Working with men who use violence presents one of the most complex challenges in family violence practice. Practitioners are required to respond to abuse while navigating denial, minimising, protest, and other forms of defence, often within systems shaped by risk management, organisational pressure, and competing expectations. Conversations can quickly reorganise around dispute, performance, or procedural compliance, leaving responsibility obscured and safety only partially addressed.
The Ethical Inquiry: Posture, Power and Engagement with Men Who Use Violence introduces an approach to perpetrator engagement grounded in ethical posture rather than technique alone. It explores how practitioners can hold authority without coercion, maintain clarity about abuse without collusion, and create conditions in which responsibility can become visible, approachable, and sustainable. Rather than relying on confrontation, persuasion, or confession, ethical inquiry invites men to encounter responsibility through reflection on values, relationships, conduct, and consequence.
Drawing on narrative practice, feminist analyses of violence, contemporary theories of power, and practice wisdom from statutory and family violence contexts, the book examines how responsibility is approached, tested, and enacted across engagement, safety planning, supervision, leadership, and organisational life. Through conceptual analysis, practice examples, and reflections on organisational dynamics, it offers a framework for practitioners seeking to prioritise the safety of women and children while sustaining ethical clarity under conditions of complexity, authority, and uncertainty.
Abstract
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Ryan Greenwell is an Accredited Social Worker and a member of the Australian Association of Social Work.
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