Read about an event featuring international speakers on violence in Northern Ethiopia. The event was presented by the Center for Human Rights, Gender & Migration.
War and rape in Northern Ethiopia: A dialogue about healing and justice
Category: Violence & Abuse
Inaugural conference addresses community-based violence awareness and solutions
Members of the Life Outside of Violence team joined local, state and national violence prevention experts for a conference on community-based violence assessment and intervention.
Statement on the death of George Floyd and too many others
The Center for Human Rights, Gender and Migration grieves the tragic death of George Floyd last week, and of Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Yvette Smith, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, and too many others in recent memory. We stand in solidarity with […]
Gun Violence & Human Rights: Part 2
The Gun Violence Initiative at the Institute for Public Health turned five in April 2020. This blog is related to the key themes of the initiative: What we know, what we need to know, and what to do about this critical issue. Joint Report on Gun Violence Makes an Impact on the UN Human Rights […]
Educator to convener to partner: The evolution of the Gun Violence Initiative
Written by Victoria Grace Assokom-Siakam, BA in International and Area Studies, Washington University in St. Louis. At the time of publishing, Victoria Grace was an intern at the Center for Community Health Partnership and Research The Gun Violence Initiative at the Institute for Public Health turns five in April 2020. This blogpost relates to the […]
Striking a balance: Violence prevention in communities
The Gun Violence Initiative at the Institute for Public Health turns five in April 2020. This blog is part of a special series related to the key themes of the initiative: What we know, what we need to know, and what to do about this critical issue. Violence prevention is both a science and an […]
Service providers in Mexico try out tools to support migrants’ safe disclosure of sexual and gender-based violence
Service providers in Mexico try out tools to support migrants’ safe disclosure of sexual and gender-based violence: WashU puts research into practice
Combining public health and rights-based approaches to address violence
Written by Poli Rijos, MSW, manager for the Center for Community Health Partnership & Research at the Institute for Public Health In early June, I spent eight days in El Salvador. Funding from the Institute for Public Health, the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, and my family gave me the opportunity to attend Global […]
Using a public health lens to respond to gun violence and trauma
Written by Olivia Pokoski, MPH candidate at University of Kentucky and participant in the 2019 Summer Research Program – Public & Global Health Track Every day in the United States 96 lives are taken with guns, making it the second leading cause of death for American children and teens. Despite these staggering statistics, minimal responses […]
How funding and collaboration can address violence: Lessons from the past
According to a 2017 U.S. Department of Justice report, the City of St. Louis experienced a notable decrease in homicides in the year 2003 but the rate has subsequently rebounded. As we continue to see violence in our city and search for what works to prevent it, can we learn from the past? A community-academic […]
Commentary: #ThisIsOurLane, but Our Lane Needs All of Us: EM Physicians Speak Out on Gun Violence
Written by Kristen L. Mueller, MD, assistant professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, and Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPH, Department of Emergency Medicine at Alpert Medical School, Brown University On November 7, 2018 the NRA responded to “Reducing Firearm Injuries and Deaths in the United States: a Position Paper […]
The World Café and the Human Trafficking Collaborative Network
Written by Lorcan O’Byrne, medical student at University College Dublin and participant in the Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program The World Café is a simple yet powerful conversational process that facilitates groups of all sizes to engage in meaningful dialogue, build personal relationships, and foster collaborative learning. The format goes as follows: a […]
Gun violence as a public health issue
Written by Kyle Smith, undergraduate in economics and computational biology at University of Rochester and participant in the Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program Poli Rijos, LCSW noted early in her talk this past week that gun violence is a devastating commonality among the otherwise varied and diverse clients she has worked with as […]
Children are the most victimized segment of the population
by Melissa Jonson-Reid, PhD, Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor in Social Work and Director of the Center for Violence and Injury Prevention at the Brown School “Children are the most victimized segment of the population.”– David Finkelhor, 2011 This is a sad but unfortunately true statement both for children in the US and those around the […]
Senseless, needless, unintentional shootings by kids
Written by Stacey Newman, Missouri State Representative Damian was only 12 years old and loved playing basketball. Last week he was home alone in St. Louis with his nine year old brother and found a handgun. While they played with it, the gun discharged and Damian was shot and killed. Damian is not alone. Mi-Kenzie, age […]
Saint Louis Story Stitchers’ Artists Collective – Not another one! A discussion on gun violence
Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective is a nonprofit organization where artists and urban youth collect stories, reframe and retell them through art to promote understanding, civic pride, and literacy. Story Stitchers work with local youth often focuses on gun violence and implicit bias. Recent projects in which youth address issues of violence include a […]
Gun violence as a global health issue
