The Alliance was recently awarded $750,000 of grant funding from the City of Houston Mayor’s Office of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence (MOHTDV) to design, execute, and administer an evidence-based, preventive, domestic violence intervention program. The MOHTDV’s goal is to provide funding for projects that are innovative, culturally competent, and focused on intervening in communities of color and ethnic minorities when it comes to preventing domestic violence. The Alliance’s proposal was deemed the sole best submission, and Houston City Council approved the award on June 21, 2023.

The Alliance’s Center for Resiliency, of which the Alliance Wellness Clinic is a part, is well-positioned to spearhead this project, the Multicultural Community Domestic Violence Intervention Initiative (MCDVII). In partnership with Baylor College of Medicine, the Alliance Wellness Clinic has adapted the “Living Peace” curriculum, an evidence-based, gender-transformative, group psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic activity, to better meet the needs of specific ethnic groups being targeted for this intervention. This innovative approach aims to reduce violence against women in refugee, immigrant, and underserved communities in the City of Houston by engaging men and boys, teaching them healthy alternative behaviors.

Existing relationships with religious and community leaders from ethnic groups including the Afghan, Congolese, Sudanese, and Burmese communities will be leveraged to recruit community liaisons who will work with mental health clinicians to help launch the “Living Peace” intervention. In short, this initiative will be community-based, culturally competent, and linguistically appropriate. Proposed outcomes of the “Living Peace” curriculum include creating a safe space for men to discuss potentially sensitive topics, such as feelings of frustration and powerlessness; increasing utilization of healthy coping strategies by participants; encouraging reconsideration of patriarchy and gendered norms; improving the ability to identify, express, and process feelings; and recognizing domestic violence as a potential generational problem.

Unfortunately, refugee, immigrant, and underserved communities in the City of Houston have experienced high levels of interpersonal and gender-based violence. Additionally, these communities traditionally lack access to mental health interventions and have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The MCDVII will support community outreach, psychoeducation, and behavioral health services for potential harm doers from these communities, aimed at reducing the incidence of domestic violence, increasing calls for service, and bridging service gaps. “The MCDVII is an additional tool to apply toward the solutions that are intended to moderate gender-based violence, specifically in refugee, immigrant, and underserved communities in the City of Houston,” said Aarti Goswami, MA, MEd, LPC-S, Vice President, Center for Resiliency, The Alliance. “Most importantly, instead of pitting the needs of women against those of men, the MCDVII is intended to assess and address both through an appropriately gendered lens. This is in perfect alignment with The Alliance’s mission of creating ‘Opportunity for All’,” she said.

For more information about the Alliance Wellness Clinic, please visit thealliancetx.org/wellness-clinic