our history
The ManAlive program was originally developed in the early 1980’s by Bay Area men who realized their behavior had an impact causing loss, damage, or destruction to their partners, children, families, communities, and themselves. They sought the help of a victim’s group—Marin Abused Women’s Services of San Rafael, CA—to recognize what violence was and what damage it caused. Based on what they learned from MAWS and other resources, the program was then created by Hamish Sinclair, director of ManAlive in San Francisco. MAWS also used the curriculum in its Men’s Program, now known as “ManKind”. ManAlive was brought to the Sacramento area in the mid-80’s by a SF program graduate, Pete Giannini. That program closed in early 2005 and was re-started by Mark Throckmorton. The current ManAlive-Sacramento, Inc. program is certified by Sacramento County Probation as a 52 week Batterers Treatment Program, 12 or 16+ week Anger Management program, and is directed by Larry Webb and Daniel Thomas, retired Executive Director as administrative assistant.
ManAlive-Sacramento, Inc. is currently offering classes in the public as a BTP provider, and in both Sacramento County Jails to address the high recidivism and violence among the male and female population. We are also a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
We call ourselves a “Batterer's Accountability and Advocacy Re-education Program”. Participants in the program learn to recognize their violent behaviors and the process by which they choose to do violence. We then learn and practice accountability for our actions, awareness of the impact our violence has, and become advocates for ourselves and other men and women to end their violence. We learn to recognize the gender-specific training that supports us to believe we are superior to our partners, and that a man’s or woman's value depends on how s/he controls their intimate partner, environment, and themselves. We support the clients to become more mindful using proven self awareness tools including, (but not limited to), mindfulness training.
Classes are facilitated by program graduates who have continued training that meets or exceeds CA statutes for Batterers Treatment Programs. The facilitators of ManAlive-Sacramento, Inc. each have from 400 to over 2000 hours of training and classroom experience working with men and women to stop their violence, and each has maintained relationships free of verbal and physical violence with current or former partners, children, or other family members.
Manalive is based on the philosophy that violence against people we are intimate with is not natural or inevitable, but is the result of a formal and informal system of training. That system ─ which we call the “Old Male Role Belief System” ─ results in a distorted image of male identity and behavior.
The program identifies four behaviors that take men’s attention off of the violence they do, disabling them from changing the attitudes and behaviors of the “superior” male role. These four "off focus" behaviors are DENIAL that I do, (or have done) violence. MINIMIZING the effect of my violence, BLAMING my violence on others, and COLLUSION—“CO-operating in the iLLUSION” that my violence is justifiable, inconsequential, inevitable, necessary, or entertaining. As a group, we support each other to notice these “Off Focus” behaviors, and bring it to the attention of the participant who is "off focus" so that they may return to the accountability and self-awareness he or she needs to stop their violent behavior.
Our classes are also available to the incarcerated population inside both Sacramento County Jail Downtown, and in Elk Grove at Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center. We are a non-profit 501-c-3 organization.
larry webb, Director- DANIEL THOMAS, Administration
Larry Webb Completed the program in 2010 and works as a certified Manalive Treatment Provider in Sacramento County and facilitates classes in the Downtown County Jail and Rio Consumes Correctional Center in Elk Grove, Ca. He is also a Certified Drug and Alcohol Recovery Specialist and has skills of practice in Personal Development and Human Behavioral Development and Re-entry. He has also volunteered his time at My Sisters House, WEAVE, the Child Abuse Prevention Center, and the Family Justice Center in Sacramento as a presenter at their Domestic Violence Advocate trainings. Larry has accumulated well over 8,000 hours of practice, which includes Family Violence Treatment of Perpetrators and Victims with skills in Dual Diagnosis-understanding, Co-Occurring Disorders, including Motivational Interviewing.
Daniel Thomas completed the ManAlive program in 2007, and has since worked continuously as a volunteer or staff member with the Sacramento programs in the public sector and facilitated classes in the Downtown County Jail and Rio Consumes Correctional Center in Elk Grove, as well as the Day Reporting Center in Yolo County where parolees and probationers are required to attend BTP groups. He is currently performing administration duties part time, and working with the community. He has also volunteered his time at My Sisters House, WEAVE, the Child Abuse Prevention Center, and the Family Justice Center in Sacramento as a presenter at their Domestic Violence Intervention Advocate trainings. Daniel attends the Sacramento Domestic Violence Prevention Collaboration meetings addressing domestic violence solutions for the greater Sacramento community. Additionally, he is a member of Association of Domestic Violence Intervention Programs, https://www.battererintervention.org/.