Violence program revamp raises eyebrows
Request for proposals suggests only part-time staff needed, few one-one-one sessions
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The territorial government is looking for someone to take the reins of A New Day but fans of the domestic violence rehabilitation program worry new criteria listed in a request for proposals will hamper its effectiveness.
A New Day is a men's healing program offering individual and group therapy for men who have behaved violently in their relationships. Judges can order men convicted in domestic violence cases to take the program but it is also voluntary.
It was originally slated to end Dec. 31 but was granted a six-month reprieve which comes to an end in June.
Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson is concerned that what replaces it will look very different.
Chief among Simpson's concerns were discrepancies between the recommendations of a program evaluation report that was released in November and the new request for proposals (RFP).
"The new program isn't based on the report," said Simpson in the legislative assembly March 10. "What the department has done is structure the RFP to eliminate all these qualities and really sterilize it making it more palatable to government."
While the evaluation report recommends one-on-one sessions and full-time staff support, the RFP emphasizes group sessions while suggesting employees with the program ought to be part-time as needed and are not required to be "experts" in family violence.
The existing program currently has two full-time staff who between them hold advanced degrees and knowledge of spiritual ceremonies and healing circles.
Right now, the program begins with solo sessions followed by group counselling.
Between 2012 and 2015, 80 men had entered the program, not including outreach clients at the North Slave Correctional Centre. Only 12 completed all four stages of the program, according to the Department of Justice, and 71 per cent of participants completed fewer than 10 sessions. However, the evaluation reports recidivism dropped even after just 10 sessions.
"I think that the availability of solo sessions are really important," said Bree Denning, executive director of the Yellowknife Women's Society.
"There's a lot of shame that's built around trauma and violence, both being a victim of it and using it yourself.
"Those solo sessions open doors to people who would not be comfortable in a group setting.
"It also ignores the fact that this is a really small community with relationships between people that go back for decades ... So if you're doing a strictly group kind of setting ...you're going to lose people."
Nonetheless, men who made it to the group sessions were the ones most likely to complete the entire program.
"The evaluation report clearly demonstrated that men who participate in group sessions have the greatest chance of success," said Kim Schofield, an assistant deputy minister with the Department of Justice.
The RFP describes a program emphasizes group sessions almost exclusively, and states that if men aren't ready to participate in group sessions they should be asked to leave.
As for not needing full-time staff support, Schofield said the idea is to expand capacity by building up a roster of people able to facilitate the program, instead of relying on just one or two people.
"The work to deliver A New Day is not full-time," said Schofield.
Under the RFP, facilitators are also expected to have no other professional relationship with clients. Several people expressed concerns that in a community the size of Yellowknife this may narrow the available pool of expertise.
But Schofield dismissed these concerns, saying that since the work will be part time, facilitators "may very well have connections with other programs" and the caveat was intended to clear the air on potential conflict of interests.
"If a facilitator has worked with a client before on the A New Day program, this would not preclude them from working with the client again unless there were specific reasons of a professional nature," she said.
The RFP also states that the GNWT will provide the curriculum for the program, which is "to be followed and adhered to at all times," with specific emphasis on family violence. Clients facing other mental health and addictions issues should be directed to other programs, the RFP states.
"The result appears to be a program stripped of all of the qualities that make it successful; its accessibility, flexibility, outreach, cultural components, and the ability to allow for trusting relationships between clients and counsellors to develop," Simpson told MLAs.
