.
On Saturday, 22 November 2025, Barbara Sławik and Aneta Bukowska led the workshop seminar “Violence in a Relationship – how to recognize it before you name it?” 💬💙
Once again, we sincerely thank all the Participants for taking part in the event and co-creating such a wonderful atmosphere! 🙌 It is incredibly important to see a group of therapists approaching the topic of domestic violence with responsibility, engagement, and curiosity, and discussing possible forms of support. 💛
This was the first edition of the seminar following the workshop held during the March conference celebrating the 30th anniversary of Niebieska Linia IPZ, as well as the meeting of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Commission on Counteracting Domestic Violence. 🔎
Combining knowledge and experience from the field of domestic violence prevention with attachment theory – the foundation of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy – proved to be a valuable, though still relatively new in Poland, addition to approaches focused on stopping violence. 🧩❤️
We discussed key elements of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act: the definition of violence, its forms, mechanisms, and consequences. 📘
We then looked at these issues through the “lens” of attachment, which allowed us to explore the differences between intimate terrorism and situational couple violence. 🔍
We also addressed the dilemmas involved in distinguishing violence from conflict or aggression, and in clarifying what belongs to the domain of support institutions working in the field of domestic violence prevention, and what belongs to diagnosis and therapeutic work in the psychotherapy office. ⚖️
Finally, we talked about when couples therapy is possible, and when it should be discontinued or not initiated at all, as it could create a space for secondary victimization and/or strengthen the person using violence while weakening the person experiencing it. 🛑💔
