NEW TOOLS TO MEND RELATIONSHIPS, RESOLVE CONFLICT & STOP YOU BLOWING YOUR FUSE.
Circuit Breaker is a group-based course where thousands of people have found powerful tools and strategies to deal with their temper, and to start building stronger relationships.
In our relationships, we can only use the best tools we’ve been given to manage conflict, communicate and keep our cool. Circuit Breaker groups provide a shame-free place where it’s okay to talk about what’s really going on.
As participants begin the process of changing their lives and becoming a better version of themselves, they will also have the support of other people on the same journey; celebrating with them at every stage of their transformation.
Who is CIRCUIT BREAKER for?
The Circuit Breaker course is for anyone who feels like their temper is causing problems in their relationships. It helps men or women to unpack the unhelpful tools they have been using in conflict, and equips them with the better tools they need to ensure that they’re not tempted to return to their old habits.
What you can expect
Throughout the ten sessions of a Circuit Breaker course, people with similar goals will gather together with you to view the training content and share a few laughs over a series of entertaining videos. This gathering will then break into small-groups, where some people will share their stories and offer each other encouragement and support from week to week.
"This course has opened my eyes to a life that I had lost: a life without anger and violence… I’m never going to forget what I have learnt here."
Dwayne, Ipswich
What’s Included in the course?
They say you have to be able to stop the engine before you can work on it, and the same is true of anger and conflict. Our ten sessions provide excellent tools for managing anger and de-escalating conflict; providing a calm place for you to explore some of the most common underlying themes and causes of relational conflict.
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Session 1 - Discretion & Your Anger
When you can’t control your temper, it’s way too easy for other people and situations to start controlling YOU; just like their little puppet on a string.
In this session, we’ll hand you the simple strategy that’s worked for thousands of people, to instantly de-escalate anger, and to create a safe place to start building trust, intimacy and hope for the future.
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Session 2 - Reading The Stop-Signs
For many of us, our rage can seem to come upon us out of nowhere; suddenly destroying everything we hold valuable. We may know what we need to do about it but, if we act too late, it’s possible for our anger to reach a point of no return.
In this session, you’ll map your own build-up process, so you never have to miss the clear signals that it’s time to act.
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Session 3 - Making Them Listen
When we feel like other people are not taking us seriously, it’s natural to want to feel heard. But if we decide we need to “make” someone listen, we could be tempted to use tools like swearing, raising our voice or getting physical to try to get their attention.
This session unpacks some of these dysfunctional tools, and how they might be doing our relationships more harm than good.
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Session 4 - Intimacy And Emotions
For many of us, talking about our feelings can really make us quite uncomfortable; even with the people that are closest to us.
This session explores some of the classic frustrations men and women can have in communicating differently, and suggests some effective strategies you can use to build trust, security and greater intimacy in your relationships.
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Session 5 - Letting Go
Nobody likes to feel out of control but, in trying to stay in control of our own world, there’s a risk we could find ourselves unintentionally controlling someone else. If people feel like we’re too controlling, it’s only a matter of time before they’ll start slipping away from us.
This session explores some of these control dynamics, to help us understand how we may be coming across and what it could be costing us.
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Session 6 - Opening your Mind
When you’re having an argument, have you ever noticed that you’re always the one being logical and rational, and it’s always the other person being unreasonable?
In this session, we’ll take a look at why that is. We’ll also explore how understanding our own patterns of thinking can help us to open our minds and resolve conflicts much more effectively.
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Session 7 - The New Listening
If we’re honest, many of us would have to admit that our idea of listening is really just waiting for our turn to speak so we can go ahead and solve everything.
This session explores the difference between “listening for information” and doing what it takes to actually make someone else feel fully heard.
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Session 8 - A Time to Talk
In this session, we’ll show you how to set up the important things you need to say with the best chance of being heard and understood. We’ll also unpack some unhelpful ways of expressing yourself which you may have been using in the past, and see why these may have caused other people to reject what you had to say.
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Session 9 - Overcoming Jealousy
Just like anger, jealousy is a natural human emotion. Since it’s an inevitable by-product of love and passion, at some stage we’re all going to have to deal with it in our relationships.
This session explores the idea that our jealousy does not justify us controlling other people, and suggests some healthy strategies for keeping our jealousy in check.
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Session 10 - The New You
In this final session, we take stock of how far we have come over the past weeks, and focus on what we can do to continue to make our progress a lifestyle; not just an experience.
We’ll also have you exploring some of the best ways to let other people see your change, as they learn to trust and to relate differently to “The New You.”
FAQs
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The Circuit Breaker course has recently been updated, with new and engaging videos, smart-phone friendly digital delivery, and online course and group management.
As a service to the churches and community organisations who are still delivering the 2013 version of the course, we are making videos from the old course available using the Legacy Course link at the footer of this page
FIND A GROUP
With new Circuit Breaker courses popping up all over the country, we’d love to help you find a group near you. Take a look at our current groups on offer!
Help support this IMPORTANT work
Find out more about who’s funding Circuit Breaker and how you can play your part.