Riverside Community Care has been awarded a $400,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health’s Office of Behavioral Health Promotion and Prevention to launch Riverside CONNECT, a new initiative addressing the intersection of domestic and intimate partner violence (DV/IPV) and suicide risk.
Research has increasingly shown that domestic and intimate partner violence can significantly increase suicide risk, yet these issues are rarely addressed together in professional training. According to the 2022 Massachusetts Violent Death Report, more than one in five suicides in the state listed intimate partner violence as a contributing circumstance. While professionals in both fields are skilled in assessing risk and promoting safety, few training opportunities prepare them to respond when domestic violence and suicide risk intersect.
CONNECT will address this gap by creating a statewide training model that combines best practices from domestic violence intervention and suicide prevention. Over the two-year grant period, Riverside will train more than 200 clinicians, school staff, youth workers, advocates, and caregivers across three regions: the Cape and Islands, the New Bedford/Fall River area, and greater Worcester. Three regional train-the-trainer cohorts will build local capacity so the work continues well beyond the grant period. The training and materials are intended to be available in multiple languages, including Spanish and Portuguese, with bilingual facilitators.
Riverside’s Child and Family Services Domestic Violence programs, led by Howard Yaffe, will guide curriculum development and community partnerships. Yaffe brings more than 30 years of experience in the field. The Riverside Trauma Center and SOS Signs of Suicide will contribute their extensive expertise in suicide prevention, training, and postvention. The Trauma Center alone has responded to or consulted on 22 IPV-related murder-suicide incidents across the Commonwealth, giving Riverside a firsthand understanding of what communities need.
Year one will focus on curriculum development, staff onboarding, and pilot trainings, with statewide implementation and evaluation to follow in year two. A cross-sector advisory group—including domestic violence coalitions, behavioral health providers, schools, and culturally specific organizations—will guide the work and help ensure it remains grounded in community needs.
By bringing together expertise in domestic violence intervention and suicide prevention, CONNECT will help professionals across Massachusetts better identify risk, strengthen safety planning, and support individuals and families facing these complex challenges.
Congratulations to Kimberly Martin, Executive Director of the Riverside Trauma Center, and the teams across Child and Family Services, the Riverside Trauma Center, and SOS Signs of Suicide, whose collaboration made this proposal possible.
