The recent conference in Galway, hosted by the National University of Ireland in Galway, was an opportunity to hear about progress on the RCPV project and to meet the participants from around Europe, to learn more about NVR, and to meet practitioners from Ireland in particular who are already engaged in work with families experiencing violence from their children. Continue reading
Tag Archives: non-violent resistance
East Midlands Practitioners Peer Learning
I have just spent an exciting and inspiring morning with representatives of the Youth Offending Service across the East Midlands at their first Regional Practitioners Peer Learning Event in Nottingham. Around 50 – 60 had gathered to learn more about responses to adolescent violence to parents, and – importantly – to formulate action plans for their own areas before they left.
I was privileged to open the session, setting the scene with an overview of parent abuse, before Anne-Marie Harris from the Youth Justice Board spoke about upcoming developments at a national level. The feasibility study on the introduction of special domestic violence courts within the youth court system is not due to report until December, but Anne-Marie indicated that a number of practical and ethical difficulties have been identified around this direction of travel. Nevertheless, opportunities remain for creative thinking around service delivery, including programmes similar to the Step Up model. Continue reading
Filed under conference report, projects
A growing problem in Ireland
This piece in the Irish Times dropped into my inbox over the weekend.
Declan Coogan addressed the Annual Work Conference in Dublin, hosted by the National Family Support Network, with details from his own work in the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre in NUI Galway, and as project leader in Ireland for the EU-funded project ‘Responding to Child to Parent Violence’. Reporting that this is the one of the fastest growing issues in calls to parent-support organisations such as Parent Line, he gave examples of children as young as eight terrifying and violently assaulting their parents. He also spoke about his programme of Non-Violent Resistance (NVR), which has been found to be helpful in work with families experiencing parent abuse.
You can read more about NVR in an earlier post on this site. Details of the international conference in Galway in June 2014 will be posted on my Events and Training page as soon as they become available.
Filed under conference report, news reports
Non-Violent Resistance: the story so far
Of the different techniques and programmes in place to work with parents experiencing abuse from their children, the one we seem to hear least about (at least in the UK) is Non-Violent Resistance. As part of the EU-funded research into effective methods of work with families, Paula Wilcox of the University of Brighton has been examining evidence for this programme. Non-Violent Resistance was first developed in Israel and later adapted by a team led by Declan Coogan in Ireland. In this piece, written specifically for Holes in the Wall, Declan Coogan gives a brief introduction to its methods, use and effectiveness. Continue reading
Filed under Discussion, Training opportunities
Responding to Child to Parent Violence, “Hope when I had none”
This video of the official launch of the research project based at Brighton University was posted on YouTube on May 9th this year. It’s an hour and a quarter long but worth watching, or dipping into, for a flavour of the project’s aims, the current situation in the partner countries and more detail about the two intervention methods being assessed: Non-violent Resistance and the Break4Change model. The title of the post comes from a parent interviewed for a short film, shown within the video, and certainly the theme of hope is one which comes through strongly throughout. Continue reading
Filed under projects, TV and video
Parenting NI statistics show increase in calls for help
At the beginning of June, Parenting NI released figures showing a dramatic increase of 27% in the calls received by their helpline relating to teenage violence against parents. The figure was lower in the Northern Health Trust, with 17%, while the Western Health Trust showed a 30% increase. The statistics compare figures for 2010/2011 with the latest figures for calls from 2011/2012.
Charlene Brooks, Director for Parents Helpline, a project within Parenting NI reported: “The dramatic rise in parents calling the helpline because their teenage children are aggressive or violent towards them, is a worrying trend. Parents call the Parents Helpline for a variety of reasons – they are often worried about their child’s behaviour or family tensions, but recognise the importance of taking steps to get help for the situation. Through our Parenting Education Programmes we have also experienced an increase in parents telling us about ‘behavioural issues’ they are experiencing at home and many will eventually disclose that their teenage child is violent towards them. Understandably many parents are ashamed to admit that their child is aggressive or violent towards them and parents often don’t know where to turn for support.” Continue reading
Filed under news reports, projects
HOLES IN THE WALL 