Written by Allie Liss, Intern for the Gun Violence Initiative As a global health student, I spend a lot of time learning about all of the current and historical health problems around the globe, but a surprisingly limited amount of time learning how to solve these problems. This is what attracts me to public health […]
Ending gun suicide: A personal and professional movement
Written by Sylvia Ogilvie, graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis Gun violence is inarguably one of the most divisive issues in the United States, whether we are arguing with family members around the holiday table, or watching political candidates point fingers at each other like children in the school yard. It almost seems […]
Not Another One! An urgent call to action on gun violence
Written by Susan Colangelo, founding president of Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective The Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to serving the St. Louis region through inventive, collaborative arts and culture. Members collect local stories, reframe and retell them through art, writing and performance to promote understanding, civic pride, intergenerational […]
Time to say #enough
Written by Steve Woods, RN, BSN, MBA, manager of trauma services at St. Louis Children’s Hospital The #enough message shared by the Brady Campaign sums up the way many people are feeling in St. Louis about the increase in crime, and, more importantly, the increase in gun violence that has erupted within our beloved community. Each […]
Guns and suicide
A recent report from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, “The Truth About Suicide and Guns,” describes the strong link between gun ownership and suicide: a gun in the home makes suicide three times more likely. The report finds that while gun ownership alone presents the greatest risk, when combined with the impulsive nature of […]
Art, guns, & rebooting the conversation
Written by Liam Otten, news, arts and humanities director in the Office of Public Affairs at Washington University in St. Louis Art is disruptive. It can fracture entrenched positions. It can restart conversations. This fall, the Sam Fox School is presenting Guns In The Hands of Artists. Organized by the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New […]
Domestic violence and the links to gun violence
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Most of you have probably been touched by the issue of domestic violence through someone close to you, in clinical practice, or through research. This problem goes by different names depending on which organization or professional affiliation you belong to: domestic violence, family violence, intimate partner violence, partner violence, dating […]
Bite your tongue. (I’d rather be offended than shot.)
I am standing here at the door of my studio in the Clinton-Peabody housing projects (“the Peabodies”), looking across St. Ange Street to the playground. J’Nylah Douglas’ grandma used to live right there, across the way, her front door facing the playground, just a couple car lengths from my studio. In 2011 J’Nylah was visiting […]
Parents of shooting victim share personal story with students and community
Written by Julie Hail Flory, interim vice chancellor of public affairs in the Office of Public Affairs at Washington University in St. Louis In the blink of an eye, everything changed for Lonnie and Sandy Phillips. On July 20, 2012, their daughter, Jessica Redfield Ghawi, was one of 12 people killed when a gunman opened […]
Firearm injuries: A pediatric public health crisis
Written by Robert M. Kennedy, MD, pediatric emergency medicine physician; Martin S. Keller, MD, director of trauma services; Angela Lumba-Brown, MD, pediatric emergency medicine physician; and Fahd A. Ahmad, MD, MSCI, pediatric emergency medicine physician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital As pediatric emergency and trauma physicians at St. Louis Children’s Hospital we are alarmed by the growing epidemic of firearm-related injuries that […]
Fighting gun violence in and out of the courtroom
Written by Jennifer M. Joyce, circuit attorney for the City of St. Louis The landscape in St. Louis and across the country is very different today than it was even just a year ago. Gun violence is the number one issue this community faces today. Too many people are dying. In 2014, 138 people were […]
City of St. Louis Youth Violence Prevention Partnership
Written by Carl Filler, MSW, director of strategic policy initiatives in the Mayor’s Office of the City of St. Louis Cities across the United States have been grappling with endemic violence—often manifested in gun-related violence. While homicide rates—the most extreme form of violent crime—increased drastically from the 1960s through the early 1980s and sustained through […]
Pilot program seeks to help child victims
Written by Margie Batek, MSW, LCSW, social work supervisor in the Emergency Department at St. Louis Children’s Hospital The Victims of Violence program at the St. Louis Children’s Hospital seeks to curb the re-occurrence of interpersonal violence in the lives of children who have been shot, stabbed or assaulted, involved in domestic violence, and Fit […]
A coordinated effort may be the solution to gun violence in St. Louis
Written by Poli Rijos, coordinator for the Gun Violence: A Public Health Crisis initiative at Washington University in St. Louis. As of September 15, 2015, the City of St. Louis has been affected by over 145 murders. During recent conversations with law enforcement officials, I learned that most gun violence can be localized to specific […]
Dual library exhibits for Gun Violence Initiative
The Gun Violence Initiative will showcase gun violence prevention research and resources through special, simultaneous exhibits at the John M. Olin Library on the Danforth Campus, and the Bernard Becker Medical Library on the Medical Campus, from September 21 to October 2, 2015. These exhibits will include a display with key texts and articles with […]