Congressional Victim's Rights Caucus Organizes Briefing on Violence Against Women with Mental Illness

The Congressional Victim's Rights Caucus recently hosted its first ever staff briefing on violence against women with mental illness. Speakers at the briefing, held February 5, 2007 in Washington, D.C., included Delaware State Senator Liane Sorenson, member of the Council of State Governments Justice Center Charter; Trudy Gregorie, staff member of Justice Solutions, a victim's rights research non-profit; and Gwendolyn Skinner, Director of the Georgia Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases.

Speakers at the briefing provided an overview of the unique challenges that practitioners within criminal justice, mental health, and victim service fields in identifying women with mental illness who have been victimized and providing them with appropriate referrals. All emphasized the critical importance of establishing and then institutionalizing collaboration among representatives from these diverse fields to improve services to these women.

"State governments can do more to integrate victim services and mental health services," said Senator Sorenson. "We need to find ways to make with women with mental illness safer, protect their rights as crime victims, and get them the services they need to put them on a path toward recovery."

The House Victim's Rights Caucus held the briefing in conjunction with a meeting convened by the Justice Center and chaired by Senator Sorenson on violence against women with mental illness. Attendees of the meeting, which included a group of national experts, policy-makers, and advocates from the victim, service, mental health, and criminal justice fields, offered feedback on a draft policy guide being developed by Justice Center staff. The guide offers recommendations on initiating and developing a cross-system response to women with mental illness who have been victimized.

Justice Center staff have been developing the policy guide as a part of a larger project supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to address the unmet needs of women with mental illness. The policy recommendations, due out this year, highlight examples of state and local initiatives in which victim and mental health service providers appear to have achieved a significant degree of service integration. The Justice Center is also partnering with the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, Howie T. Harp Peer Advocacy Center, and Justice Solutions to develop this guide.

Rep. Jim Langevin (right) and David Lauterbach of the Kent Center, a Rhode Island mental health agency

After the meeting, several participants also met with members from their Congressional delegation including Rep. Jim Langevin (D - RI) and staff of Sen. Joe Biden (D - DE), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R - GA), and Rep. Jim Costa (D - CA) to discuss violence against women with mental illness.

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