Violence Prevention Tools

The Center for Violence Prevention (CVP) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) offers free evidence-based violence prevention education tools for teens, parents, community members, and educators. These violence prevention education resources can be used to prevent youth violence and build community include:

Violence Prevention Education Fact Sheets
Bullying Prevention Workshops
Video Series: Addressing Domestic Violence in Healthcare Settings
Policy Tools
Legislative Testimony on Youth Gun Violence

Violence Prevention Education Fact Sheets

The Violence Prevention Education fact sheets below were developed by experts at CHOP. Download and distribute them to families, youth, educators, and other groups with a stake in youth violence prevention education.

Gun Safety and Children
All About Bullying

* This fact sheet is targeted directly to youth.

 

Bullying Prevention Workshops

The school bullying prevention workshops below were developed by experts at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and are specifically geared towards parents of elementary school-aged youth. Watch and download the presentations and resources below that provide strategies and support for key bullying issues.

Handling Cyber Conflict and Aggression

This workshop provides information and strategies about handling cyber conflicts and aggression in children. Parents will learn different techniques to handle cyber conflicts and aggression with their children.

Agenda

  1. Introductory Discussion
  2. Traditional Bullying
  3. Defining Cyberbullying
  4. What Makes Cyberbullying Harmful?
  5. Children Who Cyberbullly
  6. Effects of Cyberbullying
  7. How to Help and Respond to Cyberbullying as Parents
  8. How to Take Action Against Cyberbullying
  9. Key Takeaways Video

Resources

Helping Children Handle Peer Conflict

This workshop provides information and strategies about helping children handle peer conflict. Parents will learn different techniques to assist their child with handling peer conflicts.

Agenda

  1. Defining Bullying
  2. Differences Between Bullying and Conflict
  3. Types of Conflicts
  4. Ways to Notice How Your Child Is Feeling
  5. How to Help Your Child When They are Having Peer Conflicts
  6. Discussing What Your Child may Need During Difficult Situations
  7. Ways to Keep Lines of Communication Open
  8. Key Takeaways

Resources

Helping Children With Their Feelings

This workshop teaches parents how to support their child when he or she is expressing his or her feelings and emotion regulation. Parents will be able to learn mindfulness strategies that they can practice with their children. Parents will also discover tools for helping their child with emotion regulation.

Agenda

  1. My Plate Activity
  2. Emotion Regulation
  3. Role of Parents
  4. Why Practice Mindfulness?
  5. How to Teach Children to Calm Down
  6. Strategies to Practice with Your Child

Resources

Helping Your Child With Bullying

This workshop provides information and strategies about helping children handle bullying and conflicts. Parents will learn different techniques to handle different types of bullying and peer conflicts with their children.

Agenda

  1. Defining Bullying
  2. Bullying vs. Conflicts
  3. Cyberbullies and Cyber Victims Comparison
  4. Case Example
  5. Recognizing Warning Signs
  6. Understanding Why Your Child May Not Confide in You
  7. Taking Action Against Bullying
  8. Key Takeaways

Resources

Stress Management and Mindfulness

This workshop provides information and strategies surrounding stress management and mindful parenting. Parents will learn different stress management techniques and the physical and emotional effects of stress.

Agenda

  1. My Plate Activity
  2. How Stress Affects Us
  3. Understanding Our Stressors
  4. Strategies for Successfully Handling Stress
  5. Developing a Stress Management Game Plan

Resources

 

Addressing Domestic Violence in Healthcare Settings

This four-part video series was developed by CHOP and Lutheran Settlement House (LSH) to educate healthcare providers about the domestic violence screening experience, listening to patients, building relationships, and more from domestic violence survivors. CHOP and LSH partner on the STOP IPV program, which is designed to address domestic violence and teen dating violence in the pediatric healthcare setting.

Domestic Violence Survivors Advice to Healthcare ProvidersMore

Healthcare settings provide vital opportunities for domestic violence survivors to encounter information about services and receive help. Providers in all healthcare networks and settings should be prepared to interact with victims of domestic violence and provide support and resources when needed.

Policy Tools

CHOP’s PolicyLab aims to achieve optimal child health and well-being by informing program and policy changes through interdisciplinary research. PolicyLab and CVP researchers have collaborated on an Evidence to Action policy brief that highlights existing research and provides evidence-based recommendations for new public health approaches to protect youth from unintentional firearm injury and death.

Preventing Unintentional Firearm Injury & Death Among Youth: Examining the EvidenceVisit

This Evidence to Action brief evaluates existing research on firearm legislation and identifies gaps, highlights priorities for future research funding and scholarship, and proposes evidence-based, public health approaches to prevent unintentional firearm injury and death in children and teens.

