Services offered
Certified IPAE Programs:
- Provide weekly group-based educational programming to those individuals who abuse their intimate partners. Group intervention is considered the most effective approach to change domestic violence perpetrators’ abuse supporting beliefs and behaviors.
- Contact the partner(s) of the client to connect those partner(s) with the local domestic violence agency providing confidential services. These contacts also gather information about the perpetrator and explain the probability of change that might be expected of the abuser’s participation in the intervention. Partners are never obligated to interact with the IPAE Program.
- Conduct trainings for criminal justice professionals, domestic violence victim advocates, social service agencies, educators, and the public.
- Join with other state and local agencies in a coordinated community response to domestic violence
Initially written in 1991 in response to amendments to M.G.L. c.209A, the “Abuse Prevention Act,” the Massachusetts Guidelines and Standards for the Certification of Batterer Intervention Programs (Guidelines) were revised in 1995 and then again in 2015. The statute vests DPH with the responsibility to certify and monitor programs for compliance with these guidelines and standards.
Program goals
IPAE Programs seek to enhance the safety of survivors and their children by holding their partners accountable for their abusive and violent behaviors.
Attendance
To successfully complete a certified IPAEP, participants must attend a minimum of eighty (80) hours in the program.
Guidelines and standards
Find a provider
Find a provider near you. Some of these providers also offer other services. Learn more about funded services and programming on Find Sexual and Domestic Violence Services.