Stop násilí — Diakonie ČCE's Multi-Modality Therapy Programme for People Who Use Violence

Stop násilí ('Stop Violence'), run by Diakonie ČCE (the diaconal service of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren) in Prague, has offered therapy to people who use violence in close relationships since 2009. It now runs six parallel tracks — individual, group, couples, probation-linked, court-ordered, and a dedicated 'teen therapy' for 12–18-year-olds — delivered by 17 therapists, three of whom work in Ukrainian and Russian. Referral routes include self-referral, probation services and court orders, and the programme is co-financed by the European Social Fund, the Czech Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice's probation programme, and the City of Prague.
The programme's 2024 evaluation, covering 109 clients aged 12 to 51 (up 35% from 81 in 2023), reported that 90% of clients reduced their violent behaviour, 59% saw better family relationships, 52% reported improved romantic relationships and 33% improved relationships with their children. At intake, most clients also reported anxiety or depression, with smaller shares reporting substance-use (8%) or psychiatric (6%) difficulties — context the programme treats alongside the violence itself. As with most perpetrator-programme evaluations, these are self- and partner-reported outcomes without a control group, so they indicate a promising trend rather than causally proven effectiveness.
Stop násilí operates within Zastav násilí, a national association of 25-plus Czech organisations — active from Prague and Central Bohemia to Liberec, Brno, Olomouc and Ostrava — that adhere to shared Minimal Standards for work with perpetrators of violence in close relationships, a framework built with Norwegian Funds co-financing (2014–2021). A parallel Ministry-led prison programme, 'Zuřivec', developed with Norway's Alternative to Violence and rolled out across half of Czech prisons by 2021, points to growing state, not just NGO, ownership of this approach.

Read the full analysis: https://www.ceske-novinky.cz/2025/02/15/program-stop-nasili-pomaha-lidem-s-nasilnym-chovanim-zvladat-vztek-a-agresivitu-a-hledat-jine-cesty-reseni-konfliktu-a-narocnych-situaci/