Working with Violence Policies and Practices in Risk Assessment and Management

by Milner, Judith; Myers, Steve

• ISBN13: 9781403943071
• ISBN10: 1403943079
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-05-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Practitioners are faced with a wide range of theories of violence that influence policy development, training and professional responses to managing violence. This book examines current explanatory theories of violence, how these theoretical positions influence assessment and intervention; and the stengths and weaknesses of these approaches.

Author Biography

Steve Myers is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Salford University. Judith Milner works as a freelance therapist and trainer, mainly with the Northorpe Hall Trust/Kirklees Domestic Violence Forum project.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. x
Introduction	p. 1
Public reactions to violence	p. 7
The social and political context of violence	p. 8
Assessing Violence	p. 19
Trouble with assessment	p. 19
Locating assessments	p. 20
The role of identity	p. 25
Actuarial risk assessments	p. 29
Grief and Loss: Psychodynamic Approaches	p. 42
Psychoanalytic explanations of violence	p. 42
Kleinian objects relations theory	p. 44
Attachment theory	p. 46
How attachment theory informs risk assessment	p. 51
Interventions	p. 54
'Wrong-Thinking': Cognitive Behavioural Approaches	p. 62
Cognitive behavioural explanations of violence	p. 62
Cognitive approaches	p. 69
Cycles of abuse	p. 73
Risk assessment	p. 77
The effectiveness of cognitive behavioural approaches	p. 78
Challenging Men, Supporting Women: Feminist Approaches	p. 84
Feminist understandings of violence	p. 84
How feminist ideas inform risk assessment	p. 94
Interventions for women and children	p. 97
Interventions for men	p. 99
Limitations of feminist approaches to domestic violence	p. 101
Using feminist interventions effectively	p. 104
'Mad and Bad': Mentally Disordered Offenders	p. 112
Traditional approaches	p. 113
Dual diagnosis	p. 121
New legislation	p. 124
Outcomes	p. 126
Safety Building: Solution-Focused Approaches	p. 130
Solution-focused theory	p. 130
Solution-focused explanations of violent behaviour	p. 135
The signs of safety approach	p. 137
Limitations of solution-focused approaches	p. 145
Using solution-focused approaches effectively	p. 147
Deconstructing Problems: Narrative Approaches	p. 151
Narrative theory	p. 152
Narrative techniques	p. 158
Does narrative therapy work?	p. 168
Conclusion: Towards Effective Practices with Violence	p. 173
Effective interventions?	p. 176
Bibliography	p. 179
Index of Authors	p. 203
Index of Subjects	p. 209
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