The nonprofit New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence is expanding a team dedicated to bringing a different approach to addressing domestic violence.
The organization started its Coordinated Community Response team last year, which calls for advocates to work with agencies and other professionals in response to domestic violence. Those can include law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, social workers and behavioral health professionals.
The idea is to overcome the silos among agencies in domestic violence cases. The team has representatives in Doña Ana and Taos Counties, and most recently, McKinley County, which includes Gallup.
Emily Ellison is the director of Battered Family Services in Gallup, which is a member of the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She said one of the goals of the program is to speed up response times, especially on the Navajo Nation.
“This project will help us coordinate and identify those loopholes that are continuously exploited,” she said.
She also said the organization plans to do outreach in the community. That includes conversations over local media to help normalize discussions around domestic violence and help people speak out.
“Sometimes it's difficult to see what you're in when you're in the middle of it,” she said.
The method was developed in Minnesota in the 1980s and several communities around the country, including Baltimore and San Francisco, have adopted it. The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department is providing funds for the work in the state.
About a third of New Mexicans experience intimate partner physical or sexual violence or stalking in their lifetimes, according to the National Coaition Against Domestic Violence.
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