29/05/2025
Chris English
By Jake Neller
The main goals of therapeutic approaches in the Criminal Justice System are to lessen reoffending and increase victim protection. Usually in the form of organised initiatives assisting people in conquering bad habits like domestic violence, these interventions frequently help people. The increasing rate of violence against women and girls highlights the need of such interventions, with police-recorded incidents up 37% between 2018 and 2023.
Responding to this rising worry, Red Snapper Managed Services has been providing a Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme since 2023 throughout Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. By providing rehabilitative assistance to people judged to be at different levels of risk, this project seeks to solve the rising number of cases involving domestic violence.
A key part of all domestic abuse programmes is the wellbeing and safety of victims and survivors. Although addressing problematic behaviours demands perpetrator-focused programmes, their final effectiveness is assessed by their capacity to lower the risk to past and future victims. These programmes are very important in breaking the circle of violence as they give abusers the means to identify, control, and change their behaviour.
Using a strength-based approach is at the heart of Red Snappers’ redesigned intervention model. Strength-based treatments aim to identify and expand upon the person’s current strengths, resiliency, and potential for transformation rather than only on impairments and risk variables. This gives participants the ability to own their actions and development, which is critical for ongoing change.
The programme promotes an optimistic attitude by underlining what people are doing well when it comes to their relationship, this could be things like communication, boundary setting, a drive to change or moments of emotional self-awareness. Practitioners have found that this strategy has encouraged lasting behavioural changes and promotes self-worth.
Regular assessment is so important just as with any intervention based on behavioural science,
Red Snapper conducted a thorough examination of its Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme that looked at the different types of delivery structure.
In-depth conversation with programme facilitators, clinical psychologists offering clinical supervision, and triage services charged with directing people to the programme were all parts of this procedure. Service users are evaluated as showing low, middle, or high chance of reoffending and the review showed that a one-size- fits-all strategy did not adequately meet the complex needs of people throughout the risk spectrum. As a result, a tiered intervention model was developed to align more closely with the assessed risk levels. The reason for this was that there were higher-risk individuals being referred into the service who typically presented with more entrenched criminogenic needs and maladaptive behaviours, necessitating more intensive support.
During the design and development phase, the team maintained a strong focus on preserving the core therapeutic components across all tiers with topics addressed in each level including: emotional regulation, cognitive restructuring, communication skills, respect for boundaries and consent, the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and understanding the consequences of actions.
Whilst preserving the core topics, the team still had to look at ways to adapt the programme to support different levels of problematic behaviour.
The outcome was a three-tier suite of interventions:
The medium-risk programme allows more time to challenge entrenched beliefs and attitudes, while the high-risk programme includes additional sessions on identifying personal triggers, recognising risk factors, and developing perspective-taking skills. These additions were informed by the experience of practitioners and feedback from stakeholders which highlighted the importance for individuals assessed as high-risk to complete a more thorough programme.
Red Snapper has now begun rolling out this enhanced programme and is actively gathering feedback from both service users and facilitators. This feedback will ensure the continued effectiveness and responsiveness of the programme in addressing domestic abuse.