Transcript Case Management and Domestic Violence

Case Management and Domestic
Violence
Presented by Marina Poroshin and
Kirsten Gonzales
What is Domestic Violence
• Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behavior
that one person uses against another. Abuse can be
violent behaviors such as hitting, punching, and
slapping, but it doesn’t have to be physical. It can
include verbal and emotional abuse. It can also
involve sexual assault. It can happen to anyone, at
any age, no matter what race or religion they are,
no matter what their level of education or
economic background. Domestic violence also
occurs in same-sex relationships.
The Power and Control Wheel
Coercion and Threats
• Making and/or carrying out threats to do
something to hurt her
• Threatening to leave her, to commit suicide, to
report her to welfare
• Making her drop charges**
• Making her do illegal things
** In the state of Michigan, a woman cannot drop the charges as
they are filed by the prosecuting attorney. The only thing that she
can do is not go to court to testify.
Using Intimidation
• Making her afraid by using looks, actions,
gestures
• Smashing things
• Destroying her property
• Abusing pets
• Displaying weapons
Using Emotional Abuse
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Putting her down
Making her feel bad about herself
Calling her names
Making her think she’s crazy
Playing mind games
Humiliating her
Making her feel guilty
Using Isolation
• Controlling what she does, who she sees
and talks to, what she reads, where she goes
• Limiting her outside involvement
• Using jealousy to justify actions
Minimizing, Denying, and
Blaming
• Making light of the abuse and not taking her
concerns about it seriously
• Saying the abuse didn’t happen
• Shifting responsibility for abusive behavior
• Saying she caused it
Using Children
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Making her feel guilty about the children
Using the children to relay messages
Using visitation to harass her
Threatening to take the children away
Using Male Privilege
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Treating her like a servant
Making all the big decisions
Acting like the “master of the castle”
Being the one to define men’s and women’s
roles
Using Economic Abuse
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Preventing her from getting or keeping a job
Making her ask for money
Giving her an allowance
Taking her money
Not letting her know about or have access
to family income
The Cycle of Violence
Tension
• Fights
• Verbal Abuse
• Criticism and Control
Violence
• Escalates and increases over time
• Explosion of verbal or physical violence
• Usually the time when the women leaves
Honeymoon
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Batterer is charming
Flowers, candy, promises, etc
Usually the time when the women returns
Can last weeks or years
RADAR*
For Domestic Violence
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Routinely screen female clients
Ask direct questions
Document your findings
Assess client safety
Review options and referrals
• RADAR information developed by the Institute for
Safe Families, a division of Philadelphia Physicians
for Social Responsibility.
Things to look for:
• Behavioral clues:
• Evasive, reluctance to speak in front of the
partner
• Overly protective or controlling partner.
• Physical clues:
• Any physical injuries (especially with central
pattern - neck, throat, chest, breast, abdomen)
• Unexplained, multiple or old injuries.
How to screen your clients for
Domestic Violence
• Talk to them alone in a safe, private environment.
• Ask simple, direct questions such as:
• Violence is so common in many people’s lives, I’ve
started to ask all my clients about it routinely.
• Are you in a relationship with a person who physically
hurts or threatens you?
• Did someone cause these injuries? Who?
• Be aware of a history suggesting domestic violence:
traumatic injury or sexual assault; suicide attempt;
physical symptoms related to stress; injuries during
pregnancy; delay in seeking medical care after injury.
IF THE CLIENT ANSWERS
YES:
• Encourage her to talk about it:
• “Would you like to talk about what happened to you? How do you
feel about it?”
• “What would you like to do about it?”
• Listen nonjudgmentally:
• This serves both to begin the healing process for the woman and to
give you an idea of what kind of referrals she may need.
• Validate her experience:
• Provide message of support by saying “You are not alone.” “No
one has to live with violence.” “You do not deserve to be treated
this way.” “You are not to blame.” “What happened to you is a
crime.” “ Help is available to you.”
IF THE CLIENTS ANSWERS
NO:
• Be aware of any clinical signs that may indicate abuse.
• Pay attention to such clues as delay between the time
injury was inflicted and seeking treatment and
inconsistency between the type of injury and explanation
of how it occurred. Increased anxiety, depression and
sleep disorders may be a sign of on-going abuse as well.
• If any of these signs are present, ask more specific
questions. Make sure she is alone.
• “ I am worried about you. It looks like someone may have hurt
you. Can you tell me what happened?”
• “ Sometimes when people feel the way you do, it may be because
they are being hurt at home. Is this happening to you?”
If your client denies abuse:
• If your client denies abuse, but you strongly suspect it:
• Provide information about the local DV shelters should she choose
to pursue this option in the future. Document your opinion and
observations.
• Try to refer your client to their doctor or any other
clinician
• Michigan law requires medical care providers and institutions to
make police reports for all people suffering from violently inflicted
injury by a knife, gun, or other deadly weapon, or by other means
of violence (MCL 750.411). “Other means of violence” may
include , but is not limited to, beating, biting, strangling, hitting,
kicking, punching , and slapping. This law applies regardless of
the victim’s relationship with the person who inflicted the injury.
