Category: DV/IPV

Best Practice Guidelines for Child Abuse, Elder Abuse, and Intimate Partner Violence (& a Short Rant)

Post author By Jen
Post date December 4, 2019
10 Comments on Best Practice Guidelines for Child Abuse, Elder Abuse, and Intimate Partner Violence (& a Short Rant)

I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago when it showed up in my inbox and then it got buried, so I am a bit late in getting this up. The American College of Surgeons recently published its Trauma Quality Improvement Program Best Practice Guidelines for Child Abuse, Elder Abuse, and Intimate Partner Violence. This is a pretty rich resource for all of you hospital-based folks out there (and there’s some helpful information for those of you in the community, as well). It’s a chewy document (more than 120 pages), so there’s a lot to work through, but it’s certainly worth your time. Screening tools, assessment recommendations, coding resources–it’s all in there.

And not for nothing, but related to a significant pet-peeve of mine: this is what we’re talking about when we’re talking about best practices. Guidelines created from evidence-based literature when available and consensus of a professional clinical/scientific group when evidence is unavailable. Frequently (read: at trial) people like to sling the term best practices around with no weight behind it. Best practices are not oral traditions passed down from clinician to clinician. Best practices are written documents, published and available to the profession. If you tell me (or testify) that something is a best practice, please be prepared to identify where that best practice can be found. Because if it’s not published somewhere, it’s not a best practice–it’s just your practice.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Prevention Beyond the Binary: From Inclusive Language to Inclusive Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Prevention for LGBTQ+ Communities

Post author By Jen
Post date December 3, 2019

PreventConnect has an excellent webinar coming up, in part because the presenter lineup is stellar–Prevention Beyond the Binary: From Inclusive Language to Inclusive Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Prevention for LGBTQ+ Communities. The session will be held December 17th from 2-3:30pm ET. Their stuff tends to fill, but it will be archived so if you can’t attend live, check back because it should be available after the fact. And PLEASE don’t let the “prevention” part of that title deter you, clinicians–1.) prevention applies to your practices; and 2.) even if you don’t believe me, there are lessons to be learned here that will apply to your practices in terms of inclusive language. From the website:

Sexual and intimate partner violence prevention practitioners have the opportunity to advance prevention strategies that will reduce violence against LGBTQ+ communities in ways that are community-centered, inclusive, expansive, and promote healthy, safe communities. Join PreventConnect, the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, and experts from the field to discuss ways to challenge homophobia and transphobia in evidence-based programming, how to build an expansive framework for prevention beyond prescribed interventions, and ways mainstream organizations can build allyship and inclusiveness starting today.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Describe inclusive practices that promote LGBTQ+ acceptance and safety
Identify strategies that prevent violence against LGBTQ+ people and communities
Engage in a discussion about the strengths and opportunities within the field of sexual and intimate partner violence prevention to advance primary prevention by and for LGBTQ+ communities

HOSTS/FACILITATORS: Ashleigh Klein-Jimenez & Tori VandeLinde, PreventConnect and CALCASA

GUESTS:

Arlene Vassell, Vice President of Programs, Prevention & Social Change, National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
Casey Keene, Director of Programs & Prevention, National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
Mauro Sifuentes, Independent Consultant and Trainer
michael munson, Executive Director, FORGE
Fatima Arain, Field Coordinator, National LGBTQ Institute on IPV

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

VAWA Confidentiality: Empowering Survivors, Protecting Information

Post author By Jen
Post date November 19, 2019

Victim Rights Law Center has a webinar coming up on the critical topic of confidentiality, and since my general experience is that people/programs are not as good at this one as we would all hope, I encourage you to check it out (see Exhibit A — the most recent example in what has become a very dense file). VAWA Confidentiality: Empowering Survivors, Protecting Information will be held December 5th at 1pm ET. [I do not know if it will be archived, so please check with the hosts.] From the announcement:

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) requires OVW-funded victim service providers to protect survivors’ privacy. This interactive webinar will highlight how VAWA confidentiality requirements compliment survivor empowerment and offer best practices for maintaining survivors’ privacy. By participating in this webinar, victim services providers will be better able to explain how the VAWA privacy requirements relate to survivor-centered care.

