We’re getting better, as a society, at recognizing family violence and naming it. But recognition isn’t the same as legal fluency.

Legislatures have, in many cases for the first time, defined what family violence means and how the system is meant to respond to it. That language and case law is moving faster than a lot of our working vocabularies as practitioners.

This session is a close read of the language itself: how abuse, domestic violence, and family violence function as distinct categories, not as interchangeable synonyms, and what that means when talking to survivors in front of us.

It is also about unpacking our own understanding of abuse, domestic violence, and family violence; what narratives do we carry in our own lives and minds that confirmation bias exposes when we speak with survivors?

This session offers a close examination of the terminology used to identify and respond to family violence, and provocations for practice that sharpen how we work with survivors to help them find safety.

You may also be interested in the other program from this series:
Family Violence Screening, Safety and Survivors