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Description
The aim of the project is to counter violence, especially post-separation violence, which victims experience after separation from the perpetrator. As part of the project, we provide legal and psychological assistance to victims. We provide training for lawyers and psychologists, organise a skills workshop for them, provide work by example, incorporate the perspective of victims, and offer an internship with mentorship. We are developing a manual on setting up self-help support groups for people experiencing violence. We will conduct a qualitative sociological research on a focus group using individual interviews. We will develop a scientific monograph and publish it in print and electronic form for free distribution. Our partners are: Odwikłane z Przemocy (a Polish NGO) and the University of Stavanger and Beatus Cras (Norwegian partners). The results of the research and knowledge on counteracting violence obtained during the study visits in Norway will be used to develop an expert opinion on the implementation of Norwegian good practices, recommendations for research into violence and forecasts of the phenomenon. We want to inspire the Polish violence prevention and justice system with a different approach to post-separation violence. We will make the publications produced during the project available on the Internet and present them at conferences and training sessions. We also aim to empower victims by encouraging them to build a self-help movement.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to counteract violence, especially post-separation violence. Representatives of the justice system do not take into account the specificity of the phenomenon of violence. This causes secondary victimization and judgments that do not protect the interests of victims. Statistics ignore violence after separation. In Polish discourse, there is a myth that violence ends when the victim leaves the perpetrator. Courts do not take into account the history of violence, its effects and the further impact of the perpetrator on the victim. This causes further trauma, returns to the perpetrators, transferring children to the care of the perpetrators, violence, parental kidnapping, murder of women and children. Hurt people are left alone with the need to defend themselves and survive. Perpetrators use the police and courts to achieve their goals. Global data on post-separation violence show that the scale of the phenomenon is huge. The Association''s data also indicated that approx. 70% of people affected by violence who reported to legal and/or psychological help experienced post-separation violence. Our specialists have heard complaints from clients about other specialists, including failure to notice post-separation violence, calling it a conflict, etc. This is due to the lack of appropriate training and Polish studies. Post-separation violence is increasing. The reason for this is the growing popularity of pseudo-scientific ideologies, e.g. Gardner''s theory of parental alienation, which is sometimes the subject of training for the justice system, but also for court experts. Although this theory is discredited in science, in Poland it is often used as an argument by perpetrators of violence. As part of the project, we wanted to expand research on post-separation violence, taking into account a wide range of its manifestations. By initiating self-help support groups, we wanted to counteract the loneliness of women affected by violence, and through training for lawyers and psychologists, we wanted to raise awareness of this phenomenon. We wanted to provide psychological and legal support to people exposed to violence.
388 h specialist psychological assistance for people affected by violence
296 h specialist legal assistance for people affected by violence
172 h training and workshops for psychologists and lawyers
54 h individual legal mentoring for lawyers undergoing training
216 h. individual and group supervisory consultations for psychologists undergoing training
408 h psychological assistance provided by interns for people affected by violence
117 h legal assistance provided by interns for people affected by violence
section of the website concerning the project at www.intro.org.pl
creation of a new website of the organization: www.intro.org.pl
project profile on FB
Handbook for those running self-help support groups for victims of violence - available for free at www
A scientific monograph on post-separation violence ""Don''t think that you will leave... Introduction to the issue of post-separation violence" 250 pages, after in-depth structured 36 interviews individual interviews with women who have experienced post-separation violence
Presentation with research results on post-separation violence
Specialist expertise on
Report summarizing focus group interviews on post-separation violence
Report on study visits to Norway
Expertise on the implementation of Norwegian good practices, recommendations on the study of violence by researchers and practitioners, and forecasts on the development of the phenomenon of violence
"How to initiate and run a self-help group" - textbook
Legal and psychological assistance for victims (166 people, 1209 hours of consultation). We trained groups of lawyers and psychologists (27 people) providing them with knowledge, skills, internship with supervision. They will use this in their workplaces to build better standards of assistance to people harmed by violence. We created the foundations for establishing self-help support groups for those affected by violence through the manual: "Unraveled from violence. Manual on how to initiate and run a self-help group". The Unraveled from Violence partners, with the support of psychologists, launched an online self-help support group for women affected by violence (12 people), which is still operating after the project is completed. We conducted sociological qualitative research based on a focus group and individual interviews. A scientific monograph was created in print and online, for free distribution: "Don''t think that you will leave... Introduction to the issue of post-separation violence" by Justyna Tomczyk. The research results and knowledge on the practice of counteracting violence in Norway, from study visits from Norwegian partners, were used to create the Expertise: "Post-separation violence - identification and intervention". The cooperation resulted in lectures at a conference in Poland and online on counteracting violence in Norway. We believe that the project significantly supported the main goal: counteracting post-separation violence in Poland. Thanks to it, we carried out the first qualitative research on this phenomenon in Poland and the first scientific book in Poland on violence after separation of victims from the perpetrator was written on its basis. We hope that this underestimated and dangerous problem will be combated more effectively thanks to the effects of the project. We have improved our language skills to better cooperate with foreign partners, acquire scientific knowledge. The organization''s modern website will help us develop. The development of a fundraising strategy adapted to our specificity is bearing its first fruits.
Summary of bilateral results
We have established cooperation with 2 Norwegian partners: Beatus Cras from Bergen and the University of Stavanger, Faculty of Social Sciences. As part of the cooperation with Beatus Cras, Intro representatives took part in a study visit to Bergen. They met with representatives of NGOs working in the area of counteracting domestic violence, such as ATV, and, among others, with the manager of the crisis center. They learned about the Norwegian system of counteracting violence. They had the opportunity to talk to Polish immigrants who struggled with the problem of domestic violence in Poland and Norway. They provided very valuable observations on the differences and similarities in these two models of approaches to violence. Cooperation with the University of Stavanger included 2 activities: a visit of 2 representatives of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Stavanger to Wrocław as part of the conference "Ties that protect" (24.11.2023). Dr. Patrycja Buxton-Sosnowska and prof. Inguun Studsrod gave a lecture: "Violence against seniors from a Norwegian perspective". The Norwegian guests met for dinner with employees of the Intro Association. These were opportunities to exchange experiences regarding Polish and Norwegian systems for counteracting violence. Study visit of two representatives of Intro to the University of Stavanger (11-15.02.2024). Magdalena Staniek and Justyna Tomczyk met with employees of the Faculty of Social Sciences, dealing with research on violence in close relationships, and familiarized themselves with Norwegian solutions and good practices. They visited a shelter for people experiencing violence in Stavanger. They learned about the realities of working with people harmed by violence, both from a theoretical (scientific and research) and practical perspective. We continue our cooperation with Beatus Cras.