About the Pathways Program

Background Info For Researchers

 

In December of 2018, Melissa Scaia and Jon Heath co-developed Pathways to Family Peace as an international pilot project to discover how men’s non-violence classes could be offered using videoconference technology.  Scaia and Heath had identified that throughout the United States, particularly in rural areas of the US, there were barriers to men participating in programs and a decline in referrals of domestic violence offenders to
men’s non-violence classes.

 

Pathways to Family Peace launched as a direct service program in 2020 when there was a critical need for remote batterer intervention programs during the pandemic. Since then, other providers have started remote and in-person programs that participants now have the option to access. Pathways to Family Peace program officially closed at the end of July 2024. Enrolled individuals and future participants are now referred to Minnesota organizations DAP and DAIP to complete their classes.

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Pathways to Family Peace used the Duluth Model's "Creating a Process of Change for Men Who Batter" curriculum and the addendum curriculum entitled "Addressing Fatherhood with Men Who Batter" (Scaia, Connelly & Downing, 2007).  

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Pathways also worked with women who have used violence in their intimate partner relationships. The women's group used the "Turning Points: A Non-Violence Program for Women" curriculum.