Testimonials

"I really liked it, very informative and really understandable. Good language for Germans to understand"

"I think it was very interesting and I must try it in real situation"

"Thank you for the great input"

"It's interesting how you've been able to put into words things I've felt, like the attitude toward perps"

"Informative"

"Really liked that it was interactive. It was really interesting and informative and tought well even for someone who isn't done with studying and hasn´t had much experience yet"

"I think you managed really well to have something difficult transferred into almost micro-skills that everyone can learn and start using. Thanks."

The Ethical Inquiry

What Is The Ethical Inquiry?

The Ethical Inquiry is a structured accountability framework designed to support practitioners in engaging men who use domestic violence. Its purpose is to guide clear, ethically grounded conversations in which responsibility is located, harm is named, and safety remains central.

Rather than relying on confrontation or persuasion, The Ethical Inquiry provides a disciplined engagement structure that enables practitioners to hold authority without domination and prevent responsibility from drifting into minimisation, explanation, or blame.

How It Makes a Difference

Structured Engagement
The framework provides a clear three-step conversation structure that supports practitioners to locate responsibility, examine relational and intergenerational impact, and assess readiness for safety planning. It offers practical guidance for navigating complex accountability conversations while maintaining professional clarity.

Understanding the Context of Violence
The Ethical Inquiry situates individual behaviour within the broader social and relational dynamics of domestic violence. Practitioners are supported to understand how power, entitlement, and narrative positioning shape the engagement encounter.

Avoiding Ethical Drift
The approach helps practitioners recognise and respond to common engagement risks, including denial, partial acceptance, justification, and subtle forms of collusion that can undermine accountability and safety.

Cool Engagement
Using a structured “cool engagement” strategy, practitioners respond to denial in a way that stabilises the conversation rather than escalating it. When appropriate, the dialogue can then move toward deeper reflection on harm, responsibility, and the impact on partners and children.

Ethical Positioning and Responsibility-Taking
Men are invited to examine their ethical position in relation to their use of violence. The focus is not simply on behaviour, but on how responsibility is framed, how harm is understood, and how accountability can be sustained over time.

Practical Tools for Skill Development
The Ethical Inquiry includes structured questioning guides, example transcripts, live demonstration models, reflective tools, and interactive card-based resources to support ongoing skill development.

The Parallel Journey
At the centre of The Ethical Inquiry is practitioner positioning. The “parallel journey” refers to the disciplined posture the practitioner adopts: maintaining respect while clearly holding the man accountable. This stance strengthens outcomes by ensuring that safety and responsibility remain visible throughout the engagement process.

Through this integrated framework, practitioners are equipped to conduct structured, accountable conversations that support responsibility-taking and strengthen the safety of women and children.

"The Ethical Inquiry is a questioning approach that sustains respectful and accountable conversations through the discovery of the perpetrator’s own ethical preferences in relation to family violence." (Greenwell & Smith, 2021)

Example of the session planner for the Ethical Inquiry Webinar Series