The goal to end interpersonal violence is not a small task. That's why NPEIV decided to divide and conquer by breaking up our approach into 5 Action Teams. These action teams are each led by highly qualified co-chairs who hold team meetings that tackle specific goals related to ending interpersonal violence.
Public Policy & Engagement
Training & Mentoring
Practice
Research & Dissemination
Global Perspectives
Public Policy & Engagement focuses on the coordination of educational efforts regarding the impact of public policy on individuals and communities, maximizing public policy efforts through public engagement, and developing evidence-based policy perspectives that target the reduction and elimination of interpersonal violence and abuse across the lifespan. Recently, Action Team 1 conducted an internal analysis of collective expertise and connections to potential partner organizations and joined with Action Teams 2 and 3 on the NPEIV Violence Prevention Grant. Additionally, they created and executed targeted public awareness campaigns, including three rapid responses and promotion of NPEIV webinars. The team works to promote awareness of current issues, advocate for informed public policies and support the National Plan to End Interpersonal Violence.
Action Team 1 is supporting the Violence Education grant through the content development and delivery of two policy briefings in 2022 focused on (1) common risk factors for violence and (2) evidence-informed practices and policies that support resilience and reduce the risk of violence.
Conducted an internal analysis of collective expertise and connections to potential partner organizations and joined with Action Teams 2 and 3 on the NPEIV Violence Prevention Grant
Created and executed targeted public awareness campaigns, including three rapid responses and promotion of NPEIV webinars
Coming Soon! NPEIV stays on top of recent events. You can read all of our press releases, policy statements, and rapid response statements HERE.
Deborah Sendek, MS, has over thirty-five years of experience working in the field of child abuse and neglect assessment, treatment and prevention.
Nanette Burton, MS, has been with the Institute on Violence, Abuse & Trauma (IVAT) since 2017.
Action Team 2 is dedicated to using educational initiatives to end violence and addresses training and mentoring needs in various professions, including the development of curriculum and other types of educational initiatives. This team started around developing undergraduate curriculums and has expanded into graduate curriculums as well. In addition, many other types of educational initiatives have been started. Past projects include promoting Child Advocacy Studies, creating Elder Abuse Curriculum, enhancing a mentoring training model for NPEIV and developing regional violence education conferences. Recently, they partnered with other organizations to promote learning opportunities related to interpersonal violence, expanding Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) curriculum into other disciplines. In collaboration with Action Teams 1, 3, and 4, Action Team 2 executed 11 webinars and supported the development of the NPEIV Violence Prevention Certificate. The team also works to spread awareness and support the National Plan to End Interpersonal Violence.
Creating and developing webinars by coordinating Awareness months and authors of the Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan
Identifying and connecting with new possible collaborations, including a non-academic audience (i.e. bartenders, hairstylists, mandated reporters)
Partnered with other organizations to promote learning opportunities related to interpersonal violence, expanding Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) curriculum into other disciplines
Executed 11 webinars in partnership with Action Teams 1, 3 and 4
Supported the development of the NPEIV Violence Prevention Certificate
Religious/Spiritual Initiatives
Mentoring language to ease engagement
Nada Yorke, LCSW, is co-owner of Yorke Consulting and Correctional Counseling for Change, which specializes in helping organizations optimize their potential. She has over thirty-five years of experience in the criminal justice system.
Melinda Oakley works for the County of Los Angeles, Probation Department as the Victim’s Assistance Liaison. For nearly 20 years, she has been responsible for the community supervision of both adults and youth. She is a Domestic Violence/ Intimate partner Violence subject matter expert and trains departmental staff. She is also a certified Peer Support Representative.
Action Team 3 links research with policy and best practices to implement trauma-informed care, reducing the impact of previous trauma and breaking the cycle that perpetuates violence across the lifespan. They focus on ways to incorporate multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary trauma-informed practices into specific recommendations including those that identify and address barriers to implementation of trauma-informed care in in all communities, sectors and service systems. These include schools, colleges, primary health care, hospitals, child welfare, human services, mental health services, civil and family courts as well as the criminal justice system (e.g. law enforcement, prosecutors, courts and adult corrections and juvenile facilities).
