1. Promoting safety through understanding career experiences of Australian men’s behaviour change program practitioners
Zoë Bosch

2. Aims and Objectives
To understand the work experiences of practitioners in men’s domestic violence perpetrator programs (MDVPPs)
Specific objectives:
The motivations of practitioners to choose to work in MDVPPs
Reasons why practitioners choose to continue working in MDVPPs
The perceived barriers that may deter practitioners from choosing or continuing to work in MDVPPs

3. Methodology Qualitative research design Snowball sampling
Nine participants from Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia
Minimum two years experience in the field
Mix of voluntary and mandated client base, group and individual programs and training backgrounds

4. Methodology Data collection
Semi-structured interviews with nine participants
Trustworthiness of the data through member- checking and independent review
Thematic analysis resulting in four key themes

5. Limitations Small Australian workforce
Recruitment difficulties
Small sample
Ethics around anonymity
Limitations of semi-structured interviews
Bias in data analysis
Data collection issues

6. Findings Valuing justice Seeing change in the clients
Increasing safety of women and children
Valuing justice on a societal level
“Gender inequity and inequality are at the core of women’s oppression, so I see this work as joining a movement, not simply just a job. This is now a lifestyle for me.” “If you don’t have the personal commitment, then you’re not going to be able to do a great job within the professional realm.”

7. Findings Working with men who use violence against women
Small or no steps towards change
Enjoying the challenge
Feeling/being unsafe as workers
“At the end of a group program or individual intervention, sometimes the shift seems so small and a lot of these guys are really terrorizing women and children in their lives and I find it incredibly frustrating, sometimes the lack of shifts some guys choose to make.” “Sometimes the more challenging they are, the more fun I have.”

8. Findings Relationships between workers Gendered attitudes
Problematic male workers
Co-facilitator relationships
“Male workers not addressing the sexism and gender privilege that they bring to the movement and the work, this is upsetting for me but probably worse for our female colleagues.” “You’ve got to be able to find the right people to work with, otherwise the work is really hard, and I think that’s the main reason why some people leave the industry is problematic co-worker relationships.”

9. Findings Organisational impacts on practice Inadequate supervision
Funding and resources
Lack of education and training opportunities
”Not having enough resources to run the program as well as it could be run, is a challenge with doing the actual role itself.” ‘”We’re producing graduates that come out and are going into these work forces and the reality is that men’s behaviour change work and refuge work and child protection work, are where graduates are going. They’re going into those jobs completely ill equipped without any foundational knowledge…”

10. Significance
Importance of perpetrator accountability to reduction of family and domestic violence
Workforce shortage in many parts of Australia
Workforce development
Education and training
Support for practitioners