Incorporating a diverse range of survivor voices, as well as the voices of families, friends, and community members who have been impacted by domestic violence homicide is critical to prevention efforts. It ensures that anti-domestic violence efforts are informed by the real experiences of survivors, ensuring that previous gaps and challenges are remedied, that policies and practices that re-traumatize or re-victimize survivors are addressed, and that practitioners are ultimately accountable to survivors. This self-assessment focuses on the implementation of survivor-informed practices in domestic violence-related project and program development. It operationalizes and provides examples of ways in which agencies, partnerships, and communities can engage and intentionally partner with a diverse group of survivors in the development, implementation, and evaluation of their work and allows space to reflect and action plan on how to improve these practices.
For the purposes of this document, survivors include those who have experienced domestic violence as well as family, friends, and close community members who have lost someone to domestic violence homicide.