BIPP Programs

AVDA's fully-accredited Battering Intervention and Prevention Program (BIPP) provides services to men and women who have been violent, abusive, and/or controlling in their intimate and family relationships to recognize, accept responsibility for, and end this behavior. There are four phases to BIPP, all of which are available in both Spanish and English.

1. AVDA's BIPP is a quick-entry program where new participants can typically receive services within the first week they call to register.
2. Individuals are required to call the AVDA office between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday to register themselves for program services, schedule evaluation appointments and orientation sessions.  Clients can attend an evaluation appointment first or an orientation session.  These can often be scheduled on the same day.
3. During the Evaluation, the participant meets individually with a group facilitator who conducts a psycho-social evaluation, which includes a detailed intimate relationship history and abusive behavior history, as well as a detailed report of the offending incident when relevant.
   
   The primary purpose of this session is to evaluate the potential client's ability to participate and progress appropriately in a group setting as well to identify any exacerbating factors, e.g. substance abuse or psychological issues, requiring further evaluation.
4. An Orientation is conducted in an interactive group format in order to help prepare the client for the group experience. Orientation can be scheduled before or after the evaluation session.  During the orientation, he/she receives information about the philosophy and structure of the program, the group rules, and the rights and responsibilities of a participant.
5. After completing evaluation and orientation sessions, participants enter an on-going Group. All groups are conducted per State BIPP Accreditation Guidelines. In order to successfully complete the program, participants are required to (a) complete a minimum of 18 weekly two-hour group sessions, (b) pay fees, and (c) participate appropriately in the work of the group. Groups average between 8 and 18 individuals in attendance.

Service locations

AVDA's office is located at 1001 Texas Ave, in Downtown Houston. Group sessions are held at this office and in numerous locations throughout Harris, Galveston, and Montgomery counties.  Locations include:

Downtown
Museum District
Humble
FM1960/Kuykendahl
Tidwell/I45
Dickinson
Pasadena
The Woodlands
Westpark/Beltway 8

*Spanish and women's groups are available at limited locations.  See BIPP Locations tab for up-to-date information on group locations.

Cost of service

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Community Justice Assistance Division encourages accredited BIPP programs to charge participants for services as a way of reinforcing that abusive behavior has consequences.  Fees are as follows:

Evaluation–Standard fee of $35
Orientation–Standard fee of $30
Group Sessions–Fees for group services are assessed on a sliding scale based on the client's gross income, with a minimum of $25 per session. AVDA is a contract provider for HCCSD and FBCSCD low-income probationers.

Credentials

AVDA is the first in the state to be fully accredited by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Community Justice Assistance Division. 

BIPP facilitators are recruited from a variety of backgrounds. All are degreed professionals who have completed masters programs and have licensure. Each facilitator participates in an intensive initial training program before beginning to facilitate groups solo. In addition, each facilitator receives at least 20 hours of continuing education each year through staff in-service training, conferences, and other activities.

In 1995, TDCJ-CJAD adopted Battering Intervention and Prevention Program Guidelines to establish minimum standards for service providers and contracted with the Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) to monitor and evaluate such programs throughout the state. Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse has been audited by both TCFV and TDCJ-CJAD and has been proven to meet the state guidelines.

Requirements

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  Per stte BIPP Accreditation Guidelines, each participant MUST sign a release of information that allows BIPP to notify his/her victim and/or partner as well as his/her referral source. Partners/victims are notified about the participant's enrollment in, and exit from, BIPP. Progress reports on court-mandated participants are mailed to the referral source on a monthly basis.
• AVDA advises against couples counseling until the abusive party has completed an appropriate intervention program and the partner feels safe to participate. Couples counseling requires that both parties feel safe to divulge information, to talk about feelings and their perceptions, and to seek help with identified problems. In a domestic violence situation, the needed safety is compromised, if present at all, making the couples work ineffective and in many cases, even dangerous.

What to expect

BIPP is not an anger management program. The program curriculum DOES address anger management issues and teach certain anger management skills, but it is much more comprehensive in its approach. The curriculum addresses socio-cultural issues, particularly regarding gender and violence, teaches and develops critical thinking skills, and includes therapeutic topic elements, such as empathy, accountability, and communication.

The State of Texas has established standards for BIPP service providers that caution against sending those who batter to anger management programs for a variety of reasons. Anger management programs often fail to adequately address victim safety and may in fact place battering victims in greater danger by enforcing the perpetrator's belief that the victim provokes his anger and precipitates the abuse. Anger management programs also fail to emphasize the perpetrator's responsibility for his abusive behavior and prolong his denial by teaching him that if he gets angry enough then he will "explode."

This is a very demanding and challenging program that is extremely beneficial for some, but not all. An individual's completion of the program in no way guarantees that he will change or that he will no longer be abusive. Completion only indicates that he met the minimum requirements of attendance, participation, and payment for services. The participant, not the program, is the one responsible for changing his/her violent and abusive behavior.

Research on AVDA's BIPP Shows…

One of the imminent researchers in the field of domestic violence is sociologist Edward W. Gondolf, PhD, of Indiana University in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Dr. Gondolf was the Principal Investigator for a six-year longitudinal study of batterer programs funded by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. AVDA's BIPP – then known as the PIVOT Project – participated in this study. The following is a summary of the findings, as published in Batter Intervention Systems: Issues, Outcomes, and Recommendations (2002, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA).

Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse was selected to be one of four model programs nationwide to participate in a multi-site evaluation of batterer intervention sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This six-year study (1994-2000) included a four-year longitudinal follow-up (interviews every three months) with men arrested for domestic violence (n=840) and their female partners.

Approximately two-thirds of the men had not re-assaulted their partners at 15 months (1¼ years) after program intake, and nearly 60% were still violence-free at the 30- month follow-up (2½ years after program intake). The program dropouts were 30% more likely to re-assault than the completers (50% vs. 35%), a difference that remains significant when controlling for possible differences in completer and non-completer characteristics.

At 30 months, 80% of the men had not committed an assault in the previous year to year and a half. That is, the vast majority of men did interrupt their violence for and extended period of time, despite histories of severe violence, previous arrest, and alcohol misuse. Moreover, over three-quarters of the women said that they felt "very safe" and as many women felt their lives had improved overall.

These rates were comparable to the other three sites in the study and show AVDA's BIPP to be demonstrably effective in interrupting and reducing woman assault. AVDA not only has an established and documented track record as verified by independent researchers of international reputation, but also the evaluation feedback and experience that make our BIPP a dynamic and progressive program.