“A silence that screams”, the training course for preventing and ending violence against women
“A silence that screams. How to recognise and clinically intervene in cases of gender-based violence” is the title of the course held by Humanitas University on 11th June 2024, aimed at its students and resident doctors. The initiative, coordinated by Dr. Annalisa Inversetti, was promoted by the DEI Group (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, coordinated by Prof. Cecilia Garlanda) and was financed through a Lombardy Region Call for Proposals dedicated to university training for the prevention and ending of violence against women.
The course focused on the need for specific training for health workers who deal with women victims of violence, paying particular attention to the human and psychological approach, as well as the clinical and medico-legal approach. In many cases, in fact, health personnel are the first point of contact for the victims, and adequate training can facilitate an appropriate reception, a non-judgmental listening and the beginning of a process of re-elaboration of what has been experienced, as well as possibly of filing a police report.
The proposal is part of Humanitas University’s actions to raise awareness among the entire university population on the issue of gender-based violence and will be followed by other cultural and educational initiatives.
In its development, the course touched on the following topics:
- Gender violence: definitions and epidemiology of the phenomenon, Prof. Nicoletta Di Simone, Professor of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Humanitas University
- Welcoming women victim of sexual violence from a psychological point of view, Dr Mitia Rendiniello, psychologist at the SVSeD centre Policlinico di Milano
- The long-term consequences of violence, Prof. Giampaolo Perna, Full Professor of Psychiatry, Humanitas University
- Violence against women: focus on the adolescence, Dr Francesca Pampaloni, gynaecologist at Careggi Hospital, Florence
- National Guidelines for Managing Violence Against Women in the Health System, Dr Annalisa Inversetti, Researcher in Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Humanitas University
- The role of the forensic doctor in cases of sexual violence, Federica Collini, Researcher in Forensic Medicine, University of Eastern Piedmont
- Judicial police investigations in cases of sexual violence, Dr. Stefano Veronese, V.Q.A. of the State Police, Milan Police Headquarters, Mobile Squad
- Clinical cases of sexual violence: the point of view of the gynaecologist at the SVSeD centre, Dr. Giulia Carmela Tiso, gynaecologist at the SVSeD centre Policlinico di Milano