02/23/2025
Read my new FREE article: Coercive Control, Family Court and Systemic and Family Therapy: A Match Made in Hell.
Link: https://open.substack.com/pub/dremmakatz/p/coercive-control-family-court-and?r=1uokmo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Family courts may expect victims-survivors of abuse to engage in therapy with the aim of creating friendlier relationships with their abuser. This article provides an explanation of why this happens and the harms it can cause, focusing on a number of key points:
- How common domestic violence, coercive control and child abuse are, and why this means that every professional will be frequently working with perpetrators and victims-survivors whether they realize it or not.
- How professionals who are working in sectors that are vital to victim-survivor safety are typically under-trained on abuse. This includes professionals working in the mental health field, in social work and in family courts. Victims-survivors may therefore find themselves surrounded by professionals who are not equipped to recognize the danger they are in or the tactics that their abuser is using.
- Why systemic and family therapy is inappropriate and likely to be very harmful in situations where one party is a coercive control perpetrator.
- The key characteristics and behaviors of coercive control perpetrators.
- The damage that can be caused when family courts want adult and child victims-survivors to have therapy to “move on” from the abuse they’re experiencing and to create “friendlier” family relationships with their abuser.
- Why family courts, and therapists working with people who are in family court, need to be able to recognize and respond effectively when abuse perpetrators are carrying out post-separation abuse and are still causing harm. Practical resources to assist with this are included at the end of this article.
-This article also includes a detailed real life example.
Link: https://open.substack.com/pub/dremmakatz/p/coercive-control-family-court-and?r=1uokmo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email