This is obviously a multidisciplinary training, so I encourage you to share with colleagues in your SARTs/MDTs. You can register for the session here.

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Note: November 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date November 13, 2019

Time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the peer-reviewed literature. Plenty to read, plenty to consider this month (as always). Links lead to PubMed abstracts–please don’t stop there. Sift through the abstracts to decide what’s worth your time, and what doesn’t apply to your clinical life. Better yet, divide among your colleagues and get together for real-time discussion. What an excellent use of staff meeting time.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Providing Forensic Healthcare and Support to Native Communities

Post author By Jen
Post date November 6, 2019

The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence has a webinar coming up, Providing Forensic Healthcare and Support to Native Communities. The session will be held November 21st at 1pm ET. Their sessions are archived if you aren’t able to attend live. From the announcement:

Awareness of how to provide culturally appropriate and trauma informed services to the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) community is important for forensic examiners. This webinar will discuss includes jurisdictional factors affecting examinations, pertinent laws to consider, and health care services that may be available to AI/AN populations.

In this webinar, the presenter discusses factors that forensic examiners should be aware of when providing trauma informed, culturally appropriate services to American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people. The presenter reviews relevant laws for forensic examiners and explains various jurisdictional factors affecting examinations, chain of custody, and prosecution. Additionally, she discusses types of health care services that may be available to AI/AN populations and provides further resources for healthcare provider training, clinical support, and survivor outreach.

Detailed Learning Objectives:

• Explain at least four factors and barriers that American Indian/Alaska Native people who have experienced domestic sexual violence may encounter when seeking health care and justice.

• Explain differences in state, federal, and tribal jurisdictions related to forensic healthcare access, law enforcement services, and control of crime prosecution.

• Locate and access at least five healthcare training resources, grant sources, and patient support entities that specifically include or promote AI/AN services.

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DV/IPV

How State/Territory, Tribal, and Federal Health Policies Can Promote Survivor Health, Preserve Autonomy, and Protect Confidentiality

Post author By Jen
Post date October 29, 2019

This is a very last minute post, but, it’s worth it for two reasons–so please keep reading. Futures Without Violence has a webinar tomorrow, October 30th at 1pm ET, How State/Territory, Tribal, and Federal Health Policies Can Promote Survivor Health, Preserve Autonomy, and Protect Confidentiality. It will be archived, so no worries if you cannot attend with so little notice. From the website:

Health and insurance policies at the state/territory, tribal, and federal level have the potential to promote health, preserve autonomy, and protect confidentiality for survivors of domestic violence and state/territory policymakers have an opportunity to build on federal policies for further protections for survivors. In addition, health care providers can play an important role in addressing survivors’ health, and providing a warm referral to a domestic violence agency but sometimes lack of clarity about existing laws and policies prevent them from doing so. While laws and policies vary state to state, most U.S. states have enacted mandatory reporting laws, which require the reporting of specified injuries and wounds (i.e. gunshot and knife wounds), and very few have mandated reporting laws specific to suspected abuse or domestic violence for individuals being treated by a health care professional. During this webinar we will sharing our updated compendium on these policies (see below) and hear from key partners who’ve worked to clarify laws and policies and where needed create reporting exceptions for domestic violence survivors, to ensure that patients have knowledge of appropriate resources for intervention, safety, and access to health care.

