These courses are not produced by the Fatherhood Institute but have our endorsement.

Addressing masculine identities

Workshops and performances

Stories and narratives have always informed social identities, especially those of gender. Folk tale, myth and legend often raise questions about ‘what it means to be a man’; and, more recently, authors such as Joseph Campbell, Robert Bly, Meade and Biddulph have addressed meanings of manhood in contemporary society, as traditional roles are being challenged and changed.

Mark Rivett (a family therapist with an established record of working with men creatively, and co-author of ‘Working with men in health and social care’ – Sage, 2007) and Steve Killick (clinical psychologist and storyteller, and co-author of ‘Telling tales: storytelling as emotional literacy’ – Sage, 2007) have developed performances and workshops which use stories and storytelling to reflect upon these themes.  Experiencing the stories told live, in a communal setting, engages the listener in a journey of discovery about themselves, their gender identity and the place of men in society.

Taking a broad perspective spanning the men’s movement, pro-feminist ideas and emotional literacy, the focus is on questioning and re-interpreting these stories for the lived experience of men and women – including fathers and their partners.

What participants have said

“A hugely helpful, interesting and enjoyable day”.
“Clinically helpful in highlighting a neglected perspective and approach”
“Could we do this again sometime? It was wonderful!”

For more information

Visit  www.wordsofwonder.co.uk/FathertotheMan.html

Email Mark at minds.eye@live.co.uk or Steve at stevekillick@hotmail.com

PACT courses

(Partner Abuse Consultancy and Training)

Partner Abuse Consultancy and Training (PACT) courses are run by some of the most experienced workers in the field of domestic violence intervention. They are participatory, memorable and practical and incorporate diverse teaching methods, from drama to experiential exercises, in order to meet a broad range of learning styles. They are designed to change people’s practice, rather than just increase their knowledge base.

PACT offers a wide range of bespoke training courses on all aspects of domestic violence intervention work. See the PACT website for course outlines and costings.

PACT courses include:

• Working with perpetrators of Domestic Violence. This is a five-day skills training course for anyone wanting to work individually or with groups in a domestic abuse intervention project.
• Parenting after Domestic Violence, including detailed consideration of child to parent violence
• Narrative approaches to working with domestic violence
• Working with children who have lived with domestic violence

PACT trainers

Kate Iwi

Kate has worked in the field of Domestic Violence for sixteen years  assessing and working individually and in groups with men wishing to address their violence to partners. She has also facilitated fathering groups, linked women’s support groups and undertaken therapeutic work with children. She has been developing, undertaking and supervising family courts risk assessments since 1999 and for five years managed the Stephen’s Place Children’s Centre and Al-aman – a specialist DV project for Arabic speaking communities.

In 2000 Kate wrote a manual for Domestic Violence Interventions which is used by a number of projects around the UK and Europe, and has recently written a manual for working with young people and domestic violence. Kate has been training others in this work since 1998 and now provides freelance training and consultancy.

Dr Chris Newman

Chris Newman has had 15 years of experience doing individual work and group work with men around their violence and abuse to partners.  He has worked for many years as a group facilitator on domestic violence perpetrator programmes and has also facilitated the ‘Caring Dads’ programme for fathers who have directly or indirectly abused their children.  He has extensive experience of training other professionals in working with perpetrators of domestic violence.  He also carries out risk assessment reports and acts as an expert witness in private law child contact cases and public law child protection cases. He is currently working as a family therapist, working with families where adolescents are displaying problematic substance misuse.

Kate and Chris have developed and piloted training in Good Practice in Risk Assessment for CAFCASS, which is being delivered to CAFCASS practitioners nationwide. They have also co-authored a domestic violence treatment programme designed to be delivered on an individual basis by the National Probation Service and a parenting programme aimed at the needs of families where domestic violence is a child protection concern.

For more details

Visit the website www.partnerabuseinterventions.co.uk
Email info@partnerabuseinterventions.co.uk
Phone PACT on 0771 432 9550

PACT is a member of Respect – the UK membership association for domestic violence perpetrator programmes and associated support services.

Working with Men – Raising Boys Course

The charity ‘Working With Men’ is now delivering courses on Raising Boys and are available to deliver more.

The course aims to provide lone mothers with an opportunity to sift fact from fiction (in terms of issues such as whether boys need a father) as well as strategies for encouraging and supporting their sons, and ways to deal with boundaries and behaviour.

The course consists of four sessions covering the following aspects:

• Differences between boys and girls and boys’ development
• Discipline and boundaries which will include different styles of discipline
• How to understand why boys do what they do and what motivates them
• Follow up on discipline and boundaries, as well as looking at male role models

In order for a course to be delivered, Working with Men would require the following:

• For you to provide a suitable venue and crèche facilities
• 12 mothers for the course

What they would deliver:

• Four 2 hour, or five 1.5 hour sessions (morning, afternoon or early evening)
• Written materials (including copies of the booklet)
• Carry out an evaluation and provide a report

Raising Boys talks

This is usually an evening session for parents concerned about their sons. Usually targeted at parents with 0-5s, these sessions can also be delivered for 5-11s and 11-16s.

Find out more

Further information including previous course evaluations:
Visit the website www.workingwithmen.org
Email info@workingwithmen.org
Phone Working With Men on 0207 394 9333