In small groups, take ten minutes to discuss and
flipchart what you think the role substances play in
domestic abuse.
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Substance misuse and domestic abuse
Statistics show a connection…but does
that show cause and effect?
- ice cream sales and drowning
- recession and lipstick wearing
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
As an excuse: “it’s only when he drinks…”
The disinhibition theory vs learned disinhibition theory
Societal and individual beliefs about the links between
alcohol and violence may encourage a person to drink to
find courage to commit violent behaviour.
Potentially violent men may drink to provide themselves
with an excuse for violent behaviour.
Finney (2004) Home Office findings
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
But also when he doesn’t drink…
“The connection between domestic abuse and alcohol
does not account for economic control, sexual violence,
and intimidation, which are often part of a [abuser’s]
ongoing pattern of abuse.
This has little or no identifiable connection to his use or
dependence on alcohol.”
Zubretsky & Digliroamo (2007)
“It’s no excuse, no excuse whatsoever cause if they do it when
they’re straight as well as when they’ve had something how can they
use it as an excuse?” (Helen)
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Some other theories of correlation
• Cognitive distortion (disrupting his thinking)
• To cope with feelings about perpetration (double
bind)
• To cope with guilt and shame about own abuse
• Part of his socialised ideas of what is ‘manly’
• Co-etiology of ipv & su (intensifying his
motivation for personal power)
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Understanding intimate partner
violence:
intimate terrorism
*Disaggregated data: sex of repeat victimisation
violent resistance
situational couple violence
97% intimate terrorism; 56% situational
1970s Pittsburgh sample
Johnson,2001
Functional v Expressive Violence
• Expressive violence
• Annoyance-motivated aggression
• Does not serve a specific purpose
• Impulsive or a release of tension?
• Functional violence
• Goal-orientated
• Motive-driven
• Controlled and controlling.
With the kind permission of Nel
Whiting - SWA
Time for a tea refill!
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Exercise 2
‘No Boundaries’ scenario one clip (a – c)
How might the perpetrator employ substance misuse
on his own or his partner’s behalf within the domestic
abuse?
In your same small groups, take a few minutes to
think about how substance misuse is used to support
domestic abuse by Billy.
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
How can the perpetrator use addiction to extend
his power and control?
- Justifying own abuse
- Enabling own abuse
- Introducing or forcing use, including poly drug use
- Being the primary or only supplier (and withdrawing
supply)
- Being the only person who mediates her use
- Spending a woman’s earnings
- Threats of disclosure e.g. social services, schools, family
- Limiting or sabotaging access to services
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
How/why do women use substances?
More likely to enter drug using career via intimate
partner relationship (than men)
To cope with the direct abuse (15x more likely to use alcohol, 9x
more likely to substance misuse)
To cope with the indirect abuse (prostituting to fund both
dependencies)
To cope with historical abuse/trauma (more likely to have
experienced childhood abuse)
To appease the abusive partner (“I know I’m not better than you”)
and to help ‘manage’ his use.
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Lunch!
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Children’s Experiences of Living With Dual Issues
Exercise X – ‘No Boundaries’ scenario 4 (a – d)
a. What might be the impact upon parental
capacity of domestic abuse?
b. What might be the impact upon parental
capacity of substance misuse?
c. What might the consequences be for the child of
living with both?
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Key Policy Context
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
The three planets (Work of Marianne Hester)
Child protection:
(public law)
welfare approach;
state intervention
in abusive families;
mother seen as
failing to protect
Domestic abuse:
considered a crime
(civil and criminal law);
range of support
violent male partner
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Child contact:
(private law);
negotiated or
mediated outcome;
good enough
father
What Do I Do If I Know My Client is Perpetrating
Domestic Abuse?
• No excuses! Do not collude with or condone the violence. His
substance use is not to blame.
• Highlight that as adults we are responsible for our behaviour.
• Give him positive feedback on disclosing.
• Explore how he uses his behaviour to control and manipulate his
partner.
• Ask him what effects his violence has on his partner.
• Are there child protection issues? Does your organisation have a
protocol for dealing with this?
• What work is done with perpetrators in your area?
From Stella Project Toolkit.
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Perpetrators – Quantitative Findings
• Bennett 1994 – 46% of substance misusers
were perpetrators, 70% of perpetrators misused
substances
• Brown 1997 – 58% reported at least one
incident of physical aggression towards partner
in the last year
• Gondolf & Foster 1991 – 20% clinical reports,
52% self report, 82% partner report of domestic
abuse
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Responding to Disclosure
• Believe her and say so.
• Reassure her that she was right to
disclose
• Acknowledge her experience and
accept her evaluation of the danger
of her current situation
• Avoid saying ‘why don’t you?’ – it’s
never that simple
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Cycle of Change
(based on the work of Prochaska and Diclemente)
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
The Leaving Process
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stage
Stage
Stage
Stage
Stage
Stage
1
2
3
4
5
6
–
–
–
–
–
–
Managing the situation
Distortion of perception/reality
Defining abuse
Re-evaluating the relationship
Ending the relationship
Ending the violence
Based on the work of Liz Kelly.
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Best Practice guidelines suggest:
Displays of information
Policy Statements
Routine Screening
Partnership / Liaision
Review and monitoring referrals
Systems and how they support safetyg
Responding and understanding
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Contact details for substance misuse
Addaction Dundee: 01382 206888
Monday to Thursday 10am to 1pm & 2pm to 5pm. Saturday 10am to
3pm.
Harm Reduction Service: 01382 204248/01382 200532
Tayside Substance Misuse Service: 01382 424544
(TDPS and TAPS)
Tayside Council on Alcohol: 01382 223965
Social Work Drug Alcohol and BBV team: 01382 424507, 01241
435821, 01738 474455
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Contact details for Domestic Abuse
Dundee Women’s Aid –
Perth & Kinross Women’s Aid – 01738 639 043
AWARE (Angus Women’s Aid) WRASAC (Dundee & Angus) – 01382 201 291
WRASAC (Perth) – 01738 630 965
National Domestic Abuse Helpline - 0800 027 1234
(24 hours)
Tayside police domestic abuse officers – 0300 111 2222
Barnardo’s Domestic Abuse Project – 01738 892516, 01382
596866, 01241 435 742
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium
Thank you for your time and attention
Tayside Violence Against Women
Training Consortium