Public Awareness
OPDV Bulletin:
Spotlight on Domestic Violence/HIV Collaborations
The AIDS Institute provided one-time funding to help six organizations take leadership in bringing together HIV and domestic violence service providers in their region. The goal was to develop ongoing self-sustaining HIV/DV coalitions to address issues of mutual interest in a supportive and collaborative process. Projects that have been developed as a result of this collaboration include the following:
Alternatives for Battered Women and the Monroe County Department of Health (DOH) are working together to develop an ongoing collaboration. Their primary focus is the education of domestic violence program staff and shelter residents. All domestic violence program staff have been trained on HIV and universal precautions and will receive an annual refresher course. DOH also offers new staff a one-on-one training. Additionally, a team of two to three DOH staff members provides education, counseling and testing for shelter residents regularly. The relationship between the two agencies that has grown out of this grant will be self-sustaining and beneficial to the larger populations they serve.
In the Syracuse region, the HIV/AIDS training organization, Signature, is the lead facilitator in a collaboration between the HIV/AIDS services community and the domestic violence program, Vera House. Their main objectives are education and partnership-building. HIV/AIDS service providers have been trained on domestic violence dynamics and are incorporating domestic violence screening into all the services they provide. Workshops on domestic violence in Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Bisexual (LGTB) communities are also being conducted. The HIV/AIDS service community have increased their participation in the local domestic violence coalition, and the bond between the two communities is strengthening.
The two-year old HIV/DV Coalition in Westchester has also experienced an increase in participation resulting from the collaboration. The domestic violence program, My Sisters' Place, held two conferences on HIV/AIDS and domestic violence. The first conference brought together equal numbers of HIV/AIDS service providers and domestic violence staff in a cross-training. The second conference included substance abuse service providers. Bringing together the three communities is the first step toward developing protocols for substance abuse service providers that address screening for domestic violence, awareness of safety issues for survivors with multiple needs, and procedures for accessing domestic violence and HIV/AIDS services.
