Repairing the cracks of domestic violence

“Response-based practice stems from the observation that when people are badly treated or when they face adversity, they always respond in some kind of way to address the adversity, to resist the violence, to preserve and reassert their dignity,” said Wade. “When you see how people respond to and resist violence, you begin to see that many forms of violence are much more deliberate than is conventionally assumed. For example, offenders anticipate that the victim will resist and take steps to circumvent and suppress that resistance.”...

“There’s good research now that shows that the way in which professionals, friends and family respond to violence is probably the single best predictor of the level of victim distress,” said Wade.

"Wade explained that the response of police, family counsellors, parents, siblings and others is an important factor in dealing with violence....

“For example, violent actions, like wife assault, are unilateral actions by one person against the other. However, they are often described as mutual actions. Wife assault is often called a dispute or an argument. Well, a dispute or an argument is something that two people do together, an assault is something that one person does to another,” said Wade...."

http://www.thegauntlet.ca/node/18053