Summary of Good Practice Guidelines

The following is a summary of the Minimum Standards for running Men’s Behaviour Change Programs.

These standards must be adhered to by NTV members and Department of Human Services funded Men’s Behaviour Change Programs. 

For an explanation of each of the standards and in-depth discussion of a range of practice issues that they raise, order the manual Men’s Behaviour Change Group Work: A Manual for Quality Practice from our Publications page.

Staffing men's behaviour change programs

GPG 1. Position descriptions and performance appraisals for all staff involved in the provision or management of a Men's Behaviour Change Program are informed by the NTV Minimum Standards.

GPG 2. Providers delegate a staff member to oversee implementation of the NTV Minimum Standards.

GPG 3. When involving a previous group participant in a Men's Behaviour Change Program in an ongoing formal capacity in a group (for example, as a mentor, educator or facilitator), program providers:

  • Provide a written role description, including aims, prerequisites and selection criteria for the role; rights and responsibilities of both the participant and the provider; accountability processes; and, scope, limitations and boundaries for the role. 
  • Ensure that the man satisfies all of the provider's selection criteria. 
  • Provide effective training and induction. 
  • Have regular contact with his partner, if he has one (including if he commences a relationship). 
  • Involve him in briefing and debriefing for every group session. 
  • Provide regular supervision with a professional facilitator. 
  • Have a formal contract with him for the provision of his services (whether paid or voluntary).
  • Have a policy on payment/honoraria for volunteers. 
  • Conduct an exit interview upon his departure from the program.
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Program planning

GPG4. Providers document the theoretical underpinnings of their Men's Behaviour Change Program.

GPG 5. Providers make all reasonable attempts to have contact with their local family violence outreach service, family violence networker, and police at least quarterly.

GPG 6. Providers attend meetings or other activities of their local family violence network at least quarterly.

GPG 7. All staff in Men's Behaviour Change Programs have access to up-to-date information about services that could be used by men, women and children, including those provided by regional and state-wide providers.

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Access and participation

GPG 8. Providers offer information about their Men's Behaviour Change Program to all local health, welfare, legal and other providers that provide services to women, men, children and families.

This information includes the provider's approach to men's behaviour change; intake and assessment process; processes for accountability to women and children; program structure; statement of rights and responsibilities for male program participants and their family members; and, a clear differentiation between Men's Behaviour Change Programs and anger management groups.

GPG 9. All eligibility criteria have a documented rationale.

GPG 10. In following up an initial enquiry, staff provide the enquirer with information about what the provider can offer and the timelines and processes for assessment.

GPG 11. Providers encourage men to make their own bookings for assessment.

GPG 12. Providers taking a booking for a man from a woman first assess her safety, situation and options before discussing the pros and cons of her making a booking on his behalf.

GPG 13. Providers accept referrals from other providers or staff outside the program only if the man is involved in the process.

GPG 14. When a man is returning to a group program after an absence of more than three months, he is re-assessed.

GPG 15. If a man is not eligible to enter a provider's Men's Behaviour Change Program, or decides against joining a group, staff try to assist him to identify and explore other options.

GPG 16. If a man participates in an intake assessment but is not eligible to enter the provider's Men's Behaviour Change Program, or decides against joining the program, staff request his permission to make contact with relevant women and children in order to check on their safety.

GPG 17. Providers document how they engage with Indigenous communities and individuals in the context of Indigenous family violence.

GPG 18. Providers who work with Indigenous individuals have regular contact with a relevant Indigenous family violence service for the purposes of secondary consultation and support.

GPG 19. Engagement with Indigenous communities and individual Indigenous men in the context of Indigenous family violence issues is consistent with the findings and recommendations of the Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Task Force.

GPG 20. Providers: 

  • Invite representatives from their local Indigenous organisation and Migrant Resource Centre or other relevant ethnic community organisation to participate in their Reference Group. 
  • Provide information about their Men's Behaviour Change Program to local Indigenous and ethnic community workers. 
  • Provide interpreters for assessment, groups and contact with men's families wherever possible. 
  • Avoid Anglo-centrism in educational materials by using a variety of cultural settings for scenarios in group work. 
  • Ensure appropriate referrals for men who have experienced torture or trauma. 
  • Monitor group dynamics and respond to marginalisation or other forms of exclusion on the basis of race, culture or English language ability. 
  • Take care to avoid language that implies that male family violence is acceptable in some places or cultures. 
  • Challenge racism and racist stereotypes from group participants, making it clear that these power-over ways of relating are another form of violent and controlling behaviour.

