A York County educational program for abusive men has reopened under new leadership after being shuttered for a year and a half.
While the program was closed, advocates and a prosecutor told the Bangor Daily News that their options were limited for rehabilitating men convicted of one of Maine’s most rampant crimes. The difficulty of keeping such a program open reflected a wider statewide struggle to fund domestic violence intervention programs, advocates said.
The new domestic violence intervention program for male offenders is now being run by York County’s domestic violence resource agency, Caring Unlimited. After a brief pilot this winter, it officially decided in January to run the York County Certified Domestic Violence Intervention Program long-term, said Susan Giambalvo, executive director of Caring Unlimited.
The previous program for men, called Violence No More, had been privately run by Tricia Ledoux, but it closed in August 2023 for financial and staffing reasons. In the interim, domestic violence offenders requested to end their probation early when they couldn’t get into an intervention program elsewhere, leading victims to feel unsafe and abandoned by the criminal justice system, advocates said at the time.
With two virtual classes for male offenders currently being offered, Caring Unlimited aims to have four by the end of June and ramp up to six by the end of September, with some of the classes meeting in person at various locations across the county, Giambalvo said. While recognizing the potential financial risk of running a program that could not stay afloat before, she said the organization believes the intervention is a key component of fulfilling its mission to end domestic violence.
“The community needs to be able to count on these programs being available. We saw what happens when one closes,” Giambalvo said. “We felt it was necessary, critical, that this aspect of the system exist.”
The organization was buoyed by a federal grant of about $30,000 per year for three years to help fill its anticipated operating loss, Giambalvo said. (Classes across the state run off fees paid by participants who do not always pay.) But other programs across Maine have ceased operation, showcasing their overall tenuous financial situation. Safe Voices, for instance, discontinued men’s classes in Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties in 2024, due to funding and staffing shortages.
Domestic violence intervention programs, previously called batterers’ intervention, aim to teach offenders to identify and address the root beliefs underlying their abuse. A court can order those convicted of domestic violence to attend the 90-minute, 48-week class as part of their probation. If they don’t, they can be sent back to jail. Others may be required to attend by child protective services or as part of a deferred disposition agreement with a court.
“A lot of domestic violence operates under a belief of, ‘I have the right to power and control,’ so really in class we’re working to dismantle that belief and change it to, ‘Me and my partner are equal,’” said Anna Dullea, the violence intervention coordinator for York County’s new program, which has enrolled about 40 participants, with another 50 in the process of enrolling.
Domestic violence intervention programs in Maine use a curriculum that the National Institute of Justice has rated as effective for reducing the likelihood that men will be violent again. The program may not change everyone’s behavior, but it is an important offering within a community’s larger, systemic response to domestic violence, which also includes well-trained police and prosecutors, Dullea said.
When Julia Davidson, Caring Unlimited’s advocacy director, first began enrolling offenders, she said she could often quickly see how they ended up in the program based on how they treated her. Then she learned how many had experienced horrific trauma as children or watched violence unfold in their homes, providing them with an early model of relationships and dominant behavior that became ingrained over time. It doesn’t excuse their actions now, she said. But it shows that it is possible for what was learned to be unlearned.
“Doing this work increased my hope in community transformation,” she said. “The jail sentences, which are short, do not deter them from being violent. The financial ramifications do not deter them. They find new partners. They start new relationships, and they repeat their behaviors unless there’s an opportunity for change and reflection.”
Erin Rhoda is the editor of Maine Focus at the Bangor Daily News. She may be reached at [email protected].
