September 6, 2018 | 2 min read

Intimate Partner Violence: How to start a conversation with your patients and staff

By Michelle Patch, MSN, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Preparing and coaching your healthcare team to have open, honest dialogues with patients about Intimate Partner Violence is essential. Failure to screen and address this matter is dangerous, while doing so can save lives.

September 1, 2020 | 2 min read

How to Help When Home Isn’t Safe

By Galina Portnoy, PhD, Yale School of Medicine, Jessica Keith, PhD, University of Central Florida, Kelly Buckholdt, PhD, Veterans Health Administration

The pandemic has resulted in everyone spending more time at home, which has increased the potential for being physically, sexually, and psychologically harmed by others. After ensuring that patients feel safe during telehealth appointments, clinicians must directly ask if they are experiencing intimate partner violence and develop a safety plan.

March 2, 2020 | 3 min read

Universal Trauma-informed Care

By Sadie Elisseou, MD, Boston VA Health Care System

Understanding perpetrators of violence as potential trauma survivors can inspire empathy in clinicians and contribute to a universal, trauma-informed approach to patient care.

August 12, 2019 | 3 min read

Mental Illness and Mass Shootings

By Cassandra Crifasi, PhD, MPH, Emma Beth McGinty, PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Most people with serious mental illness are never violent toward others. Due to the media’s misleading focus on the role of mental illness in gun violence generally and mass shootings specifically, many people are afraid that a diagnosis of a serious mental health condition like schizophrenia means they or their loved one are at high risk of hurting other people, which is not supported by the research evidence.