Students Get Behind-the-Scenes Look at State’s Sexual Violence Prevention Efforts.

In the classroom, students in Associate Professor Emily Rothman’s course, “Sexual Violence: Public Health Perspectives in Intervention and Prevention” learn about the systems in place to deal with victims and offenders.

This week, on a visit to state government offices, they saw those systems from a unique vantage point — that of the people charged with running them. They were invited guests at a meeting of the Governor’s Council to Address Sexual and Domestic Violence.

After listening to council members grapple with how to integrate domestic violence services with housing and homeless programs in the state, student Fadhlun Al-beity, a native of Tanzania, said she was struck by how much effort goes into bringing different stakeholders together. The council, chaired by Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, is composed of dozens of representatives of state agencies, hospitals and social service groups.

“It is such a big task, to try to coordinate all the groups,” Al-beity said. “But it was interesting to see everybody from different agencies coming together to try to create a system that will keep victims of domestic violence in their own communities . . .

“It’s the first time I’ve seen government at work ” in the U.S, she added. “It was impressive.”

Rothman brought the class to the council meeting at what she said was a serendipitous time: April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and BU recently formed a high-profile task force, of which Rothman is a member, to study the culture of the men’s hockey team, after two players were accused of sexual assault. Rothman made mention of the task force when she briefly addressed the council and spoke about ongoing research at BUSPH related to sexual abuse, including studies that seek to gauge the role of alcohol use in dating violence.

The council spent close to an hour discussing its initiative to integrate homeless services and domestic violence programs — no easy task, given that domestic violence victims can now seek assistance through dozens of portals that often are not linked to one another. But with two-thirds of women in Massachusetts who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless reporting that they experienced domestic violence, advocates say the two systems need to be connected, in order to improve service delivery and outcomes.

“The question we need to answer is, how do we work together so that no matter what door a survivor comes in, we’re meeting their needs?” said Tammy Mello, director of the domestic violence unit for the state Department of Children and Families. Murray said he wanted a plan of action to coordinate services, in order to “break down silos” and make optimal use of the state’s resources.

Rothman’s students said they were grateful for a “behind-the-scenes” look at how state policy is shaped.

“I really liked that they were trying to be innovative — trying to come up with community solutions, instead of just relying on shelters,” said Lianne Hope, an MPH candidate from San Francisco.

After the meeting, students peppered Rothman and Mark Bergeron-Naper, a sexual violence prevention specialist with the state Department of Public Health, with questions about the council’s role and scope. Some students said they were surprised that the council was tackling sexual and domestic violence without mention of childhood sexual abuse.

Bergeron-Naper said the council was formed in the late 1990s to deal only with domestic violence, but has since expanded to include sexual violence. Child abuse, meanwhile, is considered “a separate topic,” in terms of the council’s role, he said.

Students said that seeing so many stakeholders at the table, sharing ideas, was a positive lesson about collaboration.

“Most of what we learn (in class) is from experts, or from hearing about interventions and prevention,” said Charlotte Allard, an MPH candidate from Rhode Island. “We don’t get to see the work that goes on behind-the-scenes” to implement policies to care for victims.”This was great.”

Submitted by: Lisa Chedekel

chedekel@bu.edu