Building Bridges: Training Social Work Students in Domestic Violence Work

Abstract

The pervasive nature of domestic violence in American society is clear. One in four women in the U.S. reports experiencing violence by a current or former partner at some point in her life (Center for Disease Control, 2008). violence is a chronically underreported crime (U.S. DOJ, 2003); many acts of coercive control within relationships may fall outside traditional legal definitions of abuse. Yet this crime has serious and lasting physical and mental health effects on women, men and children across the lifespan (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). All social workers will work with survivors regardless of their setting or treatment modality (see Danis, Domestic Violence: A Cross-Cutting Issue for Social Workers).Many domestic violence programs have internships for social work students, increasing the capacity of the field to respond to the complex needs of survivors. These social work field placements in domestic violence advocacy settings present challenges for students to connect the experiences and lessons of social work clinical internships to the content and theories presented in the classroom, where relatively little time is focused on domestic violence dynamics and interventions. This article will describe how social work concepts, such as the empowerment approach, are made real in Passageway, a domestic violence program based in a Boston hospital. Over the course of a two-day orientation, social work interns are introduced to central concepts (empowerment approach, ecological perspective, trauma theory) and key foundational knowledge of domestic violence dynamics and interventions. Quality clinical supervision helps interns work through the dilemmas involved in applying knowledge and theory in practice. The Passageway program takes care to embody the social work value of empowerment through collaborative supervision, collegial staff meetings, an intern group, and consultative interactions with the larger hospital. This description of the Passageway internship will incorporate responses from intern evaluation of the training and its fit with their academic courses. The most important implication of student feedback is the need for greater collaboration between schools of social work and domestic violence internships, with an eye to increased understanding of domestic violence as a social work issue. We envision this occurring not only through collaborations with field education departments but also through joint curriculum development and intergroup dialogue about dilemmas in domestic violence practice.Passageway: Hospital-based Violence InterventionThe Passageway ProgramPassageway is a hospital-based domestic violence program that provides advocacy and counseling to survivors of intimate partner abuse. The program is based at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a large teaching hospital in Boston. The program serves approximately 1,000 new clients a year, representing a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, ages, and stages of relationships. Passageway serves both men and women, though the great majority of clients are women. This aligns with prevalence statistics regarding domestic violence victimization which estimate that 85% of domestic violence victims are women (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001). Clients are both patients and employees of the hospital, and members of the surrounding community. Services are voluntary, confidential, and free of charge, tailored to each client's individual needs. The program offers crisis intervention and ongoing supportive counseling. No diagnostic work is conducted, and because managed care is not a factor, clients have the option to remain engaged with services as long as they are needed and deemed appropriate. At the cornerstone of all services is continual risk assessment, safety planning, and an effort to widen a client's support network through intensive case management and connections with collateral agencies. …

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