The SOWEGA Council on Aging Ombudsman Program will host this event.  Allison Smith-Burke, Director of Public Policy with the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, will lead the training session.  State Ombudsman, Melanie McNeil will be in attendance.

Strangulation is highly prevalent in abusive relationships, yet it often goes unreported by survivors and undetected by law enforcement and other professionals working with survivors, leaving those who use this tactic of physical abuse unaccountable and risking the lives of survivors. Attempts to strangle, sometimes referred to as “choking,” not only raise red flags about the potential for future homicide, but they can also cause serious short- and long-term physical and mental health problems, including delayed death.

Training participants will learn:

·       What strangulation is - and what it is not

·       The lethality risks of strangulation

·       The short- and long-term physical and mental health risks of strangulation

·       How to improve our response to survivors who have been strangled through screening and victim education

·       How to properly investigate strangulation as a law enforcement first responder

·       The basics on proper follow-up investigation and prosecution of strangulation

This training is free and will be valuable to many professionals working to address domestic violence, including domestic violence program advocates, law enforcement, emergency responders, prosecutors, victim witness assistants, judges, medical professionals, and mental health professionals.