As of 2015, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has been responsible for organising domestic violence (DV) shelter services. DV shelters are intended for persons who experience intimate partner/family violence or the threat of it. Many survivors in DV shelters have experiences of violence or maltreatment also from their childhood.
The Trauma Centre Finland has developed a group-based method for adults who have experienced intimate partner violence and who were subjected to maltreatment in their childhood attachment relationships. The target group of the group activities developed by the Trauma Centre Finland are survivors in shelters for whom the violence has been long-lasting and recurrent in nature.
The aim of the group is to provide information and a new kind of understanding of how early and long-term traumatisation affects, in current life, exposure to recurrent, long-term violence in an intimate relationship. The group provides information, professionally facilitated peer-support discussions and information on ways to regulate one’s own stress or trauma reactions. The group activities increase understanding of oneself and one’s own behaviour, help to adopt a more compassionate attitude towards oneself, increase motivation to receive help and enter therapy, and promote disengagement from violent relationships.
Goals
The Shelters providing safety study examines the implementation of the group model "Turvallisuuden tunne harhateillä – kohti turvallisia ihmissuhteita" (A sense of safety gone astray – towards safe relationships), developed by the Trauma Centre Finland, its suitability for implementation in DV shelters, its development needs and its preliminary effects for shelter clients.
Implementation
In the study, participants in the group activities complete questionnaires at the start of the group and at the end of the group activities. After each group session, brief session-specific feedback is collected.
In addition, some of the shelter clients who have participated in the group activities, as well as the group facilitators, developers, and supervisors, are interviewed at the end of the group activities. As a comparison group, shelter service users complete questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of their shelter period.
The interviews conducted in the study make use of the thematic interview as a research method. The main themes of the interviews concern the needs and experiences related to the organisation and implementation of group activities.
Partners
Trauma Center Finland
Contact details
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