Our Work
Tools and Resources for Systems, Programs, and Providers
How Have Mental Health, Substance Use, and Trauma Treatment Systems Addressed IPV?
Over the past two decades, mental health and substance use systems have strived to implement more trauma-informed and trauma-specific services. While awareness of trauma has continued to increase, trauma in the context of ongoing IPV remains largely unaddressed. State-level partnerships between the domestic violence and mental health and substance use treatment fields exist in a handful of states, which have led to improved access to IPV-informed services for survivors and their families. NCDVTMH’s Survey of State Mental Health Administrators and Survey of State Substance Use Disorder Treatment Administrators offer recommendations for state-level partnerships.
For more information on building partnerships between the DV and behavioral health fields, see Cross-Sector Collaboration.
What Can Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Support Organizations Do to Address IPV?
Responding effectively to people who are experiencing ongoing abuse by an intimate partner requires a distinct set of policies, procedures, and practices, including:
- Ensuring that all staff receive ongoing training on how to support people experiencing IPV
- Incorporating conversations about IPV into intake and assessment protocols, including conversations about mental health and substance use coercion
- Developing consultation and referral partnerships with local domestic violence programs
- Incorporating best practices for responding to IPV into counseling, treatment, documentation, reporting, safety planning, telehealth practice, and referral protocols.
- Offering evidence-based trauma treatment modalities that have been proven effective for survivors of IPV and their children