The National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health was established in 2005 by the Domestic Violence & Mental Health Policy Initiative (DVMHPI). DVMHPI is a Chicago-based project founded in 1999 that works to address the unmet mental health needs of domestic violence survivors and their children and the traumatic effects of abuse across the lifespan. Since its inception, DVMHPI has provided training and technical assistance to domestic violence, mental health, substance abuse, and social service agencies in the Chicago area, as well as city and state-level policymakers. While the Center maintains a national focus, DVMHPI continues to carry on the local aspects of the work by building the capacity of Chicago-area service systems to provide accessible, culturally relevant, and domestic violence- and trauma-informed services.
