Understanding the Impacts on Children of Coercive Control


January, date TBC.
The lives and freedoms of victims are seriously limited.
This seminar explores the impacts of coercive control on children, both before and after the survivor parent (most often the mother) has separated from the abusive parent (most often the father).
Firstly, we will address a systematic understanding of the nature of coercive control. This will include examining how coercive controllers usually continue their abuse for many years after the victim has ended the relationship, perpetrating post-separation coercive control.
We will then explore in depth the impacts on children: how coercive controllers use multiple tactics of abuse pre- and post-separation, and how every tactic harms the lives of the children in the family as well as the life of the adult victim-survivor.
What happens to the children?
The child of a perpetrator may experience the perpetrator rigidly controlling their daily activities, excessively controlling and limiting their contact outside of the family home, depriving them of access to basic necessities and resources, and sabotaging their education.
Finally, participants will learn from interview data from mothers and children who have participated in research on coercive control.
Showing how coercive control harms children, the seminar will enable attendees to push beyond the view of children as ‘witnesses’ or as ‘exposed’ to abuse. You will be empowered to feel confident in challenging the myth that the children are no longer being harmed because the victim and perpetrator have separated.
Key Benefits

Identify pre and post-separation tactics of abuse

Understand how these tactics will impact children’s lives

Develop a more advanced skill set in understanding the needs of children affected by coercive control

Feel confident to address coercive control where it shows up with clients and to challenge norms regarding perpetrators’ equal access to shared parental control

Support clients to feel more self-determination in their lives and to unpack what has happened/is happening to them

Dr Emma Katz
Ph.D.
Author of the book Coercive Control in Children’s and Mothers’ Lives (Oxford University Press, 2022), and the blog Decoding Coercive Control with Dr Emma Katz (2022–23), Dr Emma Katz, Ph.D., is a researcher in domestic violence and coercive control, whose work has influenced legislation and professional practice in the UK and globally.
Her book ‘Coercive Control in Children’s and Mothers’ Lives (2022, Oxford University Press) is influential and acclaimed, as is her expert academic blog Decoding Coercive Control with Dr. Emma Katz which is read by thousands of subscribers around the world.
Katz’s research has illuminated children’s experiences of coercive control, which previously had been largely invisible. She argues that children are affected by many forms of abuse inherent to coercive control, including imprisonment, deprivation of resources, constrained behaviour and isolation from the outside world. Her research has been described as ‘pioneering work’ that ‘will change how we understand and respond to children’s experience of domestic abuse’ (Evan Stark, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University).

This seminar is designed for:
Representatives of the Community, Government, Police, and justice sectors with responsibilities including:
- Family/Domestic Violence Services
- Women’s Services, Shelters & Refuges
- Refugee, Migrant, and Immigration Services
- Children’s Services & Child Safety & Protection
- Men’s Behaviour Change
- Alcohol and Other Drugs
- Mental Health and counselling Services
- Legislative change and reform
Agenda
All times shown are in AEDT
Acknowledgment of Country & opening remarks
Understanding coercive control
- Understanding coercive control
- How does coercive control relate to gender and structural inequalities?
- What motivates coercive controllers?
- What are the multiple tactics of abuse used by coercive controllers?
- How do the tactics of abuse harm victims-survivors?
Coercive control’s impacts on children
- What’s wrong with existing views of how children are seen in relation to domestic violence?
- How are children harmed by the tactics used by coercive controllers?
- What are children’s perspectives on their experiences?
- In what ways are children co-victims and co-survivors of coercive control and family violence?
Short break
Post-separation coercive control
- What are the different types of post-separation coercive control and how do they operate?
- How can we develop a more sophisticated understanding of post-separation coercive control as a pattern of behaviour?
- What are the challenges for professionals in detecting post-separation coercive control?
Impacts of post-separation coercive control on children
- How do we challenge the myth that children are no longer being harmed when the victim-survivor and perpetrator have separated?
- How are children harmed by the different types of post-separation coercive control?
- What do professionals need to start doing more effectively to protect children from post-separation abuse?
Close of Seminar
Pricing
Save $200 before 3 November
+GST
Save $200 with this offer!
This pass will give you access to the online seminar
Bring your colleagues and save with a group discount
- Groups of 10+ save 10%
- Groups of 15+ save 15%
- Groups of 20+ save 20%
Save $100 before 17 November
+GST
Save $100 with this offer!
This pass will give you access to the online seminar
Bring your colleagues and save with a group discount
- Groups of 10+ save 10%
- Groups of 15+ save 15%
- Groups of 20+ save 20%
Standard Rate
+GST
This pass will give you access to the online seminar
Bring your colleagues and save with a group discount
- Groups of 10+ save 10%
- Groups of 15+ save 15%
- Groups of 20+ save 20%