We need a National Violence Prevention Hotline in the USA.
Violence impacts millions of people each year.
Yet, a great deal of violence is preventable.

The USA has hotlines aimed at preventing suicides and helping the victims of domestic violence, but none to prevent people from committing violent acts. Violence impacts millions of people each year. Yet, a great deal of violence is preventable. As far back as 1958 local crisis lines were established to help people who were struggling with suicidal thoughts. It took until 2004 for our nation to establish The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline which provided 24/7 support for people in crisis. Just imagine, a nationwide service that mimics the national suicide hotline, but can help prevent acts of shooting, rage, interpersonal violence, and even mass shootings, by offering anonymous support to the prospective perpetrator. Recently there has been a surge of outcry about pervasive public and private violence in our society. Yet, there are still not enough preventative services or resources targeted toward those who are escalated and feel compelled to act on violent impulses.

The Violence Prevention Hotline (NVPH) proposes to operate 24/7 in order to provide free, confidential, expert support for people in distress who feel compelled toward committing acts of violence in the future. NVPH will aim to reach people who are contemplating violent acts, work on de-escalation, connect people to professional help, or get emergency personnel involved.

Researchers like Drs. Vincent Felitti, Robert Anda, Nadine Burke-Harris, and Bruce Perry and their organizations in health care and human development have been writing and speaking for thirty years that there are relationships between adverse experiences such as domestic violence, addiction, divorce, abuse, neglect, a family member being incarcerated and how a person develops and functions. Furthermore, Dr. Perry has collaborated with others, including Oprah Winfrey, to popularize these concepts and include Social Determinants Of Health (SDOH) such as lack of access to care, healthcare disparities, discrimination, lack of access to food, opportunities in education and vocation, adequate housing, which may go back for generations (also known as multigenerational trauma).

We firmly propose that a paradigm based on “what’s wrong with you?” perpetuates and aggravates the marginalization, dehumanization, exclusion, lack of equity, stigma of being diverse and other forms of suffering, instead of contributing to a solution to these issues. A paradigm shift to “what happened to you” (like the title of Dr. Perry and Oprah’s book) opens a channel to compassion, vulnerability, connection which could effectively inform changes in policy, intervention, and prevention. With the NVPH we are opening up, for the first time, a dialogue to people who may be in temporary or continuous mental distress and believe that the only “answer” or “solution” to their problem is by exercising violence.

Having access to preventative services has been shown to be effective in the past. The NVPH would help people struggling with compulsions toward committing acts of violence who are afraid to tell their friends, family, therapist, doctor, or local police department. This hotline aims to provide support to the person calling or using the online chat, regardless of their situation, place of residence, personal background, or socio-economics.This type of preventative-intervention is especially pivotal during the “contemplation phase” when someone may begin to become fixated on violent acts. By intervening during the “contemplation phase”, we believe the amount of people entering into the “action phase” in the cycle of violence will decrease, which automatically will shield our society from further unnecessary violence and as a whole.

Like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the National Violence Prevention Hotline seeks to staff professional counselors to take calls, text message, and provide resources. NVPH will build their headquarters in a community who invests in our vision. With our initiative, we look to also support the growth of this community by opening the first call center and bringing many high-quality jobs for the people living in this community.

Just as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline does not prevent all suicides; the NVPH will not prevent all violent acts from occurring. However, it can offer the first  lifeline of support for those who are in distress or prone to perpetuate violence more broadly. NVPH creates an opportunity to de-escalate, redirect and prevent a  potentially violent-harming-others type of situation covering the current gap to address violence within our society. Addressing these types of situations from a preventative view, will bring us the opportunity to open up a cultural discussion about violence, its precursors, multigenerational trauma and many other topics affecting our society from a root-cause-analysis and possible solutions perspective. Furthermore, it will increase the opportunities to collaborate with grassroots and community services organizations also looking to prevent violence in local communities through education and mental health awareness and resources.

 -Paul Krauss MA LPC and the NVPH Board

http://www.violencepreventionhotline.org/

Will You Join Us in Preventing Violence?
Right now, The Violence Prevention Hotline is a dream – a dream to help reduce the impact of violence on people, families, and communities. Will you lend your voice to supporting our cause?
 Sign our petition to create a National Violence Prevention Hotline at CHANGE.org 
We are hoping to share this petition with SAMSHA (the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration) as well as government officials, business leaders, and other leaders in the United States.

Read the press release here.

Plan Highlights
The Violence Prevention Hotline doesn’t exist yet. But we think it should. Here’s how it could work:

24/7 Support:
Violence doesn’t sleep. 24/7 staffing ensures that there’s always a kind professional just a phone call away—365 days a year.
Use Existing Resources:
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline already staffs trained counselors and occasionally receives calls from those contemplating violence or victims of violence.
Expert Training:
While there is an overlap between suicide prevention and violence prevention - they are different. The staff will be trained in the nuances.
Leverage Relationships:
We are looking for help to promote the hotline and secure funding. Have you - or someone you know - been impacted by violence in your life? Do you believe this is important? Please lend your voice, it all starts with spreading the message and signing our petition.

A Vision for the National Violence Prevention Hotline
A Roadmap to Safety – and Security
The National Violence Prevention Hotline (NVPH) would operate similarly or alongside the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL). Since the NSPL already has several resources – including call centers, relationships with local hospitals and mental health centers, emergency services, and a network of trained counselors standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – it would make sense that the NVPH would be an extension of that organization.
The urge to use violence toward others has different elements than the urge to commit suicide. Thus, the clinicians would be trained on understanding anger, violence, revenge, power dynamics, the motivations for violence, and have a high degree of empathy for the people calling in (who are suffering, but are choosing an unpopular choice of what to do with their pain). The counselors would also have to have expert skills in dealing with people in crisis, be able to establish rapport and potentially deescalate a person calling in who may be very angry or desperate and talking about committing violent acts. The counselors would also utilize relationships with local crisis and emergency services related to where the caller is calling from, to help save lives and get medical help on the ground. Some counselors already working for the NSPL may not fit working for the NVPH, while others would be able to be trained and move into a role at NVPH.
We are asking for a grant from SAMSHA (The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) to help cover the costs of development. We are asking for corporate, philanthropic and government help to make the NVPH a reality. We are asking for people of influence and celebrity to make their voices known and to help publicize NVPH both prior to and after its launch. We are hoping to broadcast the NVPH far and wide and so that people who may be contemplating acts of violence will call in and get the help they need to make different decisions – and have hope once again.

Paul Krauss MA, LPC
Licensed Professional Counselor and Professional Consultant
Paul Krauss is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Professional Consultant who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the host of The Intentional Clinician podcast and also works to train counselors on best practices to improve their outcomes with clients.
Paul has worked with many different populations and has spent a great deal of his time working specifically with people who are recovering from some type of trauma—often times from a type of violence or a severe accident. Paul believes that every human being has the potential to transform in a powerful way and works with people from all walks of life to meet their potential as humans, to heal, and to make changes.

Thank you for your time and consideration.