Intimate Partner Violence: Creative Ways To Reach Difficult and Defensive Men

Decades of research and clinical experience with men who have committed acts of intimate partner violence has taught us that one size does not fit all. While some of the most dangerous abusive men are deeply character-disordered and barely amenable to change, the majority are not. The men we treat are highly sensitized--and clearly overreactive--to shame and feelings of incompetence. If therapists cannot de-shame the therapeutic experience, these men will not show up in the first place for treatment, they will not stay in therapy if they do agree to come, or they will not be as real as they need to be to benefit from the experience.

In this 2-hour continuing education web conference, Dr. David Wexler will bust the myth that you can only change violent men by shaming them. Clinicians will learn to reach difficult and abusive men more effectively by respecting the power of male shame and using “guy talk” that speaks directly to men. Strategies that have now been tested over decades of treatment—including pacing and leading, self-disclosure, motivational interviewing, and solution focused therapy—are extremely effective in disarming male shame and its behavioral cousins: denial, minimization, defensiveness, and avoidance. The ultimate goal—reducing the likelihood of abusive behavior in the future—is best served by forming the therapeutic alliances that these interventions enhance.

This introductory instructional level web conference is designed to help clinicians:

1. Identify essential distinctions about abuser motivations such as power and control, anxious attachment, and narcissistic injury.
2. Describe the power of steering away from a shame-based perspective to a respectful perspective in treating difficult and defensive men.
3. Develop specific skills in forming valuable a therapeutic alliance with male abusers, such as pacing and leading, motivational interviewing, and self-disclosure.
4. Utilize intervention skills based on solution-focused therapy to generate meaningful behavioral change in abusers.
5. Expand knowledge about dynamics of relationships in conflict and strategies for intervention.

Statement of program material's accuracy, utility, and risks: All program material is based on decades of research in the field of domestic violence treatment. The skills are very applicable not only to male domestic violence treatment, but to treatment of defensive and difficult men in multiple settings. The interventions presented are only of risk in that they may not be effective will all abusive men.

Declaration of conflicts of interest and commercial support: None.

If you have questions or would like information regarding disability accommodations, please contact us here.

Continuing Education (CE) Information

2 CE contact hours will be provided by GoodTherapy for attending this web conference in its entirety. To receive CE credit hours for an archived recording, you will need to complete a survey as well as a 15-question exam, verifying that you listened to or watched the event in its entirety. Archived CE events are generally considered "homestudy" by licensing boards.

GoodTherapy is an Approved Education Provider by NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals (provider #135463). Of the eight counselor skill groups ascribed to by NAADAC, this course is classified within Counseling Services.

GoodTherapy is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEPTM) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements.

GoodTherapy.org, provider #1352, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. GoodTherapy.org maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 3/30/2022 – 3/30/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 2 clinical continuing education credits.

GoodTherapy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. GoodTherapy maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 

GoodTherapy, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0395. GoodTherapy, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0022 and for licensed mental health counselors #MHC-0031.

To receive CE credit hours for an archived event, you will need to complete a survey as well as a 12 or 15-question exam, verifying that you listened to or watched the event in its entirety. Archived CE events generally are considered "homestudy" by licensing boards.

Registration Information

Premium and Pro Membership with GoodTherapy includes access to this web conference at no additional cost, as well as other member benefits such as a profile listing in GoodTherapy's Therapist Directory. Not yet a member? Sign up for a Premium or Pro Membership, here.

Just want CE credits? Sign up for a monthly or annual CE Subscription with GoodTherapy to get unlimited access to our CE Program, including this event, other live CE web conferences, and hundreds of hours of homestudy courses.

Mental health professionals who are not members can access the homestudy recording for $15.50. Sign up here to purchase this CE course and earn a CE certificate.

If the event is canceled by GoodTherapy, registrants who purchased the event will be notified and the charge for the event will be refunded

If you have any questions or would like information regarding disability accommodations, please contact us.

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