This webinar will also launch our newly updated resource, The Compendium of State/Territory Statutes and Policies on Domestic Violence and Health Care, an at-a-glance summary of state and U.S. territory laws, regulations, and other activities relevant to addressing domestic violence in health care settings. Also newly updated, Insurance Discrimination Against Victims of Domestic Violence (PDF report): authored by webinar speakers Terry L. Fromson, and Nancy Durborow, highlights the discriminatory practices of some insurance companies that penalize domestic violence victims who seek coverage and the recent changes to state and federal law. We will also hear a case example from Colorado in repealing a mandatory reporting law and putting in place legislation which better supports survivors and their health. Futures Without Violence has these tools available for professionals to best serve their clients and patients.

Those links in the description above are the other reason I wanted to post this session–particularly the new Compendium. It’s definitely a worthwhile resource to have for forensic healthcare clinicians of all stripes.

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DV/IPV

Strangulation and Imaging–New Research

Post author By Jen
Post date October 22, 2019

Last Week’s Articles of Note contained a new study that I want to highlight: Evaluation of Nonfatal Strangulation in Alert Adults. Along with CT angiograms of the neck in strangulation victims: Incidence of positive findings at a level one trauma center over a 7-year period it represents new research that challenges some of the thinking about our response to strangulation patients. Specifically the notion that we should be ordering some type of imaging (e.g. CT angio) on everyone.

This is not to say you should abandon your current protocols, or stop imaging strangulation patients altogether (please don’t do that), but once again, I’d like to point out that there is no evidence base, regardless of what anyone claims, supporting routine imaging of every strangulation patient. And in fact, there are problems with that approach:

Cost, obviously–at least here in the US, assuming people have insurance that will cover it or that it will be paid for by crime victims compensation funds assumes *a lot* about people, their situations, their safety, their willingness to work with law enforcement, and the immense variations in hospital billing practices across the country.
Unnecessary exposure to radiation–particularly to an area of the body that is very sensitive to radiation (for example, please consider the impact of radiation on the thyroid, even more so for pediatric patients).

The bottom line is we should be having thoughtful conversations at the local and national level about how to approach these patients; we should be working toward funding more research to create a more substantial evidence base to establish clinical protocols; we should be disseminating existing research widely as it becomes available and talking about what it does (and doesn’t) mean for our practices; we should be developing a national protocol on the assessment and treatment of strangulation patients similar to what we have for sexual assault; and we definitely should be cautious about claiming anything is a best practice or gold standard without actual scientific support.

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Note: October 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date October 16, 2019

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the newly published peer-reviewed literature. There is *a lot* of choice material to sort through this month, so I hope you will spend some quality time with the list. As always, links lead to PubMed abstracts.

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DV/IPV

Domestic Violence High-Risk Teams

Post author By Jen
Post date October 2, 2019
2 Comments on Domestic Violence High-Risk Teams

[There’s still time to join us for our first Journal Club–get all the details here.]

OVC TTAC is hosting an Expert Q&A on October 16th focusing on domestic violence high-risk teams. The session will be held from 2-3:15pm ET. From the website:

The Domestic Violence High-Risk Team (DVHRT) Model was born from one community’s tragedy and has gone on to national recognition and replication as a leading strategy for intimate partner homicide prevention. This presentation will provide a comprehensive understanding of the DVHRT Model, with an overview of the research at its foundation, and include a discussion on the function and structure of key partners in this multidisciplinary approach. Participants will learn how team members work together to identify high-risk cases and mobilize risk management strategies.

The session will be recorded for those of you who cannot participate live.

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Child Abuse DV/IPV Sexual Assault

What We Know About the Polyvictimization of Youth

Post author By Jen
Post date September 25, 2019

The Center for Victim Research has a webinar coming up next week, What We Know About the Polyvictimization of Youth. The session will be held on September 30th at 2pm ET. From the site:

This webinar will focus on poly-victims, the subgroup of youth that endure the highest burden of victimization. We will cover how it has been studied, how often it occurs, what we know about its adverse effects and what we can do to respond to the needs of this highly victimized group of children.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Succession Planning within Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Organizations, Part 2

Post author By Jen
Post date September 19, 2019

Futures Without Violence has a great management session coming up, a follow-on to its original session on this topic last year. Succession Planning within Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Organizations, Part 2 will be held October 3rd at 2pm ET. From the website:

Leadership transitions can be challenging. For non-profit organizations to succeed, it is essential to think critically about the long-term leadership needs of the organization and to prepare for leadership transitions. Presenters will discuss key elements of a departure defined (planned) succession plan, and describe a process to plan for leadership transition within a domestic violence/sexual assault organization. The webinar will also showcase the experience of succession planning and on boarding process of an executive director in an organization that serves survivors of gender-based violence. We will share planning tools and resources and provide a question-answer period.

