Brief outline

The course was originally constructed by couple counsellors in 1994 /5. The early focus was “anger management”, which was very much what was required by the courts and Social Services at that time. It still is in some circles and cases. However it became clear that many of the individuals we were working with did not recognise which emotions were actually engaged in themselves.  By 1998 we had consequently developed a model which provided the underlying emotions  of the behaviours which result. This has now become “emotional regulation”, in line with the “decade of the brain” and the advances and new understandings emerging from neuroscience.

The vast majority of domestic violence cases are about “situational couple violence.”  The “power and control” construct, developed by Duluth, applies to a small percentage of cases. The originator of the notion, the late Ellen Pence, recognised and acknowledged this in her book in 1999.

Work also needs to be focused on each individual as an individual  and not as one of a “patriarchal” stereotype.

In the pages linked here you can read of Ellen Pence’s epiphany.   More than 20 years later these recognistions have neot been adjusted to.  Ellen Pence was very clearly a guru – her positive and very important observations have simply been ignored.