Sample Domestic Violence Training Content for Supervisors and Managers

Supervisor and Manager Domestic Violence Trainings

In collaboration with a variety of experts, advocates, and employers, we’ve summarized critical training areas for managers and supervisors. Training content should be updated and revised to fit your organization’s changing needs.

Management training should begin by using the same domestic violence awareness content in Training Content for Employees, Sections I to III. Then add the following sections for managers only.

Sample Content

A. Introduction

1. 1. Participants, Goals and Content Preview Introduce any hosts, trainers and their affiliated organizations, and audience. Introduce the purpose, motivation and basic goals of the training.
   2. Can We Talk: Talking about Domestic Violence Sensitize the audience by acknowledging the potentially emotional or difficult nature of the topic, and the need to respect differing reactions to the content.
   3. Why Talk About Domestic Violence? Include a general introduction to the importance of the topic, with statistics on its prevalence.
   4. Why is Domestic Violence a Workplace Issue? Provide a rationale for why domestic violence is a workplace or business issue, including workplace statistics, and the costs to the employer and to the community. Please refer to The Facts section on this website for further information.

B. Video or Oral Case Study

1. Including a video or oral case study gives participants a sense of the reality of violence. Case study content can also be used throughout the training to highlight training concepts.

C. Understanding Domestic Violence

1. 1. What Is Domestic Violence? Provide a definition of domestic violence, with a component exploring the type of behaviors that perpetrators use.
   2. Who is a Victim and Who is a Perpetrator? Describe the range of people who can experience violence and what is known about people who are perpetrators.
   3. Why Does It Happen? What are the effects of domestic violence? Explore the causes and effects of domestic violence.
   4. Why Is It Hard To Leave? Review the reasons why victims may have difficulty leaving violent relationships/situations. Provide information about what the risks are when victims leave.
   5. Is There Hope? Can the Violence End? Educate participants that there are many paths to increased safety, different sources of assistance, and that many people find solutions.

D. What Can We Do in the Workplace? Manager Version

1. 1. Workplace Responses: Describe more detailed management workplace responses, including
   2. Educate: The importance of distributing information and resources in worksites.
   3. Refer: Management referrals of victim-employees to internal resources (Human Resources, Employee Assistance Programs) and external domestic violence resources.
   4. Support: Policy-based responses to the workplace needs of victim-employees, including requests for time off and performance concerns. Include information on relevant state laws and internal procedures.
   5. Secure: Worksite specific actions that managers are required to implement when responding to threats of violence at work. Information on how to determine if a domestic violence threat is a workplace threat.
   6. Assisting at Work: Talking to an Employee Experiencing Violence
      Provides information on how to talk to an employee about violence, addressing both concerns for the employee and performance problems. Addresses the limits of the supervisory role in responding to an victim-employee and outlines an approach that is work-focused, supportive and non-judgmental.

E. Looking to the Future

1. 1. Looking to the Future: Preventing Violence
      Lay out the steps that managers can take in the workplace and the community to participate in ending domestic violence.
   2. Summary
      Summarize the basic learning points and provide managers with ways to get immediate information or help should they need it.