• Use risk assessment to increase the safety and effectiveness of your programme 
• Focus on the safety of your clients' families
• Implement clear organisational protocols for responding to high-risk clients
• Decide whether a client can be accepted into your programme
• Address violent behaviour of perpetrators with complex needs (substance abuse, mental health trauma)

Webinar "Using Motivation to Decrease the Risk of IPV Recidivism"

Dr Marisol Lila is a full professor of social psychology at the University of Valencia, Spain. She conducts research on public attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV) and the judicial system’s response to IPV perpetrators. Since 2006, she is the designer and head of an intervention programme for IPV perpetrators at the University of Valencia (Programa Contexto). She also has designed and evaluated a motivational tool to increase participants’ adherence to IPV perpetrator programmes.

Jonathan Fowler has been working around the impact of violence and abuse in families since 1992. He has worked as a group facilitator and individual therapist with victims and perpetrators of abuse, including nearly ten years in a secure psychiatric clinic and more than ten years in community domestic abuse perpetrator programmes. In addition to front-line work, he has been a teacher and trainer for many years - including teaching counselling and motivational interviewing. He is also a clinical supervisor for staff in the domestic abuse sector, a researcher, and runs an independent research consultancy. His academic background is in Child & Family Studies and currently his research focus is on what works in programmes with domestic abuse perpetrators, with an emphasis on the working alliance, motivational interviewing, and the impact of client impairments in mentalization (lowered ability to think about thoughts and feelings).

Sara Kirkpatrick is the CEO of Welsh Women’s Aid. Formerly she was the Research & Development Manager at Respect, the UK membership organisation for work with domestic violence perpetrators, male victims and young people. In that role, Sara supported member organisations to deliver interventions with perpetrators of domestic violence and abuse, as well as leading on research and service development across the UK. Starting her career providing support in a women’s refuge, she has worked with a range of client groups including male victims, children impacted by domestic abuse, women remaining in abusive relationships and perpetrators of domestic abuse. Sara has contributed to a number of frontline innovative projects with perpetrators of IPV including co-authoring and delivering the award winning CARA conditional caution project, contributing to the development of DRIVE and most recently working alongside Welsh Women’s Aid on their Change That Lasts perpetrator strand.