From our special correspondent in Tours,
On this Tuesday afternoon in June, the corridors of the care center for perpetrators of domestic violence (CPCA) are almost deserted. “The discussion groups take place especially in the evening because the majority of authors who come to us work and are integrated”, explains Véronique Livéra, health manager of the structure.
Managed by the Entraide & Solidarités association, the Tours CPCA is the only one in the Center-Val de Loire region to offer therapeutic follow-up and eviction from the family home for violent men. A rare device which aims to develop throughout the territory by the end of the year.
Profiles of “everyone-in-the-world”
In the meeting room responsible for hosting the discussion groups, we find on a board the remains of the last session. It is about the roles of man and woman, innate and acquired for both sexes. “Girls are more mature”, “stronger” but also “more dependent” and “less impulsive”. Men have a “role of protection”, of “leader”, and are stronger “physically”.
Julie Bonhommet, clinical psychologist is one of the two therapists responsible for supporting these men already convicted by justice or awaiting trial. “Our goal is to empower authors. These groups aim to listen to them without judging them. Speech is free but we can take them back when their speech minimizes or justifies violence against women, ”explains the 30-something.
In 2020, the center took care of 80 people, 97% of whom were men. Aged 40 on average, fathers of families, they are mostly employees and nearly 10% were business leaders. While very few suffer from addictions, common “traits” emerge from the interviews conducted at the start of their treatment. “We find narcissistic, obsessive traits in the control of oneself or the other with emotional immaturity and difficulties in identifying their emotions or communicating about their inner world”, develops the therapist.
“Even if there is no typical profile, the authors are a bit ‘mister-everyone’. The cliché of an alcoholic and unemployed father who beats his wife does not reflect reality at all, ”continues the psychologist. For a large part of them, this support is compulsory, on the injunction of a judge before or after the trial. But others come voluntarily, specifies the health manager of the center: “They can be referred to us by a third party. It happens that it is their wife who tells them: either you change and you take care of yourself, or I will leave you ”.
“Rotten tomatoes in the face”
By the end of the year, these support groups which bring together between 6 and 10 participants every fortnight will have to be duplicated in all the departments of the Center-Val de Loire region. Selected after the Grenelle on domestic violence launched by the government, the CPCA now has a budget of 150,000 euros to deploy its action. An encouraging first envelope but which will not be sufficient, already alert Véronique Livéra. And the fear that funding will dry up over the years remains.
“Four years after our launch, we were forced to stop housing for lack of funds. Institutions or ministries have tended to pass the buck to each other by telling us: “It is not in our prerogatives”. But it is an interministerial subject with legal and public health issues, ”analyzes this former social worker.
To these financial uncertainties has been added a questioning of the merits of the therapeutic action carried out with these men. “When I arrived at the center seven years ago, this work was not well received,” confirms Julie Bonhommet. “They threw rotten tomatoes right in the face. It was not easy to understand our approach when it really consists in fighting against violence against women, by fighting against recidivism, ”says its manager.
But the situation has changed, rejoice the teams of the center. The media coverage of feminicides and the political response provided during the 2019 Grenelle have changed the perception of this monitoring. “Today, professionals have understood that as long as we did not intervene jointly with all the actors involved in the circle of this violence – the perpetrators, the women victims and the children – we would not solve the problem” , greet Véronique Livéra.
Changes and time
In office for two years at the parquet floor of Tours, the prosecutor Grégoire Dulin confirms the usefulness of the device. “Each year, we take stock of the people who have benefited from an awareness training course within the CPCA and we see if these people have reoffended. In 2020, the repeat rate was very low. Out of 68 people who benefited from this follow-up, only one reiterated, ”points out the magistrate. And for those who joined the support groups, the prosecutor also notes an evolution: “At the hearing, we see a real difference between those who were taken care of and those who were not. They admit more their responsibility in court, and this is a first step towards social rehabilitation ”.
If they seem anecdotal, these types of changes count for Julie Bonhommet: “In one of my groups, a gentleman has just requested continued treatment when his injunction has just ended. He is in the process of separation and does not feel that he is moving forward without a net. He understood that his marital relationship was toxic, that he was endangering the family and that he was putting himself in danger ”. However, Véronique Livéra wishes to remain lucid: “We don’t have a magic wand. The therapy takes time, they are asked to deconstruct representations of the couple, the man and the woman sometimes very anchored. For some, when the charge is too short, this change remains difficult ”.