As a result of this webinar, participants will be better able to:

Identify key elements of a departure defined (planned) leadership succession.
Apply lessons learned from a real life example of succession planning to your own organizational decision-making.
Utilize critical tools and resources for succession planning.

Succession planning is more important than we typically discuss in forensic healthcare. Many clinical programs tend to hinge on the energy and vision of a single person, and when that person leaves, there is significant peril that the program can fail or end up diminished in a variety of ways. Thinking about the transition of leadership, both as someone comes on board and as someone leaves, is critical. This is a great topic for anyone interested in management or sustainability of clinical programs.

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Note: September 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date September 5, 2019

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the peer-reviewed literature. Nothing free this month, but plenty worth tracking down, so I encourage you to spend some time with the list. It’s particularly fitting that I get a new edition up since I am sandwiching it between two weeks of teaching testimony, this week at Ft. Hood and next week at the annual IAFN conference, where we discuss at length the importance of fidelity to the science.

All links lead to PubMed abstracts. Happy reading!

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Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

Five Lies We Tell Ourselves About Trauma

Post author By Jen
Post date August 21, 2019
1 Comment on Five Lies We Tell Ourselves About Trauma

Jason Kander and his wife Diana published an excellent article over at Crooked Media today, Five Lies We Tell Ourselves About Trauma. It’s 100% relevant to the work we all do because it applies equally to the issue of secondary trauma, which is something we should be discussing far more in our field. It would be a great topic for an upcoming staff meeting–particularly as a way to check in with the team.

There’s a lot that resonates, but one thing in particular:

I made the mistake of trying to rank—and therefore disregard—my own trauma for many years, and that only made things worse. If something happened and you haven’t felt right since, then you should address it. To quote a friend, “Somewhere there’s a vet who was in the first wave at the D-Day invasion telling himself to get over it because he was all the way in the back of the landing craft.”

Thinking “other people have it worse” doesn’t actually diminish your own trauma, it just diminishes your power to heal, because your brain only knows what you experienced. Whether it’s combat, a serious accident, or an assault, there are many possible sources of trauma. Telling yourself to get over it, or thinking “I shouldn’t let this bother me,” will get you nowhere.

Read the whole article here.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Collaborative Strategies and Tools to Meet the Needs of Survivors of Human Trafficking

Post author By Jen
Post date August 13, 2019

Futures Without Violence has a good SART/MDT/CCR* flavored webinar coming up for those of you looking for something for your local teams: Collaborative Strategies to Meet the Needs of Survivors of Human Trafficking. The session will take place on August 22nd at 2pm ET; it will also be archived. From the website:

This webinar will highlight collaborative work undertaken by multi-disciplinary teams across the U.S. to support domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking (DV/SA/HT) survivors. Presenters will share how their partnerships or task forces were initiated; strategies to enhance client services and case coordination; and tools and training opportunities to build or expand collaborative responses for HT survivors across communities and states. The webinar will share lessons learned from a community-based DV/SA/HT advocacy program, a law enforcement-led program, and a statewide task force operated by the Attorney General’s Office. It will also feature technical assistance and training resources offered by Futures Without Violence. Time will be included for audience question/answer and discussion.

After the webinar, participants will be better able to:

Define the unique service needs HT victims that differ from domestic violence and sexual assault.
Identify community and state-wide strategies to develop new collaborations or expand existing networks to support survivors of HT.
Clarify multidisciplinary professional and organizational roles in coordinating services for trafficked survivors.
Utilize resources to help build or expand multi-disciplinary teams and task forces to support survivors of HT.

