In the early 1980’s communities were organizing around the issue of domestic violence against women. In the Pictou County area discussions took place to talk about a holistic approach to the issue. In 1986 the New Leaf support program for men was begun. New Leaf is an alternative service organization whose roots and evolution are very much based in the community. The Pictou County Opportunity for Men Association is the body that oversees the New Leaf Program. The association is a community based non-profit organization that functions through a Board of Directors whose members are from the community.
New Leaf is a Men’s intervention program whose origins can be found in some of the early work on violence in intimate relationships that came out of Duluth and Boston. The other component, which informed the origins of the New Leaf program, is input from individuals and organizations within our community.
The priority of New Leaf is to address safety concerns for women and children by providing support services to men who are abusive and violent towards their partner/ex-partner and/or children. We are part of a coordinated community response to domestic violence. The majority of our adult male referrals come from Child Welfare and from Probation Services. Other referral sources include; police officers, lawyers, doctors, Mental Health Services, family members, friends, and both present and former New Leaf clients, to name a few. Referral sources for our Adolescent male Program (AMP) include; Guidance Counsellors, School Principals, teachers, mothers, and John Howard Society.
Our counseling with the men is based on an experiential model of adult education. This model focuses on individual and group experiences that guide the process of learning. Facilitated discussion takes place in a group setting where the men are supported to talk about their experiences, their behaviors, the effects on others and the factors leading to the choices they make. The model then takes the men through a reflection process that gives them an opportunity to put their understandings together with their feelings in order to make better choices. This is a learning process in action, as it mirrors the process of taking responsibility.
Our work is done in the context of intimate partner abuse being seen as a social issue. Therefore, in group, many discussions are underlined by how socialization has affected us in both positive and negative ways. The learning about this is greatly enhanced by counselling being done in a group setting. Both of our weekly evening group sessions are open groups. The mix of clients at different stages in their journey increases the learnings in a group setting as the men benefit from the experiences of others. Group topics do not follow a set agenda but rather are generally identified in the ‘check-in’ portion of the group.
There is no waiting period to get into either the intake interview or the group sessions. This allows us to work with the men early in their situations often when they are in crisis. This also allows for intervention as necessary in order to address immediate safety concerns.
One on one sessions are rarely done at New Leaf. Even though men sometimes identify that they would prefer individual counselling, we direct them to our group process in order that they may benefit from the socialization context and support from the other group members. Individual counselling is only offered when a situation exists that would preclude the client from being in group. This could include a mental health condition, or a disability such as hearing or developmental. Some of these clients are integrated into the group sessions after a period of time, depending on their specific situation.
Rather than use one particular method of counselling, New Leaf draws from a number of approaches. This eclectic approach allows us to meet the men ‘where they are’ and to work with both high risk and lower risk situations in both a timely and effective manner.
Measures of success and change are largely qualitative at this point and as a program that offers a community action model; we look forward to other ways of assessing the effectiveness of programming. At this point we address concerns by offering programming, maintaining contact with service providers, partner contact, and ongoing review and evaluation with our clients.
Various changes within the overall system have brought improvements in how we do our work. Some of the areas of change include the High Risk Protocol, emergency protection orders, and case conferencing for child protection through family court orders. This also creates more workload for each client for New Leaf staff.
In addition to the basic men’s program and partner contact other work associated with New Leaf includes public presentations, media contact, and sitting on various committees such as the Interagency on Family Violence.
With the loss of Law Foundation of Nova Scotia funding, we are currently only able to offer a limited School Program in conjunction with Tearmann Society for Abused Women. This is very unfortunate as we have been noticing an increasing number of adolescent males being referred to our program for one on one counselling.
We also had at one time, developed and ran a parenting program designed to work specifically with fathers who were or had been abusive at home. This program was a closed group and only offered to clients or previous clients of the New Leaf program. We are unable to currently offer this program due to lack of funds.
