$1 million U.S. Department of Justice grant will support virtual reality training for domestic violence response

A George Mason College of Public Health team will work with law enforcement and domestic violence prevention experts to reduce risks for first responders and victims.

George Mason University

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Domestic violence 911 calls often place first responders in the midst of crisis and confusion. The scene may involve conflicting stories, visible injuries, frightened children, and little clarity about what just happened. 

At George Mason University, researchers have secured more than $1 million in federal funding to help frontline professionals prepare for these complex moments. The grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will help fund a novel virtual reality training program to strengthen interprofessional responses to domestic violence. 

Social work professors Denise Hines and Holly Matto will co-lead the one-year project in the College of Public Health, partnering with local law enforcement, domestic violence organizations, and health care providers in Northern Virginia to design and pilot the training. The team also includes social work assistant professors Michelle Hand and Anna Parisi as co-investigators, and Bethany Cieslowski, chief innovation officer for immersive technologies. 

The faculty members, as well as College of Public Health Dean Melissa J. Perry, expressed gratitude to U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia for their support of the congressional funding, and to the Department of Justice for administering the $1,026,029 award through its Byrne Justice Assistance Grants program. 

“We’re thankful for the leadership and support to bring the power of virtual reality to improve health and safety,” Perry said. “Virginia will lead the way in coordinated, prevention-focused responses to domestic violence. Looking ahead, the model developed here can one day help communities across the country.” 

Using technology and resources in the College of Public Health’s Lab for Immersive Technologies and Simulation, the project team will build VR case scenarios that reflect the complexities of domestic violence calls. The simulations will allow frontline professionals to practice coordinated responses and experiment with different approaches before facing similar situations in real life. 

“The innovation here is bringing together professionals like law enforcement, social workers, and health care providers to co-design new VR cases that are relevant to challenges on the ground,” Matto said. 

Domestic violence remains a public health and safety crisis. In Virginia alone, the statewide domestic and sexual violence hotline received more than 70,000 calls in 2023. Family and intimate partner violence accounts for roughly one-third of all homicides in the state annually. And for first responders, these calls can also be among the most volatile and unpredictable situations they encounter. 

“Domestic violence calls are some of the toughest calls, but also some of the most common calls that law enforcement will come across,” said Hines, the Elisabeth Shirley Enochs Endowed Professor of Social Work. “They're often coming in at a precarious and dangerous moment.”