NICRO KwaZulu-Natal - Empangeni

NICRO takes a notably different and complementary approach — working on both sides of abuse: with victims and with perpetrators.

NICRO's goal is to lower community tolerance of GBV and break the cycle of violence. Their CEO has stated that working with perpetrators is key to preventing GBV, as intensive therapeutic intervention targeting the root of abusive behaviour is the only sustainable way to break that cycle. While NICRO works with offenders, they also recognise that victims of GBV carry lasting scars and are in need of healing.

Their flagship Intimate Partner Violence programme is a 20-week group-based intervention for adult male perpetrators, usually court-referred, which incorporates psycho-educational and cognitive-behavioural therapy. It aims to educate perpetrators, build social and personal skills, and change harmful thinking patterns and behaviour. In parallel, structured counselling and support groups for victims involve a minimum of eight sessions, alongside individual counselling, couples counselling, and family work.

The programme works to ensure perpetrators understand the causes and consequences of their behaviour, facilitates genuine behaviour change, and simultaneously works to ensure the mental, emotional health, safety and wellbeing of partners and victims — equipping survivors to influence others in similar situations.

NICRO's 11 branches span Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State, offering substance abuse programmes, anger management, life skills, and community violence prevention alongside their GBV-specific work.