This article reviews the progress of sixty-eight adults (fifty-two men and sixteen women) on a solution-focused programme aimed at reducing domestic violence. The practice principles are described, using examples of participants' experiences. The outcomes over a three-and-a-half-year period are presented and difficulties in assessing effectiveness of outcomes are discussed.
The programmeThe Domestic Violence Programme was originally established in 2001 as a pilot scheme, in conjunction with Kirklees Domestic Violence Forum [now mainstreamed into Kirklees Metropolitan Council Adults and Communities Service and known as the Domestic Violence Team (DVT)]. DVT has well-developed services for women experiencing violence at the hands of male partners but had identified gaps in service provision. There was no specialized refuge provision or therapeutic intervention for gay and lesbian people experiencing violence, no therapeutic provision for women who were violent to their male partners, and no provision for men who had not been through the court process. In addition, a significant number of the women receiving support from DVT expressed dissatisfaction with existing group work programmes for their male partners, most particularly their exclusion from the therapeutic programme and, because of the focus in these groups of men taking full responsibility for their violence, what they perceived as the minimization and denial of their attempts to accept that their behaviour played some part in the violence. The pilot scheme aimed to provide a more flexible