COUV ACTES - Psychologie communautaire

Community Psychology: Common Values, Diverse Practicesentail the revision and questioning of certain practices, which were seen before as common or natural and thuspromotes change.It is important to emphasize the strong influence of the justice system and other institutions in the process ofconstructing male identity on the cases studied, sometimes increasing the problem of violence instead ofdecreasing. Their own understanding of themselves as subjects passes through the vision of the judicial processabout them, also, the health system, their families’ and partners’. This process of subjectivation is revised andreconstructed in the group process.With the experience of the group and interventions that promote subjective changes, these men start tounderstand the consequences of their violent acts, the complexity of the violence and deconstruction of theirprevious understanding of violence as the best way to solve their problems. They improve interpersonalcommunication, develop tools for change and exercise alternatives to violence. The strength of the group revealsnew possibilities of subjectivation, relationships and of being a man. Promote the empowerment of alternativemasculinities, reviewing traditional masculine behaviors.However, these changes are complex and, for some participants, continuous, requiring counseling and follow-upsequence, post-group. These issues are currently under investigation.DiscussionWhat we would like to emphasize in this communication is the importance of working on identity and the changesof subjective self-images of these men, beyond just behavioral changes or anger management. Another thing isto believe in change and not in pathologizing or psychologizing the theme or look for a “profile” of battering men.This infers a psychoeducational and therapeutic work continuous and further in-depth, where these individualscan construct new narratives of subject, discovering new and alternative ways to the constitution of the subjectand social interaction, a path of respect, justice and gender equality.As initial results, we can say that the group has given the participants a greater contact with their emotions, theunderstanding of violence as a process, alternative mechanisms for containing violence, deconstruction ofidealizations and essentialisms, questioning the traditional gender roles and contact with their own vulnerability.In other words, giving them the first steps for a new construction of subjective identity that help them integratewith the complexity and diversity of humankind and to cease violence. In the sequence of this investigation, thereflexive deepening and result analysis in process will contribute through the betterment of public policies ofassistance and the possible refinement of legislations about violence.The construction and reconstruction of identities, worldviews and cultural reflections of gender derived from thesekinds of experience with men can promote better health actions against violence, less individualistic andfragmented approaches and engage men to the construction of gender equality, human rights and citizenship.The intersection between gender theories, reviewing traditional masculinity, interventions centered on subjectivitychanges and studies on violence against women show effective alternative possibilities of intervention in thissector with men who exercise violence, deserving further studies and more emphasis on public health, legalaspects and family violence studies.170