Book Review and Recommendation– Domestic Violence Advocacy: Complex Lives/Difficult Choices 2nd Edition by Jill M. Davies and Eleanor Lyon

I would like to start this post off by saying that this book should be a part of every domestic violence advocacy agency’s library.  Written by Attorney Jill Davies, deputy director of Greater Hartford Legal Aid, Inc.  with over thirty years of working on behalf of family violence victims, and Eleanor Lyon, PhD., former director of the Institute for Violence Prevention and Reduction and consultant with the National Resource Center on DV, Trauma and Mental Health and Futures Without Violence, this book is a comprehensive study and manual for working with survivors of intimate partner violence. 

The basis of the book is to define and encourage the use of victim-defined advocacy.  Victim-defined advocacy broadens advocacy to partnering with the survivor in order to use the victim’s knowledge and perspective in order to make the victim safer.  It includes “learning about her risk analysis and life circumstances, along with her priorities, past and current safety plans and relationship decisions” and building a partnership to review the risks and identify options relevant to her priorities and the dangers she faces.  It is a dynamic and interactive process. 

In addition to the discussion of victim-defined advocacy (which includes stories of survivors and how advocates work with them) the book also provides material on children exposed to domestic violence and working with women with trauma, mental health and substance abuse issues to understand their perspectives and developing safety plans that encompass those issues.  The last section of the book is focused on systems advocacy.

One of the most valuable components of the book for me was a discussion of life generated risks and the batterer’s manipulation of those risks to coerce the partner into staying in the relationship.  It helps move the question from “why doesn’t she just leave?” to “what keeps her from leaving?”  For example, poverty and financial limitations (i.e. limited transportation, limited job opportunities, and limited housing options) are often reinforced by the batterer as a means of control and manipulation.  I am currently using this material in trainings and find it to be valuable in generating discussion.

This book is available through Sage Publications at http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book238008?siteId=sage-us&prodTypes=any&q=domestic+violence+advocacy&fs=1