Domestic Violence Conference

In partnership with Oakton Community College, YWCA Evanston/North Shore presents our annual Domestic Violence Conference:

A Lethal Relationship:
Gun Violence and Domestic Violence

Wednesday, November 20, 2019
9 am – 3 pm

Oakton Community College, TenHoeve Center, Rooms 1604-1610
1600 East Golf Road, Des Plaines, IL (Parking in Lot D)

Registration: 8:30 a.m. | Program: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Registration fee:
Early Bird $90 (by November 1) • Regular $100
Continental breakfast and box lunch included.

Featured Speakers:

Illinois Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D), 17th District, is a first-time representative and life-long social justice advocate, community volunteer, and attorney. Representative Gong-Gershowitz will open the conference discussing the political landscape in Illinois and how it is responding to the public health crisis of gun violence and domestic violence. Having lost her cousin and her cousin’s two children to gun violence when they were murdered by their father, Representative Gong-Gershowitz is a leading advocate on common sense gun safety legislation in Illinois to reduce gun violence and save lives.

April M. Zeoli, Ph.D., MPH, is an expert on the intersection of intimate partner violence and gun violence, and associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. She is on the editorial board of the scholarly journal Injury Prevention and serves as the research expert for the National Domestic Violence and Firearms Resource Center.

David W. Keck, J.D., is project director for the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and Firearms, a project of the Battered Women’s Justice Project, and a partner in developing protocol for firearms surrender in domestic abuse injunction cases, which became the framework for Wisconsin’s SAFE act, passed in 2014.

Program Objectives

The conference is informative for professionals in the areas of criminal justice, law enforcement, public health and safety, municipal, human service, mental health, education, legislative and advocacy sectors.

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:
Describe nonlethal and lethal uses of guns in domestic violence
Identify federal and state laws that prohibit domestic violence perpetrators from accessing guns, and loopholes in those laws
Understand laws related to removal of guns from a scene of domestic violence, restraining order gun restrictions, and data on application and impact among different racial groups
Examine how a domestic violence perpetrator becomes prohibited from gun purchase and possession
Explore how domestic violence perpetrators known to the justice system maintain the right to own a gun
Discuss and review key considerations and steps when implementing the statutory requirement of a firearm surrender/seizure in Illinois
Understand the important role patrol officers and investigators play in preventing gun violence

Professional Continuing Education

Oakton Community College Continuing Education clock/contact hours will be offered for Illinois social workers (5.0 clock hours), professional counselors (5.0 clock hours), marriage and family therapists (5.0 clock hours), psychologists (5.0 clock hours) nurses (5.0 contact hours), nursing home administrators (5.0 clock hours), addiction counselors/ICB members (5.0 CE hours pending approval), occupational therapists (5.5 contact hours), speech and language pathologists/audiologists (5.0 clock hours), and teachers (5.0 PDs). ICDVP credit of 5.0 will be offered. 5.0 Universal Training hours (UTH) will be offered to other professional groups.

Law Enforcement Professionals

In partnership with North East Multi-Regional Training, Inc., MTU #3, the conference is certified for six hours of training time and the following five training mandates: Law Updates, Civil Rights, Constitutional and Proper Use of Law Enforcement Authority, Human Rights, Procedural Justice, and Psychology of Domestic Violence.

To register

Registration is through Oakton Community College. We recommend registering via mail. You may download the registration form here.

They have online registration at oakton.edu/conted (choose “Continuing Education for Health Professionals”), but it is not an easy site to navigate.