Forensic Nurse Consulting, Why Now?

The Why

Understanding the who and why of any organization is essential to relationship building. With that in mind, I am here to enlighten you with the origins of Trace Forensic Health Strategies.

Recently, while talking with a good friend about how Trace Forensic Health Strategies came to fruition, I realized that regardless of where I am, who I am working for, or who I am working with, my core values do not sway. I took a moment to pause and reflect on how important that is to me. This caused my thoughts to shift over to forensic nursing and medical forensic care. I would have to say, just as with my core values, there are some key components that should always remain a priority as well. Through the work of Trace Forensic Health Strategies, we aim to guide the field to doing just that.

Trace Forensic Health Strategies was formed out of a love and passion that developed while working nationally and internationally with various disciplines including nurses, physicians, healthcare providers, advocates, legal professionals, and law enforcement professionals to name a few. This work took place over many years, creating frameworks that would serve as the base for sustainable structures to be able to grow and flourish with the appropriate nurture and care.

A Forensic Nurse's Reflection

With so many overwhelming, even at times distracting, events currently happening in the world, we are continuously being exposed to the fact that personal violence is ever present and still very much a huge issue. Every day, we are witnessing many individuals facing barriers just trying to get their basic needs met. Like many of you, I have experienced and been witness to many loses, especially over the last year. Losses that immediately come to mind include, the loss of jobs, the loss of residences due to having to relocate out of necessity, the loss of access to affordable healthcare and medications, and for some even the loss of freedom to move about in their daily routines due to fear of the unknown in any given moment.

Throughout this time of overwhelm, change, and even turnover, I have had clients, colleagues, and friends share with me feelings of everything moving backwards, almost as if we are starting over with much of the work that has been already done, especially for those working in the field of Gender Based Violence (GBV). What has been described to me and what I also often experience, is a feeling that could be equated to the feeling of a structure being bulldozed at the same time that people are actively trying to build it. For many, the emotion can feel desolate and disheartening, which is completely understandable in my eyes.

Adjusting the Perspective

But when I shift to a different lens, I can see the work that still needs to be done, I can see those individuals who are still passionate and willing to do the work, regardless of being a novice or of having been there for decades. I still hold on to the ever so important truth, that all people experiencing personal violence deserve the best medical forensic care and wrap around services through advocacy and community victim services programs.

For that truth to be a consistent reality, several things have to be acknowledged, understood, and routinely worked on. This is where Trace Forensic Health Strategies comes in and is able to assist, think of your own communities and consider the following questions:

• Is there a solid and sustainable response to personal violence in your community? This includes a response to personal violence types such as sexual violence, intimate partner violence, child abuse and neglect, elder abuse and neglect, and human trafficking.

  
  

• Is access to medical forensic care a component of the current response?

  
  

• Are there forensic nurses within your community?

  
  

• Is the existing response a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach or is there a hand off of resources and contact information to the survivor with the intent of them engaging with the next set of providers and/or services on their own?

  
  

• Does your current response meet the needs of the community that is being served?

The Bottom Line

If your response to any or all of the questions listed were “no” or even “I am not really sure”, connecting with Trace Forensic Health Strategