The ultimate domestic violence program - Jan Brown, DAHMW

October 24, 1:16 AMDomestic Violence ExaminerTrudy Schuett

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Jan Brown - DAHMW photo

by Jan Brown
Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women

To me the ultimate DV program would, to start, be gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religiosity and disability "blind."  The advocates would be trained to believe the individual whether the victim is a woman or a man. Having said that however, victim's programs would have strict policies in place to discourage abuse of the system as recently happened in NY

"Always believe the victim" has been the mantra for battered women's advocates for decades. During the earlier stages of the battered women's movement women were rarely believed when they told of the abuse they were suffering at the hands of their male intimate partners. Yet times have changed, and I don't know that we can continue to always believe the victim.  Whether it's because people are more destitute or better manipulators, who knows? We need to have policies in place so that those who try to use the system fraudulently would be caught and face harsh penalties for doing so.

Viewing domestic violence from a political stance, i.e. using patriarchy as the primary definition as to why domestic violence happens, would be considered old fashioned - out of date.  Rather than fixing blame on one gender we would take into consideration research that indicates that some mental illnesses as well as alcohol and substance abuse play pivotal roles in domestic violence, and design our support services and interventions with that updated research in mind.

Allowing victims and survivors to make their own choices by giving them the tools they need. i.e. information about healthy vs unhealthy relationships, domestic violence etc., instead of forcing them to make choices against their wishes (such as getting restraining orders and having their alleged offender arrested) would be more the norm in my ultimate DV program.  Revamping our domestic violence system using Dr. Linda Mills' approach to treating domestic violence victims and perpetrators would be an excellent start.  (Dr. Mills chats with Judyth Piazza about the Center on Violence at NYU here.)

Jan Brown is the Executive Director of the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women, the only program with a nationwide reach that provides aid to all, without regard to gender. You can help DAHMW continue this critically-needed service by participating in the Case Foundation's Giving Challenge before November 7.

Read about the DVA09 Project here