MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Informing Social ... - Amen

it that they are afraid, what does it say? On the other hand I know of a man that his
wife tried to get a barring order against him and she failed, just recently. So maybe
attitudes are changing very slowly there has been a lot of media, John Waters comes
out forcibly, and Joe Duffy had a whole programme dealing with it recently. Men
are from my experience are not always heard, a lot of my colleagues in community
care, while they might provide lip service, they don’t always believe what men are
saying, if there is conflict between a male and female they are more likely to believe
the female.
7. I carried out a focus group with male victims of domestic violence; a main
concern for the men was the response they received from social workers. The
men felt they were not believed, that the social workers involved believed
whatever their partner/spouse was saying. One man’s words were, “Social
workers assisted my wife in kidnapping my children”. What is your view?
A lot of the younger social workers, their training would not have always involved
male victims of domestic violence. There are times, that I need to challenge some
of my colleagues about decisions they might be taking, I have to advocate on behalf
of my male patients, my whole aim is to get them to think, to get them to look at
their own attitudes, because they are reflecting the general view of society, which is
that a child is always better off with the mother, and this is not always the case.
Solicitors too, some men can find it very hard to find a solicitor to represent them,
because they are not believed, I know a lot of the solicitors can be very dismissive
of male victims of domestic violence.
Other than that the training is vital, we include everyone in the training, from
security, porters, chaplins, ambulance staff, ex-ray staff, care staff, nurses and
Doctors anyone involved in the Accident and Emergency department, you don’t
have to have a white coat for someone to disclose information to you. It is a very
large department and in January 2002 we carried in depth training, and in one week
alone we trained about a hundred and sixty staff and each year since then we have
been carrying out training, twice yearly. Triad nurses are the most important
persons in the Accident and Emergency Department, they are experienced staff
nurses who will assess how serious a persons injuries are, and depending on his/her
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