GPG 21. Providers document the processes they use to ensure cultural and linguistic inclusiveness.

GPG 22. Providers never condone or excuse violent or controlling behaviour on the basis of culture or men's experiences.

GPG 23. To challenge homophobia and be sexually inclusive, providers:

  • Provide appropriate referrals, information and resources for men who are in same-sex relationships. 
  • Have regular contact with a relevant gay men's health worker or counsellor for the purposes of secondary consultation and support. 
  • Monitor group dynamics and respond to marginalisation or other forms of exclusion. 
  • Challenge homophobia and homophobic stereotypes from group participants, making it clear that these power-over ways of relating are another form of violent and controlling behaviour.

Providers document the processes they use to ensure sexual inclusiveness.

Providers never condone or excuse violent behaviour on the basis of sexuality or men's experiences.

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Administration

GPG 24. Facilitators who undertake to sign the attendance sheets of legally mandated clients negotiate any further feedback with the mandating provider, bearing in mind Minimum Standard 29.

GPG 25. Program staff who provide reports to statutory bodies at the request of women take into account the possible implications for their safety now and in the future.

Upon written requests from women, they can choose to provide information about:

  • Anything women have disclosed about their experiences and feel safe to make public. 
  • Anything men have disclosed about their violence during assessment and group sessions. 
  • Any behaviour or attitudes of men that facilitators have observed in the group.

GPG 26. Reasonable attempts are made to have further contact with men who drop out of a program.

GPG 27. Men who are making a planned exit from a program are invited and assisted to develop an exit plan.

GPG 28. Men are contacted at least once after their departure from a program, to reinforce the importance of maintaining behaviour change, and remind men that the program has a continuing interest in their changed behaviour.

GPG 29. Women are always notified when a man leaves or drops out of a program.

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Accountability to family members

GPG 30. Children are included in decision making on an age-appropriate basis.

GPG 31. Contact workers do not make any comment to family members about any positive changes in the man's behaviour.

GPG 32. If a provider will no longer provide services to women and children for any reason, staff formulate and implement an exit plan or a handover plan (if another provider is to provide future support) and make all reasonable attempts to conduct an exit interview.

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Safety

GPG 33. Providers conduct program activities in places that are safe, well-lit, comfortable, physically accessible, located close to public transport and child-friendly.

GPG 34. Providers ensure that men's behaviour change groups always start and finish at the designated time.

GPG 35. In the extraordinary event that a group session is being facilitated by a single facilitator, another staff member is present in the building and within easy reach for the duration of the session, and is aware that the session is being conducted.

GPG 36. Providers have documented occupational health and safety procedures specific to the context of Men's Behaviour Change Program.

GPG 37. Providers and staff review staff safety procedures before the commencement of each group program, or every six months where the group is ongoing.

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Practice and program delivery

GPG 38. Men are referred for counselling from appropriate generalist or specialist services for issues other than their use of violent and controlling behaviours.

GPG 39. All group programs regularly talk about ways that men try to avoid responsibility for their violent and controlling behaviours, including misogyny, objectification of women, denial, justification, blaming others, minimisation, collusion, secrecy, disruption of the group process or portraying themselves as victims.

GPG 40. Facilitators point out to men when they try to avoid responsibility or collude with others' avoidance of responsibility.

GPG 41. Facilitators foster a group culture in which men monitor and point out each others' attempts to avoid responsibility or collude with others' avoidance of responsibility.

GPG 42. Providers encourage and support observers to attend their men’s behaviour change groups.

GPG 43. Observers are briefed before the session and participate in debriefing afterwards.

GPG 44. Observers are bound by the same confidentiality as facilitators.

GPG 45. Processes and the length of time that will be spent debriefing are agreed by facilitators before the beginning of a group program.

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Monitoring and evaluation

GPG 46. Providers seek women's and children's views about their own safety before, during and six months after men's participation in a Men's Behaviour Change Program.

GPG 47. Providers monitor the behaviour of individual men on an ongoing basis.

GPG 48. Providers seek women's and children's views about men's behaviour before, during and six months after their participation in a men's behaviour change group.

GPG 49. Providers undertake an assessment of the behaviour change of individual men at least every six sessions.

GPG 50. Providers never participate in research that establishes control groups.

GPG 51. Any research undertaken by third parties (including students) has the approval of a relevant ethics committee, and the research proposal and approval are sighted by the program provider.

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