Protecting Youth From Unintentional Firearm Injury: Addressing the Research GapsVisit

This policy brief builds out recommendations for research to determine which policies work to prevent firearm injury among youth. The brief also identifies policies that have enough evidence behind them to warrant immediate action, including comprehensive background checks and child access prevention (CAP) laws.

 

Legislative Testimony on Youth Gun Violence

Dr. Ruth Abaya's U.S. House Judiciary Committee testimony - May 2024Download

CHOP CVP Practice-based Scholar and Emergency Department Attending Physician Ruth Abaya, MD, MPH, testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on the work of reducing community violence in the city of Philadelphia.

Dr. Joel Fein's Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee testimony - March 2023Download

CHOP CVP Co-Director and Emergency Department Attending Physician Joel Fein, MD, MPH, testified before the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee testimony on preventing gun violence and mass shootings.

Dr. Joel Fein's Pennsylvania House Children and Youth Committee testimony - September 2022Download

CHOP CVP Co-Director and Emergency Department Attending Physician Joel Fein, MD, MPH, testified before the Pennsylvania House Children and Youth Committee on community responses to fatalities among children and adolescents in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Leah Brogan's Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee Hearing testimony - August 2022Download

CVP Psychologist Dr. Leah Brogan provided testimony to the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee Hearing on the secondary impacts of gun violence on youth in Philadelphia.

Caroline Menapace Glavin, MSW, LCSW's Philadelphia City Council Hearing testimony - June 2022Download

CVP Community Violence and Trauma Support Clinical Social Work Supervisor Caroline Menapace Glavin, MSW, LCSW, provided testimony to the Philadelphia City Council’s Committee on Children and Youth on the impact of gun violence and trauma on Philadelphia youth.

Caroline Menapace Glavin, MSW, LCSW's Philadelphia City Council Hearing testimony - April 2020Download

CVP Violence Intervention Program's Trauma Assessment Specialist Caroline Menapace Glavin, MSW, LCSW, provided testimony during a Philadelphia City Council hearing in support of universal trauma services for young victims of gun violence.

Dr. Fein's Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee testimony - September 2019Download

CHOP CVP Co-Director and Emergency Department Attending Physician Joel Fein, MD, MPH, testified before the Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee in support of Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws and Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) laws in PA to help keep children and families safe from gun violence. Dr. Fein also shared research and programs led by CHOP CVP that aim to curb the epidemic of youth violence, including gun violence.

Dr. Abaya's Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee testimony - February 2019Download

CHOP CVP Fellow and Emergency Department Attending Physician Ruth Abaya, MD, MPH, testified before the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee on the public health issue of firearm violence and its effect on children. In this testimony, she shares the pediatric health community’s perspective on what evidence-based policies and legislation would most effectively address this epidemic.

Dr. Pulcini's PA General Assembly testimony - May 2018Download

CHOP Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellow Christian D. Pulcini, MD, MEd, MPH, FAAP testified before the Pennsylvania General Assembly's House Judiciary Committee regarding Pennsylvania’s Firearm Laws and Public Safety and in support of several pending bills that were in alignment with CVP@CHOP's position on gun violence. In October 2018, Pennsylvania signed HB2060 in law, which restricts gun access in Pennsylvania for those convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. It marked the first piece of anti-violence legislation in Pennsylvania that deals directly with guns in this decade.

Dr. Abaya's City Council testimony - November 2017Download

CHOP CVP Scholar and Emergency Department Attending Physician Ruth Abaya, MD, MPH, testified before the Philadelphia City Council’s Special Committee on Gun Violence about reframing the discussion on preventing gun violence, and discussed how public health approaches prevention from three angles: primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.

Dr. Nance's Pennsylvania House testimony - May 2016Download

CHOP CVP Scholar and Director of the Pediatric Trauma Program Michael Nance, MD, testified before Pennsylvania's House Democratic Policy Committee Hearing on House Bill 1010, a bill that would close some loopholes in Pennsylvania's background checks for gun purchases. Dr. Nance drew from his personal experience as a trauma surgeon at CHOP, as well as his expertise in firearms research.

Dr. Fein's City Council testimony - April 2016Download

CHOP CVP Co-Director Joel Fein, MD, MPH, testified before the Philadelphia City Council Committee on Public Safety to inform the establishment of a comprehensive strategy for reducing and eliminating youth gun violence. Dr. Fein's comments describe research from CHOP on why teenagers in Philadelphia might access a gun, giving voice to these youth.

 

Violence Prevention Education Resources for Families

Click here to access information for adolescents and parents about anti-violence programs and services with contact/hotline numbers.

Violence Prevention Education Related Blog Posts

Click here to access viewpoints about violence prevention-related topics from the Research in Action blog.