Violence is the purposeful use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself or others that results in or is likely to cause injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation (Leone & Conroy, 2019). Other-directed violence is the threat, intent, or act of seriously injuring another person.
Domestic violence is a behavior pattern in an intimate or family relationship that one partner uses to gain or maintain power and control over another person (United Nations, 2020). The victims of this type of other-directed violence may include children, relatives, other household members, and dating partners.
On average, one in nine men and one in four women experience severe intimate partner violence (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2020). The rate of intimate partner violence is substantially higher for people who are not married (Sorenson & Spear, 2018) and who identify their sexual orientation as bisexual (Turell et al., 2017).
This course will provide you with an opportunity to apply your existing knowledge of how to assess and intervene with an at-risk adult, Jackson, to prevent other-directed violence. By interacting with him in a simulated therapy session, you will see how your selection of responses impacts his level of risk and his outcome. Supervisory input will also help guide you through this simulation exercise.
If you have not participated in in-depth training on other-directed violence in adults, we recommend that you first review the other courses on this topic in the Relias library. After learning about evidence-based approaches for identifying and preventing other-directed violence in adults, you can then use this simulation to reinforce your knowledge.
The goal of this course is to provide alcohol and drug counseling, behavioral health counseling, marriage and family therapy, psychology, and social work professionals in health and human services settings with an opportunity to apply their existing knowledge to assess and intervene to reduce risk of other-directed violence.
Note: As you proceed through this practice opportunity, bear in mind that due to time constraints, this course presents a highly abbreviated version of what a violence risk assessment would involve. You would normally also review multiple sources of information, use standardized screening measures, consult with a supervisor or colleagues as needed, and do an in-depth inquiry to formulate risk determination and plan interventions.