TOPEKA — A Topeka man, who prefers that his name not be used, said he severely abused his wife for eight years.

During this time, he said, he attended several programs to try to change and was told he had an anger issue. He simply needed to identify his “triggers” and stay away from them. Meanwhile, his wife was told she needed to monitor his moods and try to defuse them.

The programs were a joke, he said. The emotional, physical, sexual and verbal abuse continued, he said, until he landed in court and as part of a plea diversion was ordered to attend The Family Peace Initiative at the YWCA in Topeka.

“At FPI, I learned that I did not have an anger issue. I learned that I was in fact a batterer,” he told a legislative committee last week. “A batterer cannot be treated with anger management. It just leads to blame and minimization. I had to be held accountable, and all my justification had to be removed.”

He said that when domestic violence offenders are referred to batterer intervention programs, the state needs to ensure that these programs are working.

“It should not be a get-out-of-jail-free card,” he said. “It’s time to hold the men of Kansas accountable and end the abuse of our women and children.”

The man and advocates for victims of domestic violence are pushing for passage of Senate Bill 304, which would set up a process within the attorney general’s office of certifying and regulating batterer intervention programs.

Joyce Grover, executive director of the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, said that without certification, “batterer intervention programs can become drop-in, cursory programs that fail to address domestic violence seriously. Certification requires that these programs take the issue seriously and follow best practices.”

Curt Brungardt, whose stepdaughter Jana Mackey was murdered in 2008 by her ex-boyfriend in Lawrence, said certifying quality batterers intervention programs “is an absolute must to ensure positive program outcomes.”

Brungardt, who is co-chair of a batterers intervention program advisory board, added, “In my opinion, program duration, quality assessment and strong qualifications of BIP (batterer intervention program) facilitators are crucial to overall success.”

Assistant Attorney General Travis Harrod said the proposed legislation is a companion piece to the 2010 passage of a bill that established tracking of domestic violence convictions and directing those offenders to batterer intervention programs.

Harrod said the proposed bill would set uniform standards for these programs and ensure the same level of service throughout the state.

The Topeka man said the Family Peace Initiative has kept him violence-free for two years.

“If offenders are going to be referred to programs instead of jail we need to ensure these programs are not only accomplishing the goals with the batterers, but not making the violence worse toward the women and children they should be helping,” Harrod said.