Centre for Narrative Practice

ALAN JENKINS

Adelaide, Australia

Author of Invitations to Responsibility

Two one day workshops:

1.  Restorative Practice After Domestic Abuse: ethics, justice, and accountability  

London, May 6th 2008

Manchester May 12th 2008

2. Making it fair:  respectful intervention with disadvantaged young people who have enacted violence and abuse

London, May 7th 2008

Glasgow May 9th 2008

Manchester May 13th 2008

For application form click here  

Restorative Practice After Domestic Abuse: ethics, justice, and accountability

The workshop examines Invitational Practice with men who have abused, in the context of relationships, family and community. The workshop will focus on the nature of restoration in the aftermath of abuse and will critique popular ideas concerning remorse, apology, forgiveness and reconciliation, whilst highlighting possibilities for ethical practices of restorative action.

Practical approaches are outlined and demonstrated with a focus upon:

• Facing shame without shaming
• Moving from ethical realisation to restitution
• Determining respectful forms of connection which are accountable to those who have been affected by abuse
• Developing integrity through ethical action

Making it fair:  respectful intervention with disadvantaged young people who have enacted violence and abuse

The workshop will address the politics of intervention by highlighting dilemmas and principles for just and respectful practice. Invitational Practice fosters a foundation for fairness, accountability to the experiences of childhood, and the discovery of respectful ethics – all wil be outlined and demonstrated.

The workshop will highlight practical ideas in the following dilemmas:

• How can we challenge abusive behaviour without reproducing abuse?

·        How can we address young people’s own experiences of victimization and oppression without sacrificing a priority on responsibility and accountability for their own abusive actions?

• How can we work with shame without shaming young people?

Prices:     £90 for one workshop;  £160 if attending both

For application form click here    

  About Alan

BRIEF DETAILS - ALAN JENKINS

                                                                                                                Nada Consultants

                                                                                                                Box 773   Stirling SA  5152

                                                                                                                phone        (08)  8340 2240

                                                                                                                fax             (08)  8370 8696

alanjenkins@ozemail.com.au

I am registered as a clinical psychologist and have 25 years experience working in the area of violence and abuse within families and communities and in workplace harassment. I consult within both government funded programmes and in independent practice as a director of Nada Consultants. I have been employed as a Senior and Chief Clinical Psychologist in a variety of government and non-government organisations and currently am the Director of the Adolescent Sexual Abuse Prevention Programme, the South Australian intervention service for adolescents who have perpetrated sexual assault.

I have developed models for therapeutic work with individuals who have both perpetrated and been subjected to abusive behaviour, in the contexts of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse and neglect. This involves individual, group and family approaches to abuse prevention, resolution of trauma, appropriate attribution of responsibility, restitution and restoration within families and communities.

These approaches have been adopted by domestic violence and sexual abuse treatment and prevention services in many parts of Australia, USA, Canada, United Kingdom and New Zealand.

I have detailed my therapeutic approach in a book titled, 'Invitations To Responsibility : The Therapeutic Engagement of Men Who are Violent and Abusive', published in 1990 and in a variety of subsequent journal articles and reports.

These models of engagement and intervention are referred to as Invitational practice and are informed by a cultural and political analysis of power relations and by Narrative Therapy concepts. Invitational practice is designed to assist those who have engaged in abusive behaviour to discover their own ethical foundations and preferences for just and respectful behaviour and motivation to address and accept responsibility for abusive behaviour.

This form of intervention requires a parallel journey for workers with their clients, towards discovering their own capacities for ethical and respectful ways of relating which promote self-respect and respect for others. Invitational practice is at all times informed by ongoing practices which promote ongoing accountability to the experiences of those who have been harmed or are at risk of abuse.

I  have consulted to a wide variety of family violence and abuse programs throughout Australia, including N.S.W. Child Protection Services, Dept. Corrective Services, N.S.W. Juvenile Sex Offender Program, N.S.W. Pre-trial Diversion Program, Queensland Domestic Violence Unit, W.A. and Tasmania Family Courts and Queensland Magistrates.

The S.A. Domestic Violence Resource Unit commissioned my independent practice to develop competency-based practice standards for working with men who abuse. 

I am regularly invited to present my work at national and international conferences and regularly conduct workshops, training presentations and consult to a variety of organisations throughout U.S.A., Canada, U.K., Europe and New Zealand.