Domestic Violence Counseling

What is Domestic Violence Counseling?

The niche of domestic violence counseling is a rewarding albeit difficult field. Professionals must face the darker aspects of human interaction and seek ways to mitigate family violence. Domestic violence counseling is a specific field of counseling aimed at helping victims of domestic violence. Workers in this area are highly skilled professionals who work with victims to assess and understand their situations, empower them to make difficult decisions and provide support in challenging times.

The issues around domestic violence can be extremely complex and individuals within this role are highly trained, leaving them as the best people to provide support to people in domestically violent relationships. This training takes time and dedication but the role that a domestic violence counselor plays in the life of someone suffering from domestic violence, can be absolutely critical. But domestic violence counseling is about more than just persuading someone to leave a dangerous environment, it’s about educating people to their options and providing them with a safe place to deal with the longer-term effects of domestic violence if they do decide to leave.

What Does a Domestic Violence Counselor Do?

A domestic violence counselor provides support and understanding to victims of domestic violence. Initially, they will work with their client to assess the situation. Their ultimate goal is to ensure the safety of their client, and this often means working with them to support them as they leave a domestically violent relationship. They will also provide ongoing support to victims who have left their violent scenario, to help them cope with the aftermath – setting up a new life and dealing with any psychological after-effects of their experience. It can also involve working closely with victims who don’t feel able or willing to leave, to try to maintain their safety as much as possible.

Domestic violence counselors often work in educating clients too – through an education program around domestic violence, a counselor can provide a client with more information and potentially help them to reassess their situation. They often encourage patients to become self-directed, empowered, and autonomous. They can also show that a change of circumstance is not only necessary, but possible. Domestic violence counselors may also act as an advocate for their client when dealing with other service providers or within a legal setting.

Domestic violence counselors may also help patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, depression, anxiety, and other abuse-related conditions.

Other responsibilities can include court-involvement advocating for victims, helping patients find medical treatment, and restraining orders.

What is a Sexual Assault Counselor?

Sexual assault counseling is a specialized form of counseling psychology in which clinicians work exclusively with the victims and/or perpetrators of sexually based crimes. Sexual assault counselors might focus their work on particular age groups, such as children, or they might work with clients of all ages. Sexual assault counselors must have highly specialized training above and beyond the typical requirements for a master’s degree or doctorate. This training often includes courses in victim advocacy, trauma-focused therapies, recovery techniques, biological bases of violent sexual behavior, treatment methods for sexual offenders, and methods for self-care.

The job duties of sexual assault counselors are naturally among the most difficult of any counseling field. Sexual assault counselors engage victims in counseling, with the goal of helping the victim work through his or her feelings and emotions regarding what happened to them. With child clients, counselors might use play therapy techniques to get the child to open up about his or her experience in the context of play. Talk therapy is a more common approach with adult victims. In both cases, counseling with victims is often carried out in a one-on-one setting.

Many sexual assault counselors work with the perpetrators of sex crimes. The approach to working with offenders is much different than that used with victims. Counseling with sex offenders typically includes an educational focus. That is, counselors work with offenders to help them develop the skills that will help prevent future offenses. For example, a sexual assault counselor might conduct group therapy sessions for offenders in which they learn how to deal with anger, rejection, shame, and other heavy feelings in an appropriate manner. Communication skills might be emphasized as well. This type of therapy is usually conducted in a group setting, so individual members have a support system as they attempt to learn, grow, and change.

Some sexual assault counselors also work with the courts to provide expert testimony in cases of a suspected sex crime. They might offer insight into the perpetrator’s state of mind, or they might provide information about the deleterious impacts the assault has had on the victim. Additionally, sexual assault counselors often provide information to the families of victims regarding court proceedings, services available to protect their loved one from further harm, and details regarding how they can help support their loved one in overcoming the trauma they have experienced. In this regard, sexual assault counselors operate more like an advocate or family liaison.

Why is Domestic Violence Counseling Important?

Domestic violence counseling provides a critically important service for both victims and perpetrators of violence.

For victims, counseling offers them a chance to work through the feelings and emotions of being victimized. By exploring what’s happened to them, victims are able to overcome the fear, shame, guilt, and other heavy feelings that often accompany being victimized. Counseling tends to focus on developing strong coping skills that allow the victim to take control of their feelings and emotions and deal with them in a healthy manner. Learning how to be confident, feeling safe, and developing the tools they need to move on after such a tragic event are further benefits derived from domestic violence counseling.

This type of counseling is also beneficial for individuals that commit acts of violence against others. Perpetrators can gain insight into why they behave the way they do, talk through the emotions they feel before, during, and after they inflict pain on others, and learn how to build positive relationships with others such that violence and abuse no longer occur. Often, learning about one’s thought processes and developing an awareness of triggers to violence are benefits of domestic violence counseling for perpetrators of violence.