Alternative Behavior Circle is designed to support women who have been violent in a relationship. Whether court ordered or voluntarily referred, these women are challenged to examine and take responsibility for their violent behavior. We help women cultivate and achieve honest insight into the context for the violence.

In some instances, battered women may become more inclined to use violence in an attempt to defend themselves. Other women have used violence to avoid the next possible beating. This 15-week group focuses is on domestic violence education, safety planning, healthy parenting, anger management, responsibility for behavioral choices, and alternatives to violence.

We are not only committed to keeping victims and children safe, but also strengthening families by providing parents and/or caretakers with the skills they need to raise children in violent free homes. This group origin was designed to fill a significant gap in services to maximize the safety and well-being of children and their mothers. This 15-week parenting group is an intervention program designed to help improve parenting skills for men who have abused or neglected their children or exposed them to the abuse of their mothers. This intervention focuses on helping men end the use of abusive parenting strategies, recognize attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that support healthy and unhealthy father-child relationships, and begin to appreciate the impact of child maltreatment and domestic violence on children.The curriculum draws from best practices in the fields of batterer intervention, parenting, behavior change, child maltreatment, and working with resistant clients.

The Abuser Intervention Program is designed to challenge the abusers violent behavior(s), as well as, their non-violent yet abusive behavior(s) by changing the perpetrators world-view. This group uses a two-stage curriculum. The goal of Stage I is to help break through abusers denial. It is didactic in nature and asks the client to learn a “new language.”They learn the vocabulary of domestic violence; they define abusive relationships, and they identify their own abusive behaviors. In Stage II, clients learn to live a “new culture.” Their beliefs about relationships are challenged, their role in the relationship is carefully considered, and their need to control and always be right is examined. Successful completion from the program requires more than mere attendance. Clients are expected to achieve the following goals:

1. Clients must acknowledge their past violence and abuse, they must “own” their behavior
2. No longer blame others for their violence
3. Participate meaningfully by appropriately confronting other group members, and respond appropriately when confronted.

Clients in both stages must also complete weekly homework assignments. Prior to completing Stage I, the client must successfully complete a quiz of Stage I material and write a mock letter to the sentencing judge. The purpose of this exercise is to assist the client with solidifying information learned in Stage I.

The Anger/Aggression curriculum is designed for individuals who have difficulty controlling their anger in any relationship or arena of their lives. It is the position of My Covenant Place’s Alpha Project that individuals with anger/aggression management problems are at risk for becoming involved with domestic violence. As a preventative approach, we aim to assist these individuals who are likely to have control issues in intimate relationships as well.However, these individuals are not primarily abusers because they will display anger with anyone. We screen applicants for this program to make certain they are not more appropriate for the offender program.

This group is a 12-week counseling/psycho-educational program designed to assist individuals with identifying triggers for their anger/aggression and develop more positive responses and coping mechanisms. By providing this service, we hope to avert possible family violence.