A New Day achieves success after rocky start
Evaluation of domestic violence program found repeat offences decline after 10 sessions
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, November 25, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A review of a program for men who have committed violence against a relationship partner has found it has achieved some success.
"It appears that the (Tree of Peace Friendship Centre) has provided stability to the program which was lacking during initial implementation and, as such, appears to be functioning as originally intended," an evaluation of A New Day program states.
The GNWT released the report on Wednesday and officially announced the program will be extended by six months to June 30. Its funding from the GNWT was previously set to end Dec. 31.
A New Day has men take part in an individual and group counselling over 20 weeks. The program includes taking responsibility for actions, confronting addictions issues, building relapse plans and monitoring progress.
Justice Minister Louis Sebert said there may be changes to the program based on the evaluation's findings as it transitions from a pilot program to long-term service.
"The whole point of a pilot program is to examine the program over a period of time so staff and myself will be reviewing the program to see if it can be improved," Sebert told reporters on Wednesday after the release of the $43,700 evaluation, put together by Proactive Information Services Inc.
The extension comes weeks after MLAs passed a motion in legislative assembly calling on the government to extend A New Day by a full year.
The extra six months will give the government time to implement changes and issue a request for proposals seeking a contracted operator for the service. Sebert said Tree of Peace can enter that proposals process.
The evaluation only looked at clients who entered the program between October 2012 and Dec. 31, 2015. Tree of Peace took over the program in December 2014, which covers the final year of the review period.
The review didn't include 2016, which the report notes was "the year in which the program achieved more stability."
The report notes there are "wide variations" on how many clients used the program - with A New Day staff and the Department of Justice having conflicting figures. The report states 80 men were identified as going through intake in the review period. Twelve completed it.
The program was found to reduce the likelihood of repeat offences after 12 months for those who had completed 10 sessions.
The review included interviews with seven clients but didn't talk to their partners.
"A number of those interviewed indicated that they had stopped drinking and were happier in their lives," the report states. "Participants reported that other people had noticed positive changes in their behaviours."
The program should be more flexible, the report found. For instance, some clients didn't complete it in the 20 weeks because they worked at mines or travelled to their home communities for a period of time. Another suggestion was that some men may need individual counselling instead of group sessions.
A change to the structure of the program, from one based on weeks to a more flexible approach, appears to be the main change the GNWT intends to make.
Sebert said the government supports the type of program but adjustments are needed such as moving to a four-part module rather than a 20-week structure.
The report also suggests expanding the service outside Yellowknife, which Sebert said is a possibility.
However, he qualified that by saying there are issues about sufficient resources and staff for such a program in other communities.
