This is a book aimed at professionals working with men who batter. But it is accessible, well written and practice based. It covers a multitude of techniques and concentrates on physical and psychological abuses. It is part of the series on Interpersonal Violence: The Practice Series.
It is aimed specifically at working with the men, rather than the women and children. It does however take into account the needs of the victims of violence in discussing intervention techniques. There is a theme of 'accountability' which runs through the text. This is practically supported by models of working.
The notion of integration or Ecology is a central theme and is the consequence of the holistic view of the way in which violence develops and is acted out. The authors cover the power relations, socio-economic circumstances, ethnicity, class and cultural issues of violence. Violence is part of a system and to understand it we need to look at the role of the individual therein. The belief that even though constrained, we as men can make alternative choices is central to the work.
There are six chapters, including Groupwork, Couplework and Social Systems or institutional attempts to prevent men from becoming violent. The idea being that there needs to be intervention at the macro and micro levels and in a number of ways for change to take place.
Nigel Larcombe
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