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INFORMATION FOR

Project INSPIRE

INtervention Support Groups: Peers Inspiring Resilience and Empowerment

The purpose of Project INSPIRE was to develop and evaluate a community-based, peer-led, support group intervention aimed to enhance the safety, support, and empowerment of women who have experienced domestic violence (DV).

INSPIRE represents a modified peer-led model -- namely that the group is co-facilitated by one woman with lived experience of DV (i.e., a peer) and one woman who is trained to provide support groups for survivors of DV (i.e., a professional). Together, the co-facilitators model collaboration, mutual respect, and equality, reinforcing that all clients are experts in their own lives and that each member’s perspective contributes meaningfully to the group.

A distinctive strength of the peer co-facilitator (and a central reason for developing INSPIRE) is the peer’s ability to connect with clients in a uniquely meaningful way, to serve as a model of strength and resilience, and to demonstrate that change is possible – which can promote empowerment.

INSPIRE is a 9-session present-centered, strengths-based and forward-focused curriculum that emphasizes (re)connection to supportive others. It focuses on how the abuse is affecting women in the here and now so that the co-facilitators can help clients develop tools and strategies to move forward (rather than focusing on discussing DV experiences in detail.) Toward this end, INSPIRE centers survivor self-efficacy, knowledge, skills, and community resources.

This pilot study found INSPIRE to be feasible, acceptable, and well liked by women who participated in the program. Group cohesion was highly rated, and women felt they had a strong working alliance with the peer and professional co-facilitators. All women said they would “definitely recommend” INSPIRE to other women looking for a DV support group.

Although further research is needed to evaluate INSPIRE’s impact on outcomes, the Office of Violence Against Women has supported broad dissemination. Toward that end, shortly, three manuals will be available for download on this website.

* This project was supported by Grant No. 2018-SI-AX-0005 awarded to Yale University (Principal Investigator: Tami P. Sullivan, PhD) by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice.