ECLIPSES Intentionality of Coercive Control Spoke and Wheel Model

Debbs Thoughts: For a long time, I've been wanting to create a visual representation of the realities of the intentionality of coercive control. That Coercive Control IS Family Violence, not a Subset of it - that it is fear evoking but can also present as love and remorse.

Unfortunately, coercive control is still actively mispositioned in practice response as an isolated, non-physical, often minimised dynamic, and as a direct result of this, lethality and risk indicators are missed.

Coercive control is both physical and non-physical acts of family violence.  Regardless of the perpetrated act (strangulation, punch, financial, emotional etc) – it is an act of coercion in order to gain control over another human being, isolate and entrap them.  The intention is always CONTROL.

For years, coercive control has been presented within many models and concepts as in individual aspect or dynamic of family violence and has therefore been responded to as such.

Until such time as we recognise that coercive control is present in every single perpetrated act of family violence that occurs, risk will continue to be missed, and primary victims of coercive control in the context of family violence will continue to be harmed and killed, including risk of suicide.

All of the various ways in which coercive control can be perpetrated are subsets of abuse, and they all fall under the umbrella of coercive control.   We explain this through one aspect of our Practitioner-Victim Insight Concept (PVIC) that I developed in 2021 through my lived experience of family and sexual violence and my case and practice knowledge –Coercive Control the Umbrella Tactic ECLIPSE Concepts | ECLIPSE

The attached diagram has been created to show that coercive control is present and exists and connected to every act of family violence.

If a predominant aggressor is cognitively able to make a sound decision, then their decision to perpetrate acts of coercive control violence and abuse in the context of family violence is intentional.  There are three exceptions to this rule, and they are visible in the diagram

·       Traumatic Brain Injury

·       Cognitive Decline

·       Dementia / Alzheimer’s

When we begin to recognise the intentionality, the deliberate, calculated, and manipulative way in which coercive control is perpetrated, we will respond in a manner that positions the behaviour as intentional, not make excuses for abuse, violence and harm. And uphold victim safety.

This is also why we need to criminalise Coercive Control in Aotearoa, because FAMILY VIOLENCE IS COERCIVE CONTROL, not a subset of it!  And quite simply it should be illegal to strip another human of their autonomy and agency of self, self-worth, self-esteem, and to evoke a lifetime of fear.