Action Team 3 integrates their work with the National Plan to End Interpersonal Violence Across the Lifespan. The Team’s work will include developing policy statements, identifying those who can provide professional, advanced trainings on evidence-based best practices for trauma informed care and providing opportunities for the publication of research on promising new evidence-based approaches to trauma-informed care. Past projects include guest editing a special issue for the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma on Trauma-Informed Care; producing research and writing papers that explore grassroots methods for carrying the value and benefits of trauma-informed care to various disciplines and services sectors in the community; and certifying providers trained in trauma-informed care and creating an online database of such providers that can be made available to the general public, other providers, and practitioners.
Review and support a web-page on evidence based practices, as part of the NPEIV Violence Education through Social Media grant
Plan content and format for two webinars for the general public on the common risk factors for different forms of interpersonal violence and practice recommendations for recognizing and addressing violent extremism
Developed standards for doing trauma-informed prevention and intervention work related to interpersonal violence, including review of the NPEIV Violence Prevention Grant and meeting with proponents of two electronic platforms to identify possible database format for consumers to access trauma-informed care resources
Developed and presented trauma-informed care informational sessions, including two at IVAT Summits on “Collective Trauma, Trauma Informed Care & the COVID-19 Pandemic” and one on working in schools with students who have experienced trauma
Continue to explore educational and public awareness opportunities to promote trauma-informed care.
Work to identify individuals who are certified in trauma-informed care so that they can be resources to others as well as facilitators of trainings in local communities and with national audiences.
Work together to carry the Action Team 3 voice and mission into communities by developing policy statements and recommendations for best practice evidence-based methods that will implement trauma-informed care across multiple disciplines and service sectors.
Susan M. Omilian, JD is an Attorney, Author, and Motivational Speaker, and Originator and Facilitator of My Avenging Angel Workshops™.
Connie Davis is the Founder and CEO of Kairos Digital Commerce Consulting.
The Research and Dissemination Action Team has two main goals. Our first goal is to encourage the generation of rigorous and useful research to further our understanding of the etiology, prevention, and treatment of interpersonal violence. Our second goal is to reduce interpersonal violence and its effects by disseminating important research findings to practitioners and policy makers and promoting the translation of research into practice. We value partnerships between researchers and practitioners that drive the field of knowledge, program design, practice, advocacy, and policy.
Domestic violence special issues in the Journal of Child Custody, which recruited a number of leaders in the field to contribute empirical and theoretical pieces
Provided cross-disciplinary learning opportunities about interpersonal violence prevention and intervention, including training/coaching and support for organizations to become trauma-informed and coordinating multiple special issues for academic journals
Honed an initial concept into a fundable project that knits together research and practice with measurable outcomes that is applicable to diverse settings addressing trauma
Development of continuing-education research tracks at the IVAT and other conferences
Continued organization of special issues in journals
Consultation on the development of research informed entertainment media.
Tanya Juarez is a licensed clinical social worker and retired Lieutenant Colonel, US Army. She has over 22 years of experience leading and managing various programs focusing on behavioral health, sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse.
Amy Ashcraft is a Licensed Certified Social Worker (LCSW) from Searcy, Arkansas. Through her over 20 years in the Social Work profession, she has worked in various roles including mental health, hospice/palliative care, oncology, primary care, and contracted work with the Department of Human Services conducting home studies for foster and kin care.
Collaborate with allies internationally engaged in parallel efforts to address violence by focusing on initiative which provide analysis, education, and resources to those working for peace.
Pursued international collaborations and established new leadership and redefined selves as individuals and as a collective action team, exploring and developing a programmatic approach and plan to thrive
Working on organization and development of an educational awareness program on interpersonal violence from a global perspective, including prevention efforts
Olivia Rosillo is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in San Diego, California, where she has her own private practice. Her specialties pertain to trauma, anxiety, and multiculturalism.
Jane Bussey was a longtime journalist, with a career spanning nearly four decades, working as a foreign correspondent based in Mexico City, covering politics, financial crises, social and political unrest and drug-related violence, as well as armed conflicts in Central America. Later as a staff reporter at the Miami Herald, she focused on the impact of globalization of trade, business and politics on the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.