Experts Discuss Strategies for Addressing Violence Against Women With Mental Illnesses

Staff of the Council of State Governments (CSG), which coordinates the Consensus Project, recently convened a meeting of victim advocates and leaders in the mental health system to discuss how to improve resources for women with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, serious depression, or bi-polar disorder, who have been victims of crime. Frequently, these women fail to get the treatment, services, support, and protection they need.

Limited awareness about the link between mental illness and victimization and insufficient coordination across victim and mental health services jeopardizes the mental health of these women and places them at higher risk of future victimization. With support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, CSG is developing policy recommendations that will address these issues. CSG is also partnering with the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, Howie T. Harp Peer Advocacy Center, and Justice Solutions on this project.

The policy recommendations, which are due out 2007, will draw on examples of successful local and state-level initiatives across the country, in which victim and mental health service providers appear to have achieved a significant degree of service integration. If you are aware of or involved in such an inititiave, please contact Hope Glassberg at 646-383-5737.

CSG staff have already developed an issue brief for this project that reviews existing literature on mental illnesses and victimization, provides information on relevant mental health or victim service programs and resources, and recommends research, program and policy approaches, and types of training and education to improve services for this population. Click here for more information on this project or contact Hope Glassberg.