Philadelphia Is Fighting Street Violence Through Hospital And Doctor Visits
As Philadelphia’s homicide count rises, community groups and medical professionals are using trauma-based cognitive therapies to better serve victims. Now, Portland and Chicago are following suit.
(Image by StockSnap from Pixabay )
When Jermaine McCorey was shot in North Philadelphia 11 years ago, he met someone at the hospital who would change his life.
While lying in a hospital bed recovering from his wounds, McCorey was joined by Hugh “Tony” Thompson, a social worker who began to ask McCorey questions and listen for answers. Using a trauma-symptom checklist, McCorey realized that his wounds weren’t just physical but mental, too.
“Tony helped me to understand how to cope with overwhelming emotions stemming from PTSD and taught me the differences between listening to understand and listening to react,” McCorey says of his bedside talks.
At the time of their meeting, Thompson served as a community intervention specialist for Healing Hurt People (HHP), a program for people ages 8-35 who have been shot, stabbed or assaulted to support their long-term health, safety and wellbeing.
An extension of Drexel University’s Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice, HHP works with hospitals, schools and community centers to log and respond to a violent event in Philadelphia, typically within two to three days of it occurring. Then HHP appoints one of its community health workers or specialists to follow up with the victim in person or by phone. That’s when the specialists start employing evidence-based cognitive therapies, which assist a victim in recovering from trauma, understanding their experience and then growing from it.
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Dominique “Peak” Johnson is a North Philadelphia journalist and is one of the founding editors of the North Philly Metropolis. Currently, Peak practices kickboxing, freelances for Generocity.org, and occasionally tweets about “The Walking Dead.” Click here to learn more about Peak.
