The Domestic Violence High Risk Team (DVHRT) Model was born from one community’s tragedy and has gone on to national recognition and replication as a leading strategy for intimate partner homicide prevention. This presentation will provide a comprehensive understanding of the DVHRT Model, with an overview of the research at its foundation, and include a discussion on the function and structure of key partners in this multidisciplinary approach. Participants will learn how team members work together to identify high-risk cases and mobilize risk management strategies.
Featured Hosts:
Kelly Dunne is the chief of operations and director of national training and technical assistance at the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center in Massachusetts. She focuses her work on analyzing the response systems created to protect victims and hold offenders accountable. In 2003, after a tragic domestic violence homicide/suicide of one of her clients, Ms. Dunne created the DVHRT Model. This model, which is based on Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell’s Danger Assessment, seeks to reduce domestic violence homicides and re-assaults by employing risk assessment practices to identify potentially lethal offenders, establishes case-specific multidisciplinary responses, and coordinates monitoring of high-risk domestic violence cases.
Heather Davies is the project specialist for national training and technical assistance at the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Ms. Davies works with communities around the country to implement the DVHRT Model and the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement. Before joining the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center, she worked for 5 years at Casa Myrna as the coordinator of SafeLink, the Massachusetts statewide domestic violence crisis hotline. Ms. Davies practiced law as a civil litigator for 11 years prior to joining Casa Myrna.