LIBERTAS
Liberty and Justice A PROJECT FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN: LIFE AFTER ABUSE
We are about to embark on the first ever LIBERTAS group project. Your
facilitators have been working with women who are suffering or have
suffered domestic abuse for many years ( I have been working in this field for
over 20 years!) and many of us have facilitated a support programme called
the FREEDOM group. It was through my own work in this field and with the
input and wisdom of the many women who attended the FREEDOM group
that I realised that the FREEDOM did not give the women all they needed.
Yes, it gave them some answers around what relationship they had been in –
and this was crucially important and it also set out in stark form the adverse
impact the abuser has on the women and children but having told them
how awful their relationship was and the damage it had done it seemed to
leave them high and dry in terms of providing ideas and support to re-build
their lives and those of their children. In addition there is no part of the
programme that dealt with the impact of the legal system on the women
and children – and this is something all participants had many questions
about. In addition as the FREEDOM programme is based on the authors
many years of working with perpetrators who have come to the attention of
the criminal courts and had convictions it naturally references violence a lot –
some women on the programme found this aspect confusing and even
alienating - This project is my attempt to begin to plug the gaps and alleviate
the areas of confusion. However the FREEDOM programme will be
referenced as will the DULUTH project and the works of Lundy Bancroft and
many more projects and ideas as all the previous projects hold so much
wisdom I am not foolish enough to think I could do any better!
Summary of the Subjects covered during the Project
Week One:
What is Domestic Abuse and discuss it’s prevalence, intro
to course as a whole
Weeks Two to Four: The cycle of Abuse and how he does it and comparison
with a non-abusive partner
Weeks five to seven: WHY? WHY? WHY?
 Why does he do it, can he change?
 Why did/do I stay?
 Why does he always seem to get away with it?
Week Eight:
The Impact of the Abuse on us
Week nine:
Re-building ME and making sure this does not happen
again
Week 10 :
What does abuse do to my children?
Week 11:
Helping my children
Week 12:
The Law – juggling the three planets – Domestic
Violence/Child Protection/Private children law