Training and Education

Internship program for working with abusive men: Counterpoint provides a comprehensive internship training program to train workers to work in the area of domestic violence. This program is open to professionals, trainee counsellors and community workers. 

Community awareness and education:  Counterpoint men’s programs are open to the public [general public, women’s advocates, criminal justice personnel, educators and professionals]. Attending the men’s program as observers results in exposure to what happens in men’s education programs and allows attendees to develop an informed opinion on the program, it’s policies and practice.  

Student placement and training: Counterpoint provides year round placements for students in academic settings who want to work in the field of domestic violence. Students come from diverse institutions including York University, Ryerson University and George Brown College.

Professional development and training for service providers

Counterpoint regularly provides training and education for service providers in the domestic violence field through training workshops, conferences and presentations. These take different forms including Training, such as risk assessment, counselling issues, violence in same-sex relationships, issues of diversity in domestic violence programs, domestic violence issues in general.

Counterpoint also provides a Mentoring program for counsellors who work in the field of violence. Senior staff at Counterpoint also provide pro bono consulting services to other domestic violence programs including (ethno-specific and smaller agencies) on programming for domestic violence.

Examples of some trainings Counterpoint has done are given below.

-Risk assessment for male batterers

-Gender issues for workers who work with male perpetrators of violence

-Issues of diversity in programs for male perpetrators of domestic violence.

-Issues in PAR programs: Training at the Annual Training Conference for Crown Attorneys and Victim Witness Workers   

-Partner Contact approaches and issues in working with survivors of domestic violence

-PAR Programs and Domestic Violence, Training Workshop at Annual Training for Cultural Interpreters, Ministry of Citizenship.

-Partner Abuse in the gay community

-Regular presentations to the Police College on Domestic Violence within same sex relationships

-Presentations by invitation to CAMH Rainbow Services on domestic violence in the gay community 

-Presentations by invitation to OISE / University of Toronto on domestic violence in the gay community

-Workshops on domestic violence issues at Ministry of Attorney General Annual PARS Conference