In summary this brief overview of the history and functioning of New Leaf is meant to provide a sense of how the New Leaf Program continues to evolve. We look forward to discussing our organization’s work in more detail as we focus on safety for families and supporting men in taking responsibility for their attitudes, actions and behaviours as they work towards understanding what it means to have empathy and healthy relationships.
New Leaf is a Men’s intervention program whose origins can be found in some of the early work on violence in intimate relationships that came out of Duluth and Boston. The other component, which informed the origins of the New Leaf program, is input from individuals and organizations within our community.
The priority of New Leaf is to address safety concerns for women and children by providing support services to men who are abusive and violent towards their partner/ex-partner and/or children. We are part of a coordinated community response to domestic violence. The majority of our adult male referrals come from Child Welfare and from Probation Services. Other referral sources include; police officers, lawyers, doctors, Mental Health Services, family members, friends, and both present and former New Leaf clients, to name a few. Referral sources for our Adolescent male Program (AMP) include; Guidance Counsellors, School Principals, teachers, mothers, and John Howard Society.
Our counseling with the men is based on an experiential model of adult education. This model focuses on individual and group experiences that guide the process of learning. Facilitated discussion takes place in a group setting where the men are supported to talk about their experiences, their behaviors, the effects on others and the factors leading to the choices they make. The model then takes the men through a reflection process that gives them an opportunity to put their understandings together with their feelings in order to make better choices. This is a learning process in action, as it mirrors the process of taking responsibility.
Our work is done in the context of intimate partner abuse being seen as a social issue. Therefore, in group, many discussions are underlined by how socialization has affected us in both positive and negative ways. The learning about this is greatly enhanced by counselling being done in a group setting. Both of our weekly evening group sessions are open groups. The mix of clients at different stages in their journey increases the learnings in a group setting as the men benefit from the experiences of others. Group topics do not follow a set agenda but rather are generally identified in the ‘check-in’ portion of the group.
There is no waiting period to get into either the intake interview or the group sessions. This allows us to work with the men early in their situations often when they are in crisis. This also allows for intervention as necessary in order to address immediate safety concerns.
One on one sessions are rarely done at New Leaf. Even though men sometimes identify that they would prefer individual counselling, we direct them to our group process in order that they may benefit from the socialization context and support from the other group members. Individual counselling is only offered when a situation exists that would preclude the client from being in group. This could include a mental health condition, or a disability such as hearing or developmental. Some of these clients are integrated into the group sessions after a period of time, depending on their specific situation.
Rather than use one particular method of counselling, New Leaf draws from a number of approaches. This eclectic approach allows us to meet the men ‘where they are’ and to work with both high risk and lower risk situations in both a timely and effective manner.
Measures of success and change are largely qualitative at this point and as a program that offers a community action model; we look forward to other ways of assessing the effectiveness of programming. At this point we address concerns by offering programming, maintaining contact with service providers, partner contact, and ongoing review and evaluation with our clients.
Various changes within the overall system have brought improvements in how we do our work. Some of the areas of change include the High Risk Protocol, emergency protection orders, and case conferencing for child protection through family court orders. This also creates more workload for each client for New Leaf staff.
In addition to the basic men’s program and partner contact other work associated with New Leaf includes public presentations, media contact, and sitting on various committees such as the Interagency on Family Violence.
With the loss of Law Foundation of Nova Scotia funding, we are currently only able to offer a limited School Program in conjunction with Tearmann Society for Abused Women. This is very unfortunate as we have been noticing an increasing number of adolescent males being referred to our program for one on one counselling.
We also had at one time, developed and ran a parenting program designed to work specifically with fathers who were or had been abusive at home. This program was a closed group and only offered to clients or previous clients of the New Leaf program. We are unable to currently offer this program due to lack of funds.
In summary this brief overview of the history and functioning of New Leaf is meant to provide a sense of how the New Leaf Program continues to evolve. We look forward to discussing our organization’s work in more detail as we focus on safety for families and supporting men in taking responsibility for their attitudes, actions and behaviours as they work towards understanding what it means to have empathy and healthy relationships.