Resources

Resources

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Sisters Striving for Excellence, Inc. is very serious about supporting our young women and we commit ourselves to your well being.
Please feel free to reach out to any of these organizations. We all are here to HELP!

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Abuse Assessment Response Course: Systems Response to Partner Violence Across the Lifespan
This comprehensive CD course was developed by Physicians for a Violence-free Society and provides resources for identifying, screening, and documenting all family violence, with an emphasis on intimate partner violence. The curriculum includes PowerPoint presentations, instructor notes, participant handouts, role-playing exercises, quizzes, and more. The presentations employ case-based learning and educational resources to encourage problem solving rather than memorization. The course is presented on CD with multimedia components including sound, video-streaming and supplemental handouts to enhance learning.

Academy on Violency and Abuse (AVA)
AVA was formed in response to the need for an academic, health professional, organization that would coordinate efforts to better integrate teaching about the prevention, recognition, treatment and health effects of violence and abuse into the curricula of health processions schools. AVA membership includes health professionals and researchers from a wide variety of disciplines. AVA works to have the consequences of violence and abuse of all types recognized and addressed in the health care setting. Research regarding the health effects of abuse is a special focus of the organization. In 2007, AVA held its first scientific conference to explore the barriers to integration of violence and abuse teaching into health professions education. In 2009, AVA will conduct a major scientific conference to explore the state of scientific knowledge about violence and abuse and to find ways to accelerate the integration of that knowledge into the curricula of health professions schools.

American Psychological Association (APA)
APA is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the U.S. and serves as the largest association of psychologists worldwide. The website offers a variety of journal articles and brochures geared toward parents, teachers, individuals, and healthcare providers on topics such as: family violence, intimate partner violence, youth violence, media violence, supervision-targeted aggression, and elder abuse and neglect, many of which are also available in Spanish. The website additionally provides a link to Adults and Children - Together Against Violence (ACT), a violence prevention project that focuses on adults who care for children aged 0-8, developed and sponsored in part by the APA.
Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence
The Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence is a national network of advocates, community members, professionals, and researchers that serves as a clearinghouse on information, research, resources, and critical issues about violence against women in Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities. The website offers resources geared toward domestic violence advocates and API individuals such as: information on ways of conceptualizing violence against women, information on human trafficking, brochures on a woman's right to be free from violence, understanding child abuse laws and domestic violence restraining orders, a directory on API agencies and programs, and language interpretation guidelines for Asian battered women. Many of the resources are also available in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Punjabi.

Domestic Violence & Mental Health Policy Initiative (DVMHPI)
DVMHPI is a Chicago-based project designed to address the unmet mental health needs of domestic violence survivors and their children. It is part of a collaborative effort to build the capacity of local service systems to provide culturally relevant trauma-informed services, to establish baseline standards of care within the publicly-funded mental health system, and to promote a mental health agenda that emphasizes prevention and early intervention. The website provides information on training opportunities for domestic violence and mental health agencies, information on current events pertaining to trauma, domestic violence, and mental health, and a "For Survivors" section that discusses safety planning and internet safety.

Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF)
FVPF works to prevent violence within the home and in the community and to help those whose lives are devastated by violence. It was instrumental in developing the Violence Against Women Act and aims to reach new audiences, promote community leadership to ensure that prevention efforts become self-sustaining, and transform the way healthcare providers, police, judges, employers, and others address violence. The website provides comprehensive information geared toward care providers and activists on violence issues related to children, immigrant women, international partnerships, public policy and judicial affairs, and public education. It also provides tools for contacting legislators and informational brochures available in: English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.

Health Safety Cards
Leave these safety cards in the waiting room, exam room, or restrooms and let patients know how to keep themselves safe. 6 different multi-lingual, multi cultural patient education cards available.

Identifying and Responding to Domestic Violence: Consensus Recommendations for Child and Adolescent Health
These consensus recommendations were developed by the Family Violence Prevention Fund in partnership the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Designed to assist health care providers from the pediatric and family physician settings in addressing adult and childhood domestic violence victimization.

Making the Connection - Domestic Violence and Public Health: An evidence Based Training Tool for Public Health Professionals
The FVPF has developed a tool that makes the connection between family violence and leading public health concerns and presents effective strategies for responding. This evidence-based tool offers the most relevant research on family violence, implications for select public health programs, recommended clinical and policy strategies, promising practices and resources from around the country.

National Center for Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV)
NCCEV serves as a resource center for information about the effects of violence exposure on children and initiatives addressing these issues. It seeks to provide training, technical assistance, and consultation to the Child Development -Community Policing Program, the Safe Start Initiative, and other collaborative community programs. The website provides a searchable library of citations, extensive links to web resources, and links to free guides geared toward parents and teachers, several of which are also available in Spanish.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV)
NCADV aims to work for the major societal changes necessary to eliminate both personal and societal violence against women and children. Its work includes coalition building, support for community-based safe home and shelter programs, policy development, and public education. The website offers a variety of resources geared toward professionals, including: legislative updates, a state coalitions list, and a calendar of domestic-violence related events. It also offers resources geared toward victims of domestic violence, including: information on the creation of safety plans, workplace and legal guidelines, cosmetic and reconstructive surgery resources, and financial education, as well as a link to the Remember My Name Project that honors the memories of victims of fatal domestic violence.

National Consensus Guidelines on Identifying and Responding to Domestic Violence Victimization in Health Care Settings
These guidelines developed by the Family Violence Prevention Fund have been have been accepted for inclusion in the for Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)'s National Guideline Clearinghouse, a public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and the implementation guidelines have been approved by AHRQ's National Quality Measures Clearinghouse.

