PCAO trains with ASU experts on domestic violence app

FLORENCE, Ariz. (December 10, 2018) – Pinal County Attorney’s Office and Arizona State University’s School of Social Work Survivor Link teamed up for a two-hour training on the myPlan app.  ASU experts trained roughly 25 PCAO staff, law enforcement and victim advocates on the myPlan app to enhance their interaction with survivors of domestic abuse.

MyPlan app is a personalized safety planning tool for survivors of domestic violence.  The app was developed to help women create a safety plan in dangerous situations of intimate partner violence.  It combines a danger assessment measuring the lethality and the severity of abuse and a decision aid to encourage survivors to reach out for help.

During the event, Pinal County Attorney’s Office Victim Services and Family Advocacy Center staff went through abuse scenarios.  Staff members used these scenarios to learn how to navigate the app and to understand how the tool might be useful for women who are in abusive relationships.  According to ASU Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Megan Brown, 28.8% of women report having experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

“Over and over survivors say they are more comfortable sharing their story with the app first,” Brown said.

In 2017, victim advocates provided services to 25,755 people in our county according to Pinal County Attorney’s Office.