How Counseling Helps: An In-Depth Look at Domestic Violence Counseling

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is currently described by trauma researchers as a social epidemic (Briere & Jordan, 2004) . The array of domestic violence services we currently have in the United States were started 30 years ago by women victims assisting other women. Currently, the services we have for victims of IPV are largely unchanged and the literature lacks information on what is helpful to victims of IPV in a domestic violence counseling setting. The research points to the fact that women seeking domestic violence counseling experience an array of physical and mental health sequelae as a result of the violence. This study utilized a mixed-methods embedded design to explore the counseling services at domestic violence agencies from the points of view of both counselors and clients. The study looked at the interventions offered and their perceived helpfulness as well as the trauma symptomatology of survivors of IPV and the relationship factors between counselors and their clients. Three main categories emerged from the survivor and counselor data as important in domestic violence counseling: importance of the relationship, counselor\u27s knowledge of domestic violence, and the specific interventions used. Briere, J. & Jordan, C. E. (2004). Violence against women: Outcome complexity and implications for assessment and treatment. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19, 1252-1276

Power and Negotiation in a University/Community Partnership Serving Jewish Teen Girls

University/community partnerships involve collaborative work with great potential and risk. This work can allow for productive exchanges that improve the quality of programs and enable broader dissemination of innovative ideas and practices grounded in feminist and social justice ideals. However, institutional demands and individual commitments introduce complications. This paper examines the complex power dynamics that emerge from cross-institutional partnering and program delivery in the context of a feminist education and youth-led participatory action research program for Jewish teen girls. Specifically, we examine the previously under-studied topic of university/community collaboration in which the participating institutions are similarly situated in structures of power. We explore how power dynamics and the partners’ shared and differential strategic goals were negotiated within a context of distinct institutional mandates, with a focus on the pressures of time, funding, and developing youth participatory action research with relatively privileged youth. We discuss implications and strategies for navigating complex university/community engagements that enable balanced, long-term, and sustained partnerships in which mutual interests are served