The Craft Project – Changing Behaviour
What is the Craft Project?
The Craft Project is a project commissioned by Devon County Council as part of the Devon Domestic Abuse Alliance (DDAA). We support individuals and families that are worried about their behaviour in relationships, e.g., struggling with conflict, repeatedly arguing, using violence and/or abuse toward those they love. Using the evidenced based CRAFT approach, we offer extensive and tailored support to those who have used standard/medium/high risk levels of conflict, violence/abuse. Our primary intervention is a co-facilitated group work offer that ranges from 12 sessions for standard/medium risk, to a 27-session high risk offer, typically taking place online (via Teams/Zoom).
Who is it for?
- The project is for individuals and families in Devon, aged 18 years and over.
- Where it is deemed safe/appropriate, we can work with couples or multiple family members where appropriate.
- Individuals can self-refer or give consent to be referred by professionals they may be in contact with across the different services.
- Referrals should be made through the DDAA Gateway (see Expression of Interest Form at the bottom) and will be passed to The Craft Project Coordinator.
What to expect?
The Craft Project adopts a restorative approach, working with individual and family strengths, alongside the identification and management of risk.
Whilst we will make judgements about safety and suitability for our interventions, we will not stand ‘in judgement’ of any individual or family and believe that everyone is entitled to respect. The position we maintain in The Craft Project is that to greater and lesser extents, we are all capable, at times, of behaving abusively in relationships.
Individuals referred to the project can expect a telephone call/to be contacted by the Coordinator of The Craft Project who will arrange an initial meeting with a caseworker to complete a needs and risk assessment.
Meetings, once arranged, can take place face to face but are also very likely to be conducted online using platforms such as Teams/Zoom. Once assessment is completed, we will work out the most suitable pathway for the client, based on needs and risks assessed. This may involve seeking consent to refer to other services within the alliance or wider.
What The Craft Project cannot offer?
We offer psycho-social education interventions, but we are not a therapeutic service and do not offer therapy/counselling. Neither do we offer mediation between parties within families. However, should such services be required, we can assist with referrals to relevant organisations that we are aware of.
Risk Assessment
For the duration of involvement, risk assessment for individuals and families will remain on going and be measured at various intervals. We recognise that risk in domestic violence and abuse cases, is dynamic and always operates with a focus on safety.
The programme supports the use of DASH (Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour Based Violence Risk Assessment) as the most widely used evidenced base tool for identifying significant factors linked to murder and serious harm. It therefore forms the basis of all intervention programme suitability assessments.
We recognise that services may be using other assessment processes to gather information (e.g. as part of children social care Section 47 enquiries or probation SARA assessments). These are taken into account when accepting referrals into the group work. All referrals will be looked at on a case-by-case basis and in collaboration with the referring agency.
Referral Criteria for Restore Relationships Programme
We welcome expressions of interest where the following criteria have been met:
- Conflict, Violence and/or abuse has been identified as being used by an individual and they are prepared to discuss their situation.
The individual/family are:
- Living in Devon
- Aged 18 or over
- Accept that their behaviour has been a problem and are prepared to talk about at least one incident of aggression with a partner/ex-partner/family member
- Aware that information sharing (including with partner/s) is a part of working with us, and consent to this.
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