Understanding Our Approach

Invitational Practices to Accountability

Accountability seeking is an ethical practice that invites people who have caused harm to genuinely consider the impact of their actions, take responsibility, and choose different ways of being in relationship.

What Does Accountability Mean?

In our work, accountability means helping people who have used anger, violence, or controlling behaviors to understand the real impact of their actions on others, and to choose different ways of being. This is fundamentally different from blame or shame—it's about ethical transformation.

We believe that people can change. We also believe that genuine change requires them to move beyond defensiveness and truly hear the impact of their behavior. This is difficult, important work.

Invitational Approaches

Rather than confrontation or coercion, we use invitational methods to engage people in accountability conversations:

  • •Respectful curiosity: We ask questions that help people examine their own actions and values, rather than lecturing them.
  • •Ethical frameworks: We ground conversations in people's own values and sense of what is right.
  • •Impact awareness: We help people truly understand and feel the impact of their actions on the people they've hurt.
  • •Possibility-focused: We emphasize that change is possible, and invite people toward different ways of being.

Who This Serves

We work with people who have used violence, anger, or controlling behaviors in intimate relationships and families. We also work with those who wish to understand their own patterns and make different choices. This work sits at the intersection of therapy, justice, and ethical practice.

Accountability practices honor both the people who have caused harm and those who have been harmed. It's not about excusing behavior—it's about creating conditions where genuine change can happen, where responsibility is taken seriously, and where people can move toward integrity.

"For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?"

— bell hooks

"The problem is not an 'obstacle'; it is the surpassing of the obstacle, a pro-jection."

— Deleuze & Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus (p. 362)

Professional Associations

PACFAAAFTSASPAASWMirson Trust: Pennington Terrace Clinic

We acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide Plains and respect their enduring connection to the spirit and soul of this place. Though imperfect as allies, we strive to keep the past and present lived experience of Australia's First Nations people in the forefront of our minds during every conversation.

Adelaide Narrative Therapy

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