DV Education: Healthy Moms, Happy Babies

Many home visitation and early childhood staff struggle with how best to address issues of domestic violence (DV) among their clients. According to the CDC, 1 in 4 women will experience DV in their lifetime.  The impact of DV on parents’ and children’s physical and mental health and risk for substance use and persistent perinatal depression is well documented. Healthy Moms/Happy Babies is an interactive curriculum that addresses the barriers and difficulties staff experience in addressing DV. We support the field with attuned approaches to DV for survivors that were developed in concert with communities who are most affected. We address how personal and or vicarious trauma or abuse may impact our ability to do this work. Specific strategies and tools, both personal and organizational, will be presented to address the needs of front-line staff and managers so that they feel adequately situated to hear a positive disclosure of abuse.