Breaking the cycle by focussing on boyhood
In Queensland, more than 1,500 incidents of domestic violence were perpetrated by children aged between 10 and 18 years in the three years to December 2015, and the numbers are on the rise.
Leia Mackie, from the Ipswich-based Domestic Violence Action Centre, says it's not a new type of violence, but it's something that's being talked about more often.
'There wasn't a service out there that was addressing or being able to support these families to manage the dynamics that were happening at home,' she says.
With Dave Burc from Carinity, a organisation that specialises in dealing with child trauma, she set up ReNew—a world-first initiative to break the cycle of domestic violence by stopping it in boyhood.
They're now four weeks into the first 20-week program, involving seven families. The boys ages range from 9 to 17.
ReNew focusses on the beginning of abusive, controlling or coercive behaviours—whether it is threats, verbal abuse, intimidation, or punching holes in the wall.
Burc says violence used against a mother is a major risk factor for perpetrating domestic violence as an adult.
He says boys and teens who are violent in the home often don't get help until they enter the justice system, but ReNew aims to intervene before the behaviour escalates.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/pro ... ns/7872350
I think that's a very good initiative for actively preventing violence against women, since it clearly begins in boyhood.
What do you think, NSGs?
