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Violence Prevention
Preventing violence entails the development of strategies and
therapies to ameliorate a number of complex causes of violence. Ideally, these
address many sorts of violence, including violence in schools, communities,
families, and societies … and including violence that is physical, sexual, and
emotional.
In the United States, 2 factors correlated with violence are poverty and race;
for example, those with low incomes experience poorer health and physical
security over a range of illnesses and injuries. When factors of race, poverty,
and community align, much greater risks to health and physical security result.
Consequently, we need governmental policies on a regional or communal level and
individualized interventions on a personal level. For instance, on a communal
level, research indicates that the simple addition of parks and recreation areas
will increase health and security in communities. Psychotherapy, including
counseling for individuals, couples, families, is an example of a more personal
level of intervention. To give one example, psychotherapy might entail working
with a battered woman to become more independent, placing her in a shelter
temporarily, coordinating with the Court for restraining orders and – where
appropriate – coordinating with police to arrange arrest and incarceration of
perpetrators, and involving church groups or other means of community support
once the victim is able to function safely and independently.
The example with psychotherapy above is one of “tertiary” prevention, the
utilization of therapy to prevent additional violence from recurring. Ideally,
all forms of intervention should be targeted as much as possible to “primary”
prevention; i.e., to preventing not just recurrences of violence but to
preventing violence before it occurs.
Each person, family, and community is unique, and each requires and deserves a
specialized approach tailored to the important factors at hand. |
