What is the DAPP?
DAPP stands for Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme. It is a 17 week programme that seeks to increase the safety of women and children, and the quality of life of everyone in the family, by working with men who recognise that they have been abusive towards an intimate female partner and who want to stop that behaviour. Domestic abuse includes physical violence, emotional abuse, or any other form of coercive control. The programme runs alongside one-to-one support sessions to ensure men are offered a robust intervention.
Fresh Futures is fully accredited by RESPECT, the National Association for Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programmes and Associated Support. The DAPP is open to men aged 18 and over from any ethnicity or religious background.
What happens on the programme?
17 group sessions are facilitated to provide participants with insight into how their behaviour is abusive and how to learn non-abusive behaviour strategies to use to enhance and reduce risk within families and relationships.
ISS Victim support is offered to all victims whilst men are on programme and up to 3 months post programme.
This support offers a robust risk management and safeguarding which is tailored to each individual’s needs.
During the programme, participants will cover:
- The damaging effects of blaming others for their behaviour and how to stop doing it
- The wide range of impacts of abusive and controlling behaviour in intimate relationships.
- The (sometimes hidden) impact on children of a father’s abusive behaviour
- How to be less reactive and prevent the actions of others affecting the choices they make
- How arguments escalate and how to prevent escalation
- How to recognise and stop abusive or controlling behaviour before it happens
- How to avoid being trapped in destructive or repetitive patterns of negative thinking
- How to know themselves better so they can stay calm
- How to take appropriate ‘time outs’
- How to negotiate more effectively in a relationship
Outcomes:
Research into RESPECT accredited programmes (like the DAPP) shows that most women and children feel significant improvements in their sense of safety after the man completed a programme of this type. This research also shows most women who had experienced sexual or physical violence from their partner stated that this violence had stopped after the programme.
Men who have engaged fully with the programme by attending all the sessions and participating with full honesty have told us they feel a great benefit from the practical skills and fresh perspective they have learned.
These skills and personal insights appear to improve their experience of life and can help them regain contact with their loved ones and build a safer environment for them.
Men also report they have experienced significant encouragement and support from meeting and talking with other men, helping them see they are not alone in their struggle and that progress and change is not only possible but is merely a matter of making better and more informed choices.
Other intervention services:
The DAPP Service also facilitate other different types of intervention as and when funding is available to roll out different types of Programmes to fully encapsulate the broad spectrum of risk and types of Domestic Abuse.
We are currently facilitating a DAPP 17 Week RESPECT Accredited programme to the Urdu & Punjabi speaking community. This is delivered by dual speaking facilitators, which also captures the complex issues of domestic abuse attached to some cultural beliefs held by perpetrators within this community.
The additional services will be updated on the site when available with details on how to access these.
For full details on the DAPP, click here to visit our website.
