DAP’s Intervention and Prevention Program serves adult individuals that use abusive behavior with group and individual therapy.
Intervention & Prevention Program
Participants attend a 24-week program that includes psycho-education and therapeutic process sessions. Group therapy facilitators work to frame the issues of domestic violence relative to larger and more systemic contexts that impact the use of violence. In the groups, facilitators also encourage peer-to-peer education and accountability; something that can’t be found through individual treatment. In the course of the program, individuals who have used abusive behaviors work to accept responsibility for their actions, build awareness around their response to stress, and engage in skill building that aids in healthy communication for building and maintaining equal and interdependent relationships.
Our program is one of few in the area that meets the Minnesota state requirements for batterers intervention program and incorporates trauma theory and treatment techniques in its work with individuals who have used abusive behavior in intimate relationships. The program combines education with cognitive-behavioral therapy approaches, all in a trauma-informed setting. While the role of anger in relationships and abuse is discussed, DAP’s program is not an anger management program. It is much more.
Intervention & Prevention Program
Change Step Program
Transitional Age Youth Program
Individual Therapy
This group therapy program is for male-identifying adults who are are interested in addressing use of violence in intimate and familial relationships. We host 5 groups, three days a week (two in the morning, 3 in the evening) for individuals who are currently or have historically used violence in relationships. This program is 24 group sessions plus periodic individual psychotherapy sessions to address program and goal progression and deepen reflection. Space is limited.
Change Step is a program created for military service members and veterans who have used abuse in intimate relationships. This program is built on the proven curriculum of our intervention and prevention program but incorporates the language and tenor of military culture to better respond to the needs of veterans. The program addresses the specific issues that are faced by the veteran community–military culture, deployments, and PTSD– and is built on a thorough understanding of the effects of trauma and violence on a person’s health and well-being. The group follows the same structure and timeline as the mainstream groups in our intervention and prevention program. Space is limited.
Transitional Age Youth (TAY) Intervention and Prevention services are offered through a partnership with juvenile probation. Eligible participants are 18-24 years old and are referred through juvenile probation. This program is 24 weeks long and includes two support sessions with safe and supportive people in the young person’s life that can encourage non-violence. Referrals are facilitated through juvenile probations TAY unit.
Individual therapy is provided to current group participants who are need of additional support outside of group. Once group is completed, participants are able to access individual therapy to continue to deepen their prevention work and/or trauma work that is related to their use of violence.
