Our Mission

At DVSD, our mission is to stop the cycle of domestic violence by facilitating safe, supervised conversations between survivors and offenders who have never met before, which help both parties foster transformative change inside themselves and others. Survivors get to ask offenders questions they never could’ve asked their own abusers for fear of retribution. And offenders, often recognizing survivors for the first time as real people suffering deep physical, mental and emotional wounds from domestic violence, get a chance to offer restitution to a community they’ve harmed.

Both parties walk away with a sense of peace; but, perhaps most importantly, these dialogues help survivors identify and avoid violent behavior in future relationships.

Referral Process

Counselors working with domestic violence survivors and offenders recommend participants to DVSD. DVSD determines whether the recommended clients are appropriate for the program. DVSD also takes pains to confirm and/or determines that the participant survivor and offender have no previous relationship.

Each participant:

• Must be embedded in counseling, recommended to the program by their counselor and have a scheduled plan to continue counseling after the program.
• Is self-selecting and interested in getting answers to specific questions, not expressing anger over the abuse they either suffered or committed.

Safe Dialogue Process

In general, the dialogue process goes as follows, although each dialogue is tailored to fit the expressed needs of the actual participants.  Also, prior to the session, participants sign informed consent waivers authorizing audio taping of the dialogue. The audiotapes provide essential tools in "follow-up" counseling sessions. The tapes are for counseling and training purposes only, are confidential, and remain the property of DVSD.

Pre-Dialogue Interview

Each participant will attend a pre-dialogue meeting led by DVSD facilitators with his or her support person — done meeting for the survivor and one for the offender.

Pre-dialogue interviews typically:

• Last 30 minutes
• Describe the dialogue process to the participants
• Provide basic info about the Offender to the Survivor and vice versa
• Preview the participant’s story and questions with the facilitators
• Determine order of storytelling — survivor chooses who goes first
• Define boundaries for the conversation   
• Define personal goals of the dialogue
• Define desired outcomes of the dialogue

If, after the pre-dialogue interview, either participant wishes to back out of the program, they may do so. At no time during the process are they obligated to continue their participation.

The Dialogue

• Each participant will engage in ONE dialogue with an unrelated survivor or offender
• Each dialogue will include six to seven people:
• • One Survivor (unrelated to Offender)
  • One Offender (unrelated to Survivor)
  • One personal advocate — such as a counselor — per participant
  • Two DVSD-trained facilitators — usually one male and one female
  • Videographer, when requested (tapes remain confidential and property of DVSD)
• Date and time of the dialogue are mutually agreed upon.
• The location of the dialogue is determined by the survivor.
• Session length is determined by the participants (usually between two and three hours).
• Each participant tells his or her story.
• Each participant gets a chance to ask questions after the stories. Usually the questions are prepared beforehand, crafted by the survivor/offender and their personal advocates.
• There is at least one break per session.
  
  

Post-Dialogue Interview

• Immediately following the dialogue, the male and female facilitators separately interview the survivor and the offender to learn their initial reactions to their experiences.
• The survivor always goes first. While the offender is in the post-dialogue interview, the survivor leaves the site, ensuring there is no further contact between them.
• Participants may request security escorts to their vehicles following the sessions, if desired.
• Follow-up counseling sessions for each participant are required.