Public Health Response to Domestic Violence in the Context of COVID-19

Survivor Link + Public Health AmeriCorps

More about the Project

Sponsored by a federal AmeriCorps grant, Meredith Bagwell-Gray is excited bring Survivor Link to Kansas to increase community-wide knowledge and readiness to respond to domestic violence.

Survivor Link is a systems-level intervention in local community organizations to promote best methods for screening and responding to domestic violence. Dr. Bagwell-Gray is excited to partner with colleagues at participating schools of social work across U.S., all of whom have expertise in gender-based violence prevention and intervention, to bring collective evidence-based practice knowledge to students in KU’s School of Social Welfare.

KUSSW students will receive intensive training and, in turn, provide trainings to participating public health and public health-allied organizations through their field practicums. In partnership with KUSSW’s field office, nine students have been selected to participate in this project and will earn two $2,000 stipends for their work, plus a Segal education award. Students will administer pre- and post-tests to training participants at each organization and will then be able to report on the impact of these trainings.

The hope for this project is to improve outcomes at a local level even as it is a part of a much larger grant: Led by Jill Messing, professor and director of the Office of Gender Based Violence at Arizona State University, a total of 99 students will participate in 14 universities across the U.S. It is exciting that KU is a partnership site and that we get to bring this innovative program to Kansas and our participating field sites.