(1) All FVIPs shall establish and comply with a written curriculum. Written curriculums must follow an educational model and include content for weekly sessions. FVIPs shall make all written curriculum available to the Commission and victim liaisons upon request. Best practice curriculums are included in the Department SOP. Curriculums must adhere to the following principles regarding family and domestic violence:
(a) Power and Control. Program topics must follow a model that identifies and challenges family and domestic violence as an overall system of physical and emotional abuse where the participant chooses to use tactics of power and control over the victim.
(b) Beliefs and Social Context. Program topics shall consistently identify and challenge participants' personal beliefs and social contexts that support those beliefs and encourage the use of power and control tactics over the victim.
(c) Effects. Program topics shall consistently identify and hold the participant accountable for the physical and emotional effects of the participant's violence and abuse on victims, including children.
(2) Curriculums shall address the following:
(a) Identification of all forms of physical, emotional, economic, verbal and sexual abuse, and violence against an intimate partner;
(b) Impact of family and domestic violence on the victim and the abuser, including short and long term effects;
(c) Impact of family and domestic violence on children, including children who are abused and children who witness family or domestic violence, including short and long term effects;
(d) Identification of family and domestic violence as primarily a learned behavior;
(e) Emphasis on the responsibility of the batterer for his or her violence and abuse;
(f) Identification of personal beliefs and societal and cultural values that legitimize and sustain violence and oppression, including sporadic and systematic acts of retribution and punishment;
(g) Alternatives to violence and controlling behaviors;
(h) Identification and promotion of relationship dynamics based on equality;
(i) Attempts to improve participants' ability to identify, articulate, and express emotions in a non-threatening manner;
(j) Promotion of accountability, self-examination, negotiation, and fairness;
(k) Strategies to help participants develop and improve their support systems that promote and encourage a violence-free life;
(l) The relationship between substance abuse, mental illness, and family and domestic violence; and
(m) Identification of the behavioral, emotional, and physical cues that precede escalating violence.
(3) The Commission recognizes that men and women often use violence differently and that interventions for men and women need to be structured differently. Most curriculums are specifically designed for men who batter their intimate women partners. A different curriculum shall be used or developed by an FVIP providing classes to women who use violence against their intimate partners.
