Harborview Medical Center - Gun Violence Initiative

What is it?

Harborview is testing an innovative approach to gun violence patterned on alcohol and substance abuse interventions. After clinical staff treat patients’ gunshot wounds, social workers interview them and begin to address high-risk behaviors. Following discharge, a case manager is assigned to individual patients to use evidence-based strategies with victims and their families, analyze the role of guns in victims’ lives, address mental health needs, develop strategies for conflict resolution and connect them to community resources.

Who is it for?

Victims of gun violence presenting at Harborview Medical Center.

Why do they do it?

The decision to develop the program began after 2014 research showed that patients admitted for gun-related injuries are more likely to be readmitted for gunshot wounds, commit a crime or be murdered.

Impact

A similar program – Caught in the Crossfire, which launched in 1994 in Oakland, Calif. – demonstrated that gunshot victims who participated in the program were 70 percent less likely to be arrested than nonparticipants.

Contact: Paul Hayes
Executive Director
Telephone: 425-656-4081
Email: hayesp2@uw.edu