COURSE FAQs

  • No. Circuit Breaker is a course for anyone who feels their temper is causing problems in their relationships. With a focus on managing anger, communicating and building intimacy, Circuit Breaker provides a safe space to learn new relationship tools so that ugly conflicts can be prevented nice and early. Since Circuit Breaker does not pretend to be a DV perpetrator program, we do not accept mandated referrals or provide evidence of attendance, or check-in with partners. In fact, it’s very important to us that anyone attending a Circuit Breaker course is there simply because they want to be the best version of themselves.

  • No, Circuit Breaker is not a religious course. Although many of our providers are churches, our policies forbid using the program for the force-feeding of religious content. Those who are looking for spiritual content will enjoy that in the form of optional extra reading provided each week, and many of our venues also like to host an optional prayer time after the conclusion of their group meeting.

  • Circuit Breaker is not a self-help course, and so it will only ever be delivered in a group setting with licensed facilitators. Most of the time, community groups, churches and other organizations like to conduct their groups in-person at a physical venue, although you may see them offer groups online from time to time.

  • The Circuit Breaker course is only effective when it is conducted in a group setting, as people with similar struggles share their stories and celebrate their victories together from week to week. For that reason, full attendance is very important to us, along with your commitment to attend the full ten sessions. Whilst we understand that sicknesses and other unforeseen circumstances arise from time to time, it will not be possible for you to continue in the course if you have missed more than one session.

  • Since our group time involves some participants sharing about recent conflicts at home, it would be very unhelpful for couples or relatives to be placed in a Circuit Breaker group together. In many cases, organizations offering Circuit Breaker will meet as a large group to watch each of the session videos together, but will then break into separate small groups for sharing. When you select the group you wish to apply for, you will have an opportunity to speak to a facilitator about these options, but please understand that you will not be placed in a small group with a partner or relative.

  • No. One of our highest values is that relationships should be about invitations, rather than expectations. We hope that our small groups provide a safe place for you to share your story, your struggles and your successes throughout the course, but will never force anyone to share what they are not ready to share.

  • Circuit Breaker is offered by all kinds of organizations and churches across 5 Australian states and territories. Each location manages their own program slightly differently; some providing snacks, refreshments, or needing to pay staff or hire premises. For that reason, costs can vary from site to site, with an average cost being somewhere around $50 AUD for the full ten sessions.

  • No. We take the privacy of our groups very seriously, so it’s important to us that everyone who attends is there to work on being a better version of themselves. People who wish to learn how to lead a Circuit Breaker group would be better advised to complete our facilitator training, and would not be accepted in one of our small groups as an observer.

ORGANISATION FAQs

  • Not-for-profit charity Hope Ventures is the Circuit Breaker program’s sole international licensee, and is pleased to sub-license the program to like-minded organizations with a passion for preventing domestic violence in their local communities. As well as supporting the furtherance of the program through their annual subscription, registered organizations also agree to operate according to Circuit Breaker’s policies, proceedures and core values.

  • Over the years, we’ve noticed that community organizations and churches of different shapes and sizes have different aspirations for Circuit Breaker in their own local contexts. Some are looking for maximum community impact with several scheduled courses per year and a large number of break-out groups. Others are just looking to start out small with minimal investment and commitment. Although we’ve designed a range of annual subscriptions we hope will cater for your particular stage of the Circuit Breaker journey, you can always change your plan if you find the current one no longer fits.

  • As a registered organization, it’s entirely up to you what you charge for people to attend your Circuit Breaker course. We recognize that each location manages their own program slightly differently; some providing snacks, refreshments, or needing to pay staff or hire premises. For that reason, we understand that costs will vary from site to site. Although the average cost for a Circuit Breaker course seems to sit somewhere around $50 AUD for the ten sessions, your local pricing is for you to administer outside of our platform and at your own discretion.

  • Registered organizations are responsible for ensuring their courses are managed and delivered according to Circuit Breaker’s agreed Policies and Proceedures, that they comply with local governance, and that they hold all relevant public liability insurances. Although Circuit Breaker provides training and licensing of facilitators, organizations are responsible for their own screening and background checks of any coordinators or facilitators appointed to their teams.

FACILITATOR FAQs

  • A facilitator’s role is to lead small-group discussions throughout the ten sessions of a Circuit Breaker course. Facilitators work in pairs to ensure the group experience is a productive one, and that people are able to share safely, privately, and without fear of being judged.

  • Facilitators don’t need to be trained counsellors, psychologists, teachers or experts. Most of our facilitators are just ordinary people with a big heart to help other people who are feeling stuck. Training is provided online through our Circuit Breaker Online Training School or face to face at our regional training events (see our Events page to see what’s coming up).

  • To get started facilitating a Circuit Breaker group, you’ll need to complete our facilitator training course, either online or in-person. If you agree to work according to our Circuit Breaker policies, procedures and values, you can attain a facilitator’s licence. As a trained and licensed facilitator, community groups, churches and other organizations who are registered with us can then endorse you and add you to their teams to facilitate their scheduled courses.

  • Although custom face-to-face training is available upon request (POA), you can always complete the facilitator training course online at your own pace for only $29 (once-off). Next, you’ll just need a facilitator licence, which has a small admin fee of $7, and will only need to be renewed every two years. Your access to the course videos, session notes and facilitator resources is covered under the subscription of your registered organization.

  • After ten years, we felt our 2013 Circuit Breaker videos were starting to look a little tired. Having completely re-filmed our sessions at 30 exciting locations, we thought we’d also take the opportunity to bring Circuit Breaker into the digital age, with smart-phone friendly delivery, video playback and online group management.

    We know you’re going to love it, but we also understand that some churches and community groups are still using the old program for now.

    As a service to those organizations, we’ve created a link to the legacy course at the footer of this page. Those familiar with the old course can continue to use the previous passwords to unlock and stream these videos until they are discontinued in October of 2024.

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