Accountability Programs

Many paths. One commitment: accountability and change.

At WITS, our Accountability Programs provide structured opportunities for individuals to examine harmful behaviors, understand their impact, develop healthier relationship skills, and build the capacity for meaningful change. We offer both mandated and voluntary programming designed to meet individuals where they are while maintaining a strong commitment to responsibility and accountability. Through partnerships with courts, probation departments, community organizations, and other referral systems, WITS provides flexible program options with varying lengths and formats to meet the needs of different systems, populations, and levels of intervention. Whether participation is court-referred, system-directed, or self-initiated, our goal remains the same: supporting individuals in moving from awareness to accountability and from accountability toward lasting transformation.

Roots & Repair: Accountability and Parenting Program

Roots & Repair is a comprehensive 26-week accountability and parenting intervention program designed for individuals referred through the Department of Social Services (DSS), Child Protective Services (CPS), and related family-serving systems. Available for both men and women and offered in English and Spanish, the program supports participants in addressing harmful relationship patterns, strengthening accountability, and developing the skills needed to create safer, healthier family environments.

Integrating elements of Abusive Partner Intervention Programming (APIP) with evidence-informed healthy parenting education, Roots & Repair helps participants explore the impact of their behaviors on partners, children, and family systems while building skills in emotional regulation, communication, conflict resolution, empathy, co-parenting, and positive child development.

The program recognizes that accountability and parenting are deeply connected. Participants are guided in understanding how exposure to conflict, fear, and unhealthy relationship dynamics can impact children, while learning new approaches to create emotionally safe, nurturing, and respectful family relationships.

Through a structured 26-week curriculum, Roots & Repair provides a space for reflection, skill-building, and meaningful behavioral change. The program supports participants in moving beyond identifying harm toward actively practicing repair, responsibility, and healthier ways of relating within their families and communities.

ALIGN: An Abusive Partner Intervention Program

ALIGN is a 26-week Abusive Partner Intervention Program designed for individuals referred through the criminal justice system, including court, probation, and other justice-related referral pathways. Offered for both men and women and available in English and Spanish, ALIGN provides a structured opportunity for participants to examine harmful behaviors, understand their impact, and develop the skills necessary to build safer and healthier relationships.

Grounded in accountability, behavioral change, and the principles of nonviolence, ALIGN supports participants in moving beyond acknowledgment of harm toward meaningful transformation. Through facilitated discussions, skill-building, and evidence-informed intervention, participants explore the beliefs, behaviors, and relationship patterns that contribute to intimate partner violence while developing healthier approaches to communication, conflict, emotional regulation, and decision-making.

The ALIGN model is built around five core areas of growth:

Awareness — Recognizing behaviors, choices, and patterns that contribute to harm.

Learning — Developing knowledge about healthy relationships, power, control, and accountability.

Impact — Understanding the effects of one’s actions on partners, children, families, and communities.

Growth — Building emotional awareness, self-regulation, and the capacity for change.

Nonviolence — Committing to safety, respect, dignity, and relationships free from harm.

ALIGN recognizes that accountability is an ongoing process. The goal of intervention is not simply program completion, but the development of insight, responsibility, and sustainable behavioral change. Participants are supported in identifying the impact of their actions, challenging harmful beliefs, and practicing new skills that promote safer relationships and stronger communities.

Through a restorative and accountability-centered approach, ALIGN provides criminal justice partners with a structured intervention model that supports meaningful change while prioritizing safety for individuals, families, and communities.

SHIFT™: A CBT-Focused Somatic APPRoACH TO Accountability

SHIFT™ is a structured accountability-based intervention designed for court-involved, male-identified individuals who have engaged in abusive, harmful, or unhealthy behaviors within intimate partner and family relationships. Offered as a 16-week program in partnership with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and the Westchester STRIVE Initiative, SHIFT™ primarily serves individuals from Yonkers and Mount Vernon while remaining open to eligible participants throughout Westchester County.

SHIFT™ reflects WITS’ commitment to meaningful behavioral change through accountability, skill development, emotional awareness, and personal transformation. The program is grounded in the belief that accountability is not a single moment of acknowledgment, but an ongoing practice demonstrated through changed thinking, regulated responses, respectful choices, and consistent action over time.

While legal consequences may create an opportunity for intervention, sustainable community safety requires individuals to develop the internal skills necessary to interrupt harmful patterns and build healthier ways of relating. SHIFT™ supports participants in examining the beliefs, behaviors, and decision-making processes that contributed to harm while developing practical tools to prevent future violence and strengthen relationship safety. As a companion pathway to STRIVE, which provides survivor-centered support, advocacy, connection, and empowerment for individuals impacted by intimate partner and family violence, SHIFT™ reflects WITS’ comprehensive approach to safety and prevention. WITS recognizes that stronger communities are built when survivors receive meaningful support and individuals who cause harm are provided with structured opportunities to accept accountability, develop insight, and create lasting behavioral change.

SHIFT™ utilizes a cognitive-behavioral framework integrated with somatic awareness practices to support participants in developing the skills necessary for meaningful and sustainable transformation. The cognitive-behavioral approach helps participants identify and challenge harmful patterns of thinking, including denial, minimization, blame shifting, entitlement, and distorted beliefs about relationships, conflict, and power, while exploring the connection between thoughts, emotions, choices, and consequences. The somatic approach recognizes that lasting behavior change also requires awareness of the body’s responses to stress, conflict, and emotional activation. Through emotional regulation, grounding practices, and intentional responding skills, participants learn to pause, reflect, and make choices aligned with accountability, respect, and nonviolence. Through reflection, education, and practice, SHIFT™ supports individuals in moving from awareness to action and from intention to lasting transformation.

MRT®: BRINGING PEACE TO RELATIONSHIPS

WITS provides Moral Reconation Therapy® (MRT®) as a certified implementation partner through a collaborative partnership with the Westchester County Re-Entry Task Force. As part of WITS’ accountability programming, trained and certified facilitators deliver the MRT® curriculum with fidelity to the established model and required program standards. This 26-week intervention provides individuals returning to the community with a structured framework to examine decision-making, values, accountability, relationships, and the thinking patterns that influence behavior.

While maintaining the integrity of the MRT® curriculum, WITS enhances the learning experience through a trauma-informed and participant-centered approach. Our experienced facilitators thoughtfully incorporate additional education, language, and skill-building tools that support deeper engagement and connection to the material, including concepts related to emotional awareness, healthy relationships, communication, regulation, and personal growth. These complementary approaches allow participants to better apply MRT® principles to their lived experiences while developing the insight, accountability, and skills needed to support successful re-entry and long-term positive change.