Temple and team start UTHealth Houston Center for Violence Prevention

Along with his UTHealth Houston colleagues, Jeff Temple, PhD, professor and associate dean for clinical research at UTHealth Houston School of Behavioral Health Sciences, is launching the UTHealth Houston Center for Violence Prevention (CVP), which was founded to reduce the burden of violence in Texas and across the United States through research, best practices, policymaking, evaluation, training, and partnerships with community agencies.

The center focuses on improving the health and well-being of individuals, couples, families, communities, and societies through the prevention of violence. This will be accomplished by collaborating with academic, public, and governmental partners to develop and implement evidence-informed screening, prevention, and intervention programs.

The center will feature different levels of prevention, according to Temple. The first is primary prevention, which mainly targets younger populations through programs, such as healthy relationship initiatives, that give them the skills to avoid violence.

Secondary prevention serves those who are at higher risk for violence. These are individuals who may have witnessed violence in their house or community. Tertiary programs are for those who have already experienced violence. These programs strive to prevent the re-victimization and re-perpetration of violence, as is often seen with domestic violence situations.

“Violence is endemic in our society,” Temple said. “However, it’s also a solvable problem that needs to be addressed on a level consistent with its impact. We need a ‘violence prevention moonshot’ and should treat this public health challenge like we did COVID-19 or HIV or smoking cessation.”

According to Temple, despite a general decline in violence across the nation and Houston, there are still disturbing levels of domestic abuse, gun violence, and homicides. In fact, Temple pointed to the escalating rates of violence during the COVID-19 pandemic to show how vulnerable we are as a society. Temple emphasized the importance of treating violence like a public health crisis as a step in the right direction.

“I want CVP to be a center not just for Houston or Texas, but for the nation and the world,” Temple said. “I want CVP to save lives and make the world a better place to live.”

Joining Temple in creating the CVP are Elizabeth Torres, MPH, associate director; Elizabeth Baumler, PhD, director of biostatistics; Shannon Guillot-Wright, PhD, director of health policy research; and Leila Wood, PhD, MSSW, director of research and evaluation.

Read more about the UTHealth Houston Center for Violence Prevention here.