A Policy Statement on Domestic Violence Couples Counseling

“Couple counseling is not a viable therapeutic tool for use in violent family relationships. We define a violent family relationship as one in which physical or sexual assaults occur, threats of violence occur, and/or woman lives in an environment of fear caused by her partner. Couple counseling remains inappropriate even when both parties request it and/or want to maintain the couple relationship… Couple counseling is beneficial to work on marital problems. Wife battering, however, is a violent criminal act, not a marital problem.”