National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence
The Family Violence Prevention Fund's National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence is the nation's clearinghouse for information on the health care response to domestic violence and provides free technical assistance and materials to thousands of people each year including posters for health care settings, patient education materials such as safety cards to give to victims, resources and training tools, information packets and policy papers.

National Domestic Violence Hotline
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is a project of the Texas Council on Family Violence that operates a 24-hour, toll free, confidential hotline that provides support and information for victims of abuse and for friends and family who are concerned about a victim. The hotline offers crisis intervention, safety planning, and referral to agencies in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Services are offered in English and Spanish, as well as more than 140 other languages via interpreter services. The website provides information on definitions and warning signs of domestic violence, statistics, extensive links to online resources, and information specifically geared toward teenagers. The hotline number is: (800) 799-SAFE (7233).

Preventing Violence through Education, Networking and Technical Assistance (PREVENT)
PREVENT is a component of the National Training Initiative for Injury and Violence Prevention that aims to help individuals and organizations nationwide reduce violence through local, state, tribal, and national approaches. The website provides information on PREVENT's training programs and technical assistance and offers web-based networking opportunities.

Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN)
RAINN is the nation's largest anti-sexual assault organization, operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, and carries out programs to prevent sexual assault, help victims, and ensure that rapists are brought to justice. The website offers information on its programs Get Carded (educating college students about sexual assault) and its Social Norms Campaign (focusing on the role men play in preventing sexual assault), as well as information for victims of sexual assault (also available in Spanish). The website will hose an online sexual assault hotline beginning in early 2006.

Screen to End Abuse
This training video includes five clinical vignettes demonstrating techniques for screening and responding to domestic violence in primary care settings. Screen to End Abuse provides the tools you need to: incorporate routine screening into a busy medical practice;- respond effectively to patients affected by domestic violence;- institute policies and procedures for identifying and responding to domestic violence, including changing the look of a clinical practice to let patients know they are safe to disclose abuse.

Urban Institute
The Urban Institute is a nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization. The website offers evaluations of the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), as well as of VAWA's STOP Grants and general recommendations to improve specific efforts to combat violence against women.

WomensLaw.org
WomensLaw.org provides free and easy access to legal information, empowering victims of domestic violence and sexual assault with knowledge to change their lives. The website provides resources such as: legal information for restraining orders, custody, divorce, immigration, and tribal law, listings for local shelters and other organizational resources, detailed safety planning information, and strategies on how to prepare for hearings. Information is available for all 50 states, Washington DC, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands, and some resources are available in Spanish.

Federal agencies addressing domestic violence issues

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention
The Division of Violence Prevention of the CDC supports projects that address the primary prevention of violence through a public health approach. The website provides fact sheets and links to additional resources geared toward heath practitioners, researchers, and consumers on the Division's 4 priority areas: child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, suicide, and youth violence. In addition, it provides links to related CDC publications that can be downloaded or ordered in hardcopy form free of charge, as well as links to projects supported by the Division.

National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)
NCJRS is a federally funded resource offering justice and substance abuse information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide. The website offers a wealth of publications on child abuse, domestic violence, elder abuse, international issues in family violence, program evaluations, and statistics, as well as a searchable abstracts database.

National Institute on Aging (NIA)
NIA is one of the twenty-seven Institutes and Centers of NIH and leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. The website offers links to a variety of journal articles, brochures, and videos on elder abuse and neglect geared toward providers, elderly individuals, and caregivers.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
NIAAA is one of the twenty-seven Institutes and Centers of NIH and provides leadership in the national effort to reduce alcohol-related problems through conducting and supporting research, translating and disseminating research findings to healthcare providers, researchers, policy makers, and the public, and collaborating with other programs engaged in alcohol-related work. The website offers links to scholarly articles such as Alcohol, Violence, and Aggression, Alcohol and Intimate Partner Violence, and Alcohol and Violence in the Lives of Gang Members.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
NIDA is one of the twenty-seven Institutes and Centers of NIH and aims to lead the nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction. The website offers links to scholarly publications such as Drugs and Violence: Causes, Correlates, and Consequences, and Partner Violence for Women with Drug Problems. It also provides information on NIDA's involvement in the Interdepartmental Working Group on Violence Research.

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
NIMH is the component of the NIH that aims to reduce the burden of mental illness and behavioral disorders through research on the mind, brain, and behavior. The website provides information on its Child Abuse and Neglect Program and a variety of scholarly articles on the interplay between mental health and violence and abuse.

National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center (NYVPRC)
NYVPRC was developed by the CDC and other federal partners to provide current information developed by federal agencies or with federal support pertaining to youth violence. The website offers fact sheets, best practice documents, funding and conference announcements, statistics, research bulletins, surveillance reports, and profiles of promising programs. Information is geared toward professionals, parents, teens, and the press.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
DHHS is the U.S. government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. The website offers links to information on domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, and sexual violence.

U.S. Department of Justice: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
BJS is the component of the U.S. Department of Justice that aims to collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. The website offers statistics on family violence, intimate partner violence, rape and sexual assault, crimes against persons age 65 or older, and youth violence, as well as links to other statistical databases.

U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women (OVW)
OVW is the component of the U.S. Department of Justice that handles the Department's legal and policy issues related to violence against women and works to implement the mandates of the Violence Against Women Act and subsequent legislation. The website offers state-by-state information on OVW grant activities, as well as information on the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women and the President's Family Justice Center Initiative. In addition, it provides links to information on sexual assault, protocols for medical forensic exams, statistics on reporting, best practice recommendations, and information on human trafficking.

U.S. Department of State
The U.S. Department of State aims to create a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community. The website provides information on Domestic Violence Awareness Month, an archive of news relating to domestic violence, and links to legal and organizational resources relating to domestic violence.