Sullivan Lab
The Family Violence Research Lab at Yale School of Medicine gathered on October 22, 2026, to wear purple in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month—a national campaign established by Congress in 1989 to raise awareness about intimate partner violence (IPV) and uplift survivor voices and experiences. This year’s theme, “Survivors Deserve Action,” marks a shift from awareness to action at a time when violence is minimized, services are being cut, and barriers to safety are growing. Many programs and organizations now face funding shortages that force them to operate at reduced capacity, even as more than one in three women in the United States experiences physical violence, sexual violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime (CDC, 2026).
Dr. Tami Sullivan, bottom row, middle left, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Prevention and Community Research, and her team are dedicated to advancing research that promotes resilience and recovery among women who IPV. Participating lab members are, bottom row, from left, Ashley Clayton, MA, Tami Sullivan, PhD, Ana Hernandez, BS, and Laura Callinan, MPH; top row, from left, Melissa Schick, PhD, and Marley Herard, MA.
The Sullivan Lab focuses on both individual and system-level factors that influence the well-being of women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Naturalistic studies employ micro-longitudinal designs to explore how daily experiences and behaviors unfold in natural environments. Interventional studies promote relationship health, resilience and recovery from trauma and substance use. Integral to the lab’s approach is community-partnered research, which centers women who have experienced IPV and the practitioners who support them.
At the individual level, the lab’s research advances understanding of factors that foster resilience, such as self-efficacy, empowerment, and hope, as well as factors that heighten the risk for negative outcomes, including posttraumatic stress, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors. The lab studies the impact of substance use, criminal justice, and other service system’s responses on women’s emotional and physical wellbeing, including the ways in which it promotes or impedes their safety, recovery and resilience.
Development of community-based and service-system interventions include a peer-led support group, a single-session intervention to promote hope, and a stepped-care behavioral health intervention aimed at reducing trauma symptoms to enhance retention in opioid use disorder care. The lab disseminates findings to researchers, practitioners, and the public through various formats, including practitioner briefs, blogs, infographics, webinars, and popular media, to accelerate the translation of research into changes in practice and policy.
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