Services and Programs Offered

Clients are asked to attend R.O.A.M for a minimum of 40 group sessions.
The program is divided into two phases: an 8 session First Stage, followed by a Second Stage in which clients are expected to attend at least 32 additional sessions.
Group sessions are weekly and of 2 hours duration.

First Stage Groups

First Stage Groups at R.O.A.M are designed to help men define:

  • abuse, identify its various forms (e.g., physical, psychological, sexual and economic abuse),
  • understand how it affects adult victims as well as child witnesses,
  • recognize that violence is a choice, and identify respectful ways of communicating.

During the first eight sessions, each man is required to describe his most recent and his most serious acts of abuse he has committed at least once.

He is additionally required to give weekly report (called short check-in) which includes whether he has had any abusive or controlling behaviors toward his partner or ex-partner during the past week, whether he has used alcohol and drugs ( and how much), and whether he has had any access to weapons.

Following an educational exercise in which abuse and related issues are discussed in a general way, group leaders ask men to describe their own abusive behavior.

Typically, some men spontaneously disclose their abusive behavior during these educational exercises, making it easier for the more reticent men to follow suit.
There is revolving admission to R.O.A.M First Stage groups; clients can join at any point.

Since the eight educational topics are repeated in sequence, it does not matter when the client begins, since he will ultimately be exposed to each lesson.

Instructions for teaching this curriculum, provided below, are preceded by a description of the typical agenda for a First Stage Group.

Second Stage Groups

The R.O.A.M program is divided into an eight session First Stage Group and a 32 session Second stage Group. The First Stage manual guides you through the education curricula, progress report writing, and collateral work required to run First Stage Groups.

After an abuser has finished the first eight sessions, he will probably be moved onto a Second Stage Group.

He will be expected to adapt his behaviour to slightly different expectations in this phase of the program.

Abuser’s intervention program (A.I.P)

An Abuser’s Intervention Program is a program that abusers attend, usually as part of the legal system response to an act of domestic violence.

An A.I.P can play an important role in a co-ordinated response to domestic violence, but it is important that victim safety and offender accountability remain the primary goals of a A.I.P

The goals for the first stage of the program is ...

  • To ensure safety for the partners of group participants in the program.
  • To work to end domestic violence by creating a culture of deterrence.
  • To ensure the program is collaborating with the justice system, human service providers, and battered women’s programs.
  • To teach offenders alternatives to coercive, controlling, and violent behaviour in intimate relationships.

Domestic violence safety dialogue (DVSD)

The Domestic Violence Safety Dialogue program; an innovative, restorative justice approach to healing the effects of domestic violence and empowering survivors of DV (and offenders in many cases) to move forward in life and end the cycle of violence.

How?

  • Safe conversations between survivors of domestic violence and men who have been violent are facilitated. Surrogates are used, meaning the participants have “never met” and they will “never meet” again.

Restorative Justice (R.J)

What is restorative justice?

Restorative justice is an approach to justice that aims to involve the parties to a dispute and others affected by the harm (victims, offenders, families, etc) in collectively identifying harms, needs, and obligations through accepting responsibilities, make restitution, and taking measures to prevent a recurrence of the incident and promoting reconciliation.

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