Bridges : Stopping Abuse. Building trust, respect & dreams.

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What is the Bridges Institute?

Bridges is a domestic violence counselling, research and training institute. Bridges offers men and their families services to address issues of violence in their relationships. The Institute primarily focuses on using a narrative therapy approach to counselling conversations. Bridges offers individual, group, couple and family conversations.

What have we published?

Bridges faculty has co-edited and contributed to the critically acclaimed book “Narrative Therapy: Making Meaning, Making Lives” (Sage Publications, 2007) and published numerous other articles and chapters. The Bridges faculty have also produced a group manual for working with men who abuse that has been officially adopted by various government departments in Atlantic Canada.

What are the training opportunities?

Bridges faculty are available for training to large and small groups. Bridges faculty has presented the work of the Institute in every province in Canada. They have also presented in Asia, Europe, and the United States. Bridges also sponsors the Canadian Domestic Violence Conference and the Winds of Change Conference.

“[Bridges] has produced a batterer intervention manual that reflects a paradigm shift. The work with men using a narrative perspective reflects a new and exciting direction for the field.”

- Peter Lehmann, co-editor of Strengths-Based Batterer Intervention: A New Paradigm in Ending Family Violence

Bridges History

In Canada, intervention programs for men began in 1979. Nova Scotia began to develop programs in 1986. Bridges was established in 1990 by volunteer members of the local probation office, transition house, child protection office, clergy and members of the broader community concerned with men’s violence against women. Originally the program used the “Duluth Model” exclusively. In 1998, Bridges began to incorporate the invitational and narrative therapy approach of Alan Jenkins and Michael White. After presenting its work nationally for years, Bridges began publishing internationally in 2001. Bridges officially established itself as an international training and research institute on narrative approaches to domestic violence in 2002.