Feature
Dr Ronald Schweitzer: Working with men who commit violence against women
While many GPs may be relatively familiar with the management of people who have experienced family violence, Dr Ronald Schweitzer’s work is on another side of the issue.
Dr Schweitzer emphasises that the violent behaviour is ‘horrible’, rather than the patient themselves.
Dr Ronald Schweitzer and social worker Helen Wirtz have run the Men’s Responsibility Group through the MonashLink Community Health Service since 1994, with the goal of helping people who commit violence against women change their behaviour.
The fact the majority of Dr Schweitzer’s patients do not present willingly and have arrived through the courts or as a result of intervention orders can lead to confronting, often-challenging behaviour from within the group.
‘Out of 1000 men, maybe a handful have come because they want to be there,’ Dr Schweitzer told newsGP. ‘When you have a room full of 12 men who are new to these ideas, they are at square one. They’re very much into blaming practices and “What about me?”’
After 10 years, Wirtz and Dr Schweitzer decided to change their treatment format. Instead of running groups as distinct 15-week programs, they began ongoing 20-week groups that men could join at any time. This change has proven to be beneficial for a variety of reasons: men don’t have to wait to join a group and numbers remain fairly stable throughout the program. But there is also another advantage.
‘When you have a group that is ongoing, some of the men who have been there for longer will offer a much more responsible, respectful voice,’ Dr Schweitzer said. ‘They will catch up some of the newer men. Like when new men may refer to their estranged partner as “missus” or “her”, we’ll ask some of the others, “Do you want to explain why we refer to the woman by her first name?”, and they will say, “It’s more respectful, makes her more human”.’
While this dynamic can make the group’s message more acceptable to the newer members, it is can also be beneficial for those who have been in the program longer.
‘They can hear, “Wow, that’s what I was like 10 or 15 weeks ago, but I’ve now moved on”, so they can see some of the change they’ve made,’ Dr Schweitzer said.
One major aspect of Dr Schweitzer and Wirtz’s work is to take a stand against the behaviour, not the person themselves.
‘We don’t say, “You’re a horrible man”, or “You’re awful”,’ Dr Schweitzer said. ‘But we do say, “This behaviour is horrible, it causes a lot of fear, it makes your partner scared, it makes your children scared”.’
For some, that final message is one that can make all the difference.
‘Most of the men who have children will have some concern about the impact their behaviour has on them,’ Dr Schweitzer said.
However, Dr Schweitzer has also come to accept that change will come hard for most in the group – if it comes at all.
‘It’s one thing to say responsible and respectful things in the group, it’s a whole new ball game to actually practise them in real life,’ he said. ‘We’d like to think we get a success rate of somewhere between 30–50%. That would be fantastic.’
‘The one, overriding goal of groups for men who have been abusive is to increase the safety of women and children.’
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