Should I use the power and control wheel in my practice?
I get asked this a bit – do I use the power and control wheel, and do I recommend it?
The answer is yes – for both. Even though it was developed quite a while ago, the fundamentals are still relevant today. It’s a helpful visual tool to understand the lived experience of women who live with men who use violence. I’ve used it to help women recognise certain forms of violence that they aren’t aware of or recognise as abuse.
The power and control wheel is characterised by the pattern of actions that an individual uses to intentionally control or dominate their intimate partner.
THE POWER AND CONTROL WHEEL (DAIP)
“The Power and Control Wheel makes the pattern, intent, and impact of violence visible” (Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP), Duluth Model, 2017)
There are many variations of the wheel – domestic and family violence practitioners and advocates have recognised the need to adapt it to meet the wider experiences of specific cultures and groups. It’s important to remember that the wheel provides a universal idea of the experience of women’s abuse, but it differs for each woman and may also not be true to every woman.
If you aren’t aware of its origins, here is a quick history lesson.
It was originally developed in 1984 by Ellen Pence and Michael Paymar, in the Domestic Abuser Intervention Program (DAIP) as part of the “Duluth Model”.
It was developed to help victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and to educate abusive men.
The wheel came about through focus groups with victim-survivors (women) who outlined their most common tactics of abusive partners.
The wheel focuses on how eight different types of abuser tactics partner with physical and sexual violence (or the threat of physical or sexual violence) to dominate a partner.
The wheel is made up of the following components:
Physical and sexual violence (outer ring)
· Using intimidation
· Using emotional abuse
· Using isolation
· Minimising, denying and blaming
· Using children
· Using male privilege
· Using economic abuse
· Using coercion and threats
The Duluth website has explanatory videos available – first there’s an introduction one on the Power and Control Wheel, and then a video on each of the behaviours that are the spokes of the wheel. If you are new to the domestic and family violence sector, I recommend you watch them all. If you are a manager or team leader, include these in inductions for new employees to the domestic and family violence sector.
Click here to view the videos: https://www.theduluthmodel.org/wheels/understanding-power-control-wheel/#overview
It’s also often accompanied by the Equality Wheel which can be downloaded at:
LIMITATIONS
As stated, I do use the Power and Control wheel, but it does have its limitations. I will address two key ones in this article.
Firstly, not all women who experience psychological abuse and coercive control experience physical or sexual violence. There are many non-physical acts, behaviours and tactics that occur over a long period of time without any physical abuse. Women commonly describe these as the worst form of abuse they experience. They also say that they have more immediate and ongoing impacts from non-physical abuse than physical forms of violence. We know abuse can take forms that are complex, some don’t involve any direct physical or sexual assault, and some that lead to or are accompanied by physical violence. The power and control wheel doesn’t really reflect this aspect (it has the outer wheel labelled physical and sexual violence).
Secondly, when it was first developed, we didn’t have information technology like we have today. As we know, technology plays a huge part in abuse of an intimate partner, and its particularly used to gain power and control. If you are using the power and control wheel to help women understand domestic and family violence, its useful to remember to include examples of technology across the spokes. For example, tracking and monitoring a person’s whereabouts (using isolation) or controlling or changing passwords on bank accounts (using economic abuse).
National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) put out a power and control wheel on technology and abuse back in 2008. Technology has got much more sophisticated since then but its still a good wheel to refer to.
The link to this wheel:
https://safechatsv.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NNEDV_TechPowerControlWheel_Aug08.pdf
In summary, there are many variations of the power and control wheel (up to 40 of them!), which are easily found on the internet. Use them where you think they will make the most difference - recognition of forms of abuse or psychoeducation.
If you do use them, ensure you reference the DAIP and Duluth Model Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP), Duluth Model and gain permission for any adaptations you make using their models.