Thinking differently: Re-framing family violence responsiveness in the mental health and addictions health care context

Abstract

Aotearoa New Zealand’s high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) and child abuse and neglect point to a clear need to develop and resource equitable mental health and addiction practices that are responsive both to people experiencing and using violence, and to their families. Current responses to IPV in mental health and addiction settings in Aotearoa New Zealand require a critical re-framing, from an individualistic autonomy and empowerment framework that constrains practitioners’ practice, to an understanding IPV as a form of social entrapment. Using a composite story constructed from 28 in-depth New Zealand family violence death reviews, we highlight current problematic practice and discuss alternative responses that could create safer lives for people and families. Re-framing IPV as a form of social entrapment acknowledges it as a complex social problem that requires collective steps to secure people’s safety and well-being. Importantly, a social entrapment framework encompasses interpersonal and structural forms of violence, such as the historical and intergenerational trauma of colonization and links to ongoing structural inequities for Maori (the indigenous people of Aotearoa) in Aotearoa New Zealand.