Unlike coercive, controlling violence (also called intimate terrorism), situational couple violence often involves both partners.
There is a great deal of established practice, and some research, which suggests that couple therapy can be appropriate for some couples (e.g. Antunes-Alves and Stefano, 2014) (Stith, 2012).
We believe that the widespread lack of such services deprives couples where both partners wish to work together on their relationship of an intervention that can help them address the relational dynamics that are often at the root of situational couple violence. Assessment and monitoring of risk is of paramount importance in any work where violence is a factor.
We offer the following intervention to help couples address situational couple violence: