This issue of Working With Men concentrates on Domestic Violence. Projects have existed in Britain since the mid-eighties and there are currently at least 50 programmes, with the majority of these within the Probation Service. The Labour Government have committed themselves to reducing the incidence of Domestic Violence and it is expected to appear as a prominent issue in the 'white paper' on public health. While the Home Office takes the lead, there is now a cross-departmental group, which will develop and implement policy. Government have asked for Probation Services to set-up 'Pathfinder Projects' to work with men, although there have been some reservations about this initiative, especially from the Domestic Violence Practitioners Network. This issue of WWM reflects both contextual and practice issues in working with violent men. We have an edited version of a speech given by Margaret Moran MP, outlining the Governments approach to Domestic Violence. We also have comment pieces from Dave Morran and Paul Wolf-Light, two very experienced workers in this field. Both of these pieces concentrate on the wider context of men's lives and attempt to find a balance between programmes on violence and the broader issues of violence within the men's lives. We have descriptions of two examples of practice, DVIPj21 a very well established and formally evaluated project; and AGENDA in Nottingham. New programmes are likely to be established on the next 2 or 3 years and WWM will be monitoring these and the practice issues that are likely to emerge. This issue also has a description of 'First Steps', a Leicester-based project for men who have been sexually abused. Still, a very under-developed area of work and 'First Steps' reflects a very solid example of good practice to base future initiative on. We have also included a summary of those projects that recently received money from the Home Office to develop work with fathers and young men. This is an unprecedented focus on these two groups and we will be reporting on these projects as the months go by. We at WWM are delighted that we were in that list and are looking forward to developing our 'DadsR'Us'project. Trefor Lloyd
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