Name mark of the Geiger Institute

Conference on Crimes Against Women

May 20, 2025 2:00 pm

The Geiger Institute team is looking forward to attending and presenting at the annual Conference on Crimes Against Women again this year.

Below is information on each of the workshops where Geiger Institute will be co-presenting. For more information, visit the conference website: www.conferencecaw.org.

Leveraging Relationships to Save Lives: Creating a Successful Domestic Violence High Risk Team

  • May 20, 2025 2:00 PM-3:30 PM CT

Presenters:

  • Sarah Galgano, Senior Project Specialist, The Geiger Institute
  • Brandon Wootan, Owner/Operator, Light The Way Consulting, LLC
  • Stacie Sutter, Program Director, Crossroads Safehouse

Implementation of a DVHRT typically begins with the shared vision of reducing information silos to create a better response to intimate partner violence. However, breaking down silos across domestic violence system stakeholders can be complicated and requires more than just initial momentum among stakeholders, it requires intentional outreach & thoughtful planning. This workshop will highlight the critical components of successful DVHRT implementation and  operation. The DVHRT Model, created by the Geiger Institute in 2004, is an innovative strategy designed to prevent intimate partner violence related homicides. The Model incorporates evidence-based risk assessment to identify the most dangerous cases. Topics will include gaining leadership buy-in for implementation, building relationships with DV system stakeholders and other community partners, ensuring operational processes are in place to set the team up for success, and planning for sustainability. The presenter(s) will share an intentional approach to DVHRT implementation and how to keep the focus on a victim-centered community response when the going gets tough.

Mastering Meetings: Best Practices for Leading DVHRT and other Multi-Disciplinary Team Collaboration

  • May 21, 2025 10:00 AM-11:30 AM CT

Presenters:

  • Nidia Cantu, Manager of the Harris County DVHRT Initiative, Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council
  • Sarah Galgano, Senior Project Specialist, The Geiger Institute
  • Stephen Lopez, DVHRT Coordinator, The Bridge Over Troubled Waters
  • Alicia Nuzzie, Director – Harris County DVHRT Initiative, Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council

Effective management of a Domestic Violence High-Risk Team (DVHRT) is crucial for increasing collaboration among stakeholders, fostering trust, and working effectively to serve victims in high-risk cases. The DVHRT Model, created by the Geiger Institute in 2004, is an innovative strategy designed to prevent intimate partner violence-related homicides. This evidence-based approach integrates risk assessment into a community’s domestic violence response system, identifying and intervening in the most dangerous cases. These cases are monitored by a multidisciplinary team that shares case information and implements coordinated intervention plans, enhancing survivor safety and offender accountability.

Real-world examples from the Pasadena, TX DVHRT will illustrate how multidisciplinary teams can develop survivor-focused intervention plans without compromising confidentiality. This panel discussion will explore the typical members of a DVHRT, the information they contribute, and methods to improve communication between meetings. The presenter(s) will also share best practices for structuring, preparing for, and leading team discussions, maximizing collaboration, and building trust among team members. While the presentation centers on the DVHRT model, the strategies and examples can be applied to other multidisciplinary team approaches.

Slow & Steady Wins the Race: Using Lessons Learned from Piloting a Lethality Assessment to Inform Community-wide Rollout

  • May 21, 2025 12:00 PM-1:30 PM CT

Presenters:

  • Miles Earwood, Deputy Chief, San Antonio Police Department
  • Sarah Galgano, Senior Project Specialist, The Geiger Institute
  • Erica Haller-Stevenson, Violence Prevention Administrator, City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District

Implementation of lethality assessments require intentionality to ensure success and fidelity- particularly when you are one of the largest police departments in the U.S. One such assessment is the The Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement (DA-LE), an 11 question, evidence-based risk assessment instrument that identifies victims at the highest risk of intimate partner homicide (IPH) and near-lethal assault. The DA-LE was designed to be easily administered by responding law enforcement officers and to supplement the police report with high-risk victims being immediately connected to services. Moreover, the DA-LE is provided to the court to inform criminal proceedings. In July 2023, the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) piloted the DA-LE in three of its seven substations. The one- year pilot allowed SAPD to utilize data and feedback to inform and enhance broader rollout across the Department.

Based on lessons learned in San Antonio, this workshop will provide a framework for piloting risk assessment before broader implementation in order to increase long-term sustainability. The presenter(s) will highlight the importance of using data to ensure fidelity, creative methods for troubleshooting common challenges, bringing community partners together throughout the process, and planning for sustainability.

5 Market Square
Suite 109
Amesbury, MA 01913

(978) 388-1814

Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center
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If you are a victim or survivor of domestic violence, please contact your local domestic violence service agency or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1‑800‑799‑SAFE (7233).

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Why the Geiger Institute? Why Now? 

New solutions are needed. Intimate partner violence and intimate partner homicide disproportionately impact certain communities. While rates of women killed by intimate partners declined in the U.S. between 1980 and 1995, this trend reversed and, as of 2008, there has been a 5% increase in the proportion of women killed by an intimate partner since 1980. Further, Black women are murdered by men at a rate more than 2.5 times higher than white women and 61% of all homicides of Hispanic women were IPV-related, a higher proportion than any other ethnic group. Now, there is even more urgency as the risk and severity of domestic violence has increased due to the environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We want to again work to identify and close systemic gaps, closely examine the effectiveness of approaches in groups experiencing higher rates of intimate partner violence and customize our work in Black and brown communities to make sure they have pathways to safety. There is an unprecedented opportunity to look at how we can better partner with communities and bring together effective practices, the latest research and strong partnerships with sharpened focus and attention in order to affect change and have greater impact in reducing domestic violence homicide. 

Origin of the DVHRT Model

In 2002, while advocates at the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center were trying to help a woman named Dorothy find safety from her abusive husband, she was killed in her home as her daughter was on the phone with the police. Her husband was released by the court four days before on low-cash bail. After Dorothy was killed, the advocates set out to understand where the system had failed her and how to prevent this from happening again.

From this event, the Domestic Violence High Risk Team (DVHRT) was born. The model is based on the research of Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell from Johns Hopkins University that identified the risk factors present when a woman is killed by their intimate partner. The team-based model looks to identify and close systemic gaps and bring together community partners that previously operated in silos.

The first DVHRT in Newburyport, Massachusetts is still in place today. In the ten years prior to its implementation, there were eight domestic violence-related deaths in the greater Newburyport community; since starting in 2005, the team has accepted 200 high-risk cases resulting in zero homicides.

Working in collaboration with law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, judges, advocates and community leaders, the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center has now trained communities in over 200 jurisdictions across the U.S. in the DVHRT model as well as the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement Tool (DA-LE). The Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) recognized the DVHRT Model as a “leading promising practice” in intimate partner homicide prevention.