How do you work with male victims during high tension moments?
Male victims of coercive control present in specific ways in formal and high-pressure settings.
Stand Again provides in-person or virtual workshops for family dispute resolution practitioners, police, and child protection workers on recognising coercive control in male victims and working effectively with them in formal contexts. Workshops count toward your annual professional development requirements.
For FDR Practitioners, Police and Child Protection Workers
What brings male victims into formal processes
Male victims of coercive control who enter formal settings, mediation, police interviews, child protection assessments, carry the specific effects of sustained psychological abuse into those interactions. They may minimise what happened to them, struggle to present their account clearly under pressure, or react in ways that require context to interpret accurately.
Understanding what coercive control does to a man, how it shapes his behaviour in formal settings, and what he needs from the professionals he encounters gives practitioners the tools to work with him effectively and gather an accurate picture of the situation.
Interactive Workshops
Male victims of coercive control present in specific ways in formal and high-pressure settings.
These workshops give practitioners the framework to read those presentations accurately and work with them effectively.
Each workshop is delivered in person or virtually and accommodates up to 15 attendees.
Recognising Coercive Control in Charged Situations
What it covers:
- How coercive control presents in male victims under pressure and in adversarial settings, and why that presentation differs from the calmer clinical picture.
- The misidentification risk, how a male victim gets read as the perpetrator, the specific behaviours that drive that misread
Learning outcomes:
- able to recognise coercive control in male victims in high-pressure and adversarial settings,
- interpret presentations that can be misread as aggression or instability,
- reduce the risk of misidentifying a victim as the perpetrator.
Building Rapport with Someone Primed to Distrust You
What it covers:
- What creates distrust in a male victim entering a formal process,
- What makes it worse, and what reliably breaks through it.
- The specific approaches and language that open a male victim up in the first few minutes of a high-stakes interaction.
Learning outcomes:
- able to establish rapport quickly with a male victim who is primed to distrust the process and the professional in front of him, and
- apply language and approaches that open him up rather than close him down.
Working with Him Through the Process
What it covers:
- The common things that occur when a male victim moves through proceedings, mediation, or assessment, why they happen, and what to do.
- How to keep him engaged, steady, and presenting accurately.
- The risk considerations specific to male-victim presentations, including post-separation escalation and systems-based harm, and what to look for.
Learning outcomes:
- able to anticipate and respond to the common challenges that arise when working with a male victim through a formal process,
- keep him engaged and presenting credibly, and account for the risks specific to male-victim populations.