Building strength for the long haul toward liberation: What psychology can contribute to the resilience of communities targeted by state-sanctioned violence.

State-sanctioned violence (SSV) has resounding effects on entire populations, and marginalized communities have long persisted in the work toward liberation despite continued SSV. This paper aims to bridge the gap between the vast scholarship on resilience and the practical challenge of sustaining and thriving in communities targeted by SSV. We use the theoretical frame of the Transconceptual Model of Empowerment and Resilience (TMER) to articulate the process of resilience and the resources that support it: maintenance, efficacy, skills, knowledge, and community resources.

Survivor-Centered Practice and Survivor Empowerment: Evidence From A Research-Practitioner Partnership.

In the domestic violence field, a survivor-centered approach to services is a shared ideal, but there is little empirical work demonstrating its importance. This study filled that gap, focusing on a key outcome-safety-related empowerment. We gathered data from 177 intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors seeking community-based services, and after one session with an advocate, results revealed a significant change in two of three subscales of the Measure of Victim Empowerment Related to Safety (MOVERS) measure: Internal Tools and Expectations of Support.