*Sexual Assault Response Team/Multidisciplinary Response Team/ Coordinated Community Response because, acronyms 🙂

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DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

New Clinical Guide: Caring for Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming and Non-Binary Patients in the Forensic Setting

Post author By Jen
Post date August 8, 2019

In doing some writing this week for one of my projects I realized I had a decent collection of resources for a much-needed clinical guide: Caring for Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming and Non-Binary Patients in the Forensic Setting. It’s long overdue, and while I know it is not exhaustive, it’s a good starting place for everyone who hasn’t given this enough (or any) attention in their programs. To be clear, most of the guidance is focused more on general care issues than forensic setting-specific issues, which means it would be ideal to take one (or a few) of the resources listed here and have a robust discussion with your team about how to apply the recommendations to your own policies, documentation, and general approaches to patient communication. It’s a great topic for your next staff meeting.

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Note: August 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date August 7, 2019

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our regular romp through the peer-reviewed science. Check it: we have not one, but two scientific papers this month on physicians committing misconduct, so that’s fascinating. We also get a look at how a clinician’s personal history of domestic violence impacts clinical care. Needless to say, there’s some good reading to be done in this edition (as always). Most links go to PubMed abstracts except where otherwise indicated.

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DV/IPV

LGBTQ+ Intimate Partner Violence In Later Life

Post author By Jen
Post date August 6, 2019

Long-time readers of FHO know I don’t generally post educational sessions here that aren’t free, but every now and again I make an exception if it’s a topic that doesn’t come along very often (and also comes with CEs). The American Society on Aging has a webinar coming up on LGBTQ+ Intimate Partner Violence in Later Life. It will be held September 12th at 10am PT. It’s free for ASA members, but $49 for non-members. From the website:

This web seminar will provide an overview of domestic violence and how it presents in the older adult and LGBTQ+ communities, and the dynamics of abuse in the older adult LGBTQ+ community. This web seminar will equip participants with a foundational understanding of trauma, and how the symptoms of trauma present in the LGBTQ+ older adult community across the lifespan from a trauma-informed framework.

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DV/IPV

Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals in Victim Services

Post author By Jen
Post date July 16, 2019

There aren’t too many topics out there that we haven’t covered here at FHO, but this is one of them. OVC TTAC is hosting an Expert Q&A next month, Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals in Victim Services. The session will be held August 21st from 2-3:15pm, and will also be recorded for later viewing. From the announcement:

During this session, practical information will be provided to direct service providers and other programs open to the public about service and support animals. Learn the differences between service animals, crisis response canines, emotional support animals, therapy animals, and pets. Find out the laws in the United States that apply to these animals, including the Fair Housing Act, and learn about New Mexico’s “Model Guidelines for Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals in Domestic Violence Programs and Shelters,” which provides policy suggestions and other tips for working with clients who have emotional support animals and how to respectfully respond when someone tries to bring in a dog or animal that isn’t appropriate for public access.

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

Articles of Note: July 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date July 11, 2019

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the peer-reviewed literature. This month there’s quite a bit that’s freely downloadable, so look for the FREE FULL TEXT notations for immediate gratification. Otherwise, links lead to PubMed abstracts and you can take it from there. Plenty here to keep you occupied…

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Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Using Expert Eyes and Ears to Document What We See and Hear

Post author By Jen
Post date July 9, 2019

SAFEta has a webinar coming up, On Looking and Writing: A Guide to Using Expert Eyes and Ears to Document What We See and Hear. The session will be held August 15th at 2pm ET. From the registration:

This webinar will help participants unlock their ability to see and write; to document their patient’s physical state and behaviors in an accurate manner. You will learn how to “paint a picture” with your words and accurately describe outward appearance, visible behavior, speech and eye contact using instantly understandable language.

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