The Archway, in collaboration with Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, announced Monday the addition of the agency’s new Strangulation Response Team. The team, composed of The Archway’s High Risk Team case managers, will respond 24/7 to hospitalized domestic violence victims who have been identified as having experienced strangulation by their intimate partner.   

According to the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention, strangulation is one of the best predictors for a future homicide. In fact, victims who were previously strangled by their intimate partner are 800 times more likely to die at the hands of that abuser.

The Strangulation Response Team is a new program under the The Archway-managed Tarrant County Domestic Violence High Risk Team (DVHRT) and seeks to further reduce the number of intimate partner homicides in Tarrant County. The Archway’s High Risk Team case managers will meet with victims hospitalized at Texas Health Fort Worth and provide information about The Archway resources, including case management, emergency shelter, counseling, legal assistance and more.

Expansion of this service to other area hospitals is expected in the next few months.

The Archway President and CEO, Kathryn Jacob, LMSW, believes the new service will provide a missing link between victims and life-saving The Archway resources.

“Our local fatality review team meets regularly to discuss the previous year’s domestic violence homicides, and the ones that stick out the most for me are the victims who did not know The Archway’s life-saving resources were there for them, local and free of charge,” Jacob said. “The Strangulation Response Team will meet the most high-risk victims where they are, and we are hopeful that in turn, intimate partner homicides will decrease in our county.”

Strangulation is one of the most dangerous forms of violence but unlike other types of trauma, it can be difficult to detect. Less than 50 percent of strangulation victims suffer visible injury from the assault, making it easy to minimize or even overlook, according to Cindy Burnette, director of Texas Health's Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program. 

“Texas Health’s team of forensic nurses have received specialized strangulation training to assess and identify hard to detect injuries and then collaborate with our other medical professionals to provide the appropriate medical interventions,” Burnette said. “But beyond the immediate medical care, we know the importance of connecting victims to community resources available to help protect their physical and emotional health and safety. With The Archway providing face-to-face advocacy in real time, I believe victims will be much more open to accepting help to get in a safe place.”

About the Tarrant County Domestic Violence High Risk Team
The Domestic Violence High Risk Team (DVHRT) model is an approach designed to address and respond to cases of domestic violence with a high risk of serious harm or lethality.

In 2016, Tarrant County saw its highest year on record at the time, with 16 domestic violence homicides, and The Archway implemented the county’s DVHRT the next year to combat this growing issue. Since then, with the exception of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, the number has steadily dropped, and in 2021 Tarrant County saw just seven intimate partner homicides. While the fatality review report for 2022 will be published this October, The Archway believes the homicide number will have dropped yet again.

The DVHRT model includes programmatic activities to save the lives of domestic violence victims while providing intensive, comprehensive case management to our community’s most vulnerable when the shelter intervention isn’t always the answer. The team, led by The Archway, works to keep victims safe and hold offenders accountable.

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