Start a Batterer Intervention Program (BIP)

1. 1

   Understand that a BIP is NOT anger management

   This is the single most important point. Batterer intervention programs are a distinct, separately regulated field addressing power, control, and violence in intimate relationships, not general anger. Courts, states, and the field itself treat them differently, with different curricula, standards, and philosophies, and in many places anger management is explicitly considered inappropriate for domestic-violence offenders. Never market a BIP as anger management or an anger management class as a BIP.

2. 2

   Study your state's certification standards

   Most states certify or approve batterer intervention programs and set detailed standards: an approved curriculum, minimum program length (often long, such as many months), facilitator qualifications and training, group-size limits, victim-safety and accountability protocols, and coordination with victim advocates. Read your state's standards in full before anything else, because they define the entire business. Requirements vary significantly by state.

3. 3

   Meet facilitator and training requirements

   Facilitators typically need specific training, supervised experience, and sometimes clinical licensure, plus ongoing education. Some states require co-facilitation and gender-balanced facilitation. Assemble qualified facilitators who meet your state's exact criteria, and budget for their training and supervision.

4. 4

   Adopt an approved curriculum and accountability model

   Use a curriculum your state accepts, built on accountability, victim safety, and changing coercive behavior, not simply calming techniques. Build the required accountability infrastructure: attendance and progress reporting to courts and probation, communication protocols, and often coordination with victim advocates and partner-notification where required. This accountability apparatus is central to certification, not an add-on.

5. 5

   Obtain certification and court relationships

   Complete your state's certification or approval process, which can take months, then build relationships with the courts, probation departments, and prosecutors who mandate BIP completion. Certified programs are often placed on official referral lists. Your revenue depends on being on those lists and delivering reliably to the accountability standard.

6. 6

   Operate to a high compliance standard

   Run the program exactly to the certified standards: documented attendance, progress and non-compliance reporting, confidentiality within the required limits, and victim-safety protocols. Non-compliance by the program itself can lose certification and harm victims. This is a mission-critical, closely watched operation, not a casual class.

7. 7

   Be honest about the model and its limits

   A BIP is court-mandated accountability work with a public-safety purpose, usually private pay by the offender, and it is separate from clinical therapy and from anger management. State plainly that it requires state certification and that you hold it. Do not blur it with any other model in this set.

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