Advice for Women Leaving an
Abusive Situation
• For many women, leaving an abusive relationship is one of the most
difficult decisions they will ever make. Depending on the situation,
some women might have to leave the home abruptly, while others may
have more time to plan. A woman should leave with the following
items, when possible:
• As much cash as possible, a checkbook, an ATM card and credit cards
• A small bag of extra clothing for herself and her children
• Extra keys
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If time permits, other items of importance to take may include:
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Bank account information
Social Security numbers (for abuser, woman and children)
Birth certificates (for woman and children)
Insurance policies
Marriage license
List of important phone numbers (family and friends)
Empowerment
• Domestic violence can happen to anyone
• The person coming for help is assumed to be a basically
healthy person who needs understanding, information,
support, and concrete information and resources in order to
make changes in his/her life.
• The case manager’s role is to help them tap their own
strengths and abilities, and to recognize and experience her
potential as a person.
• Put forward the conscious expectation that a survivor will
take charge of his/her own life.
• The case manager and survivor are equals.
Notes from someone struggling to
empower herself
• Empowerment...
• Means I stand up for my principles; it means I act on what I
believe. It means I take responsibility for my reactions and my
behavior. It means I care, but I do not rescue. It means I
acknowledge that I make my own choices, and I live with the
consequence.
• Means I am on equal footing with someone who knows more than
or less than I do on a certain subject and appreciating that we have
our difference expertise.
• Means I choose to be assertive more often than not.
means that every time I listen to a person’s struggle, I gain insight.
When someone reveals her personal story to me, I am receiving a
gift and vice versa. So, the words giving and taking become
increasingly irrelevant. Being self-empowered leads me to
facilitate empowerment in others.
Continued
• My reward is internal; I feel strong, I feel good about myself. I
like that.
• It took me a long time to reach this point. Empowerment was not
my comfort zone. It was hard to try to rid myself of the need to be
needed, to give up my rescuer tendencies, to give up trying to
control my feelings, among other things.
• Sometimes, it is still really hard.
I sought out empowerment support systems where people help
each other by co- facilitating each others’ empowerment via
feedback, new information, brainstorming, choices, etc.
• I believe empowering oneself is an ongoing process; my selfdignity, self-awareness, self-acceptance are almost continually on
the rise.
• I believe it is worth the struggle.
“Why doesn’t she just leave?”
• The question so often asked, “Why doesn’t she just leave?”
is based on the incorrect assumption that leaving will end
the violence. It also assumes that the victim of violence has
no right to their own home, and that perpetrators have the
right to drive others from it.
• There are many reasons why someone who is being
battered may stay in an abusive relationship, though they
may stay in an abusive relationship, though they may be
difficult for others to fully understand the dynamics within
the relationship are far more powerful to those who are in
them than those of us on the outside can see or understand.
All the same, these dynamics are real.
The following are only a few of the
reasons why it may be hard to
leave
a
battering
relationship:
• Lack of resources and social support are the most significant impediments to a
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victim of batterer’s ability to become independent and leave the batterer.
Love. The victim may still love the abuser and remember the good times in
their relationship.
Hope. The victim may hope that the partner’s promises to stop are real, and
that the relationship will return to the way it once was before the violence
started.
Shame. The victim may feel ashamed to let other people know what is going
on in the relationship.
Isolation. The batterer’s destruction of ties to friends and family may leave the
victim economically and psychologically dependent on the abusive partner.
Practical problems in leaving: lack of a shelter or immediate space in the
shelter; short stays in shelters where space is limited — not enough time to get
started over; lack of legal assistance, housing, jobs, child care, police and court
support.
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Fear of retaliation from the assailant. More battering victims are murdered
while attempting to flee from their abusers than at any other time.
Cultural and/or religious pressure. Many individuals belong to identification
groups or strongly believe in certain practices, including the need to maintain a
marriage relationship no matter what. For women, the pressure is often on
them to work to keep the family together. Not doing so, or leaving, may cause
separation from culture and/or religion.
Many other reasons may contribute to a victim feeling trapped in a relationship
and unable to “just leave.” For each individual the reasons may be unique to
their situation, and often they do not see any other choice.
The most support systems there are in place in our society to assist victims of
battering, the more likely they will be to leave an abusive relationship and not
return. Creating and maintaining positive choices will allow others to make
more positive decisions.
WHERE TO GO FOR HELP
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Ann Arbor
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Charlotte
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DVP/SAFE House - Phone:
(734)973-0242 Crisis: (734)9955444
E-mail: [email protected]
SIREN/Eaton Shelter, Inc. Phone: (517)543-4915 Crisis: 1800-899-9997
E-mail: [email protected]
East Lansing
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MSU Safe Place - Phone:
(517)355-1100 ext. 2 Crisis: (517)
372-5572
E-mail: [email protected] Web
site: www.msu.edu/-safe
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Jackson
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Lansing
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Aware, Inc - Phone: (517) 7832861 Crisis: same
E-mail: [email protected]
Eve, Inc. - Phone: (517) 372-5976
Crisis: (517) 372-5572
St. Johns
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RAVE - Phone: (517) 224 -4662
Crisis: (517) 224-7283
E-mail: [email protected]
Additional Resources
• Michigan Crime Victim Notification Network 800/770-7657
• Violence Against Women Office of the
Department of Justice/National Resource
Center/University of Minnesota www.vaw.umn.edu
• Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and
Sexual Violence - www.mcadsv.org - 517/3814663
• Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Resources
Hotline - 800/996-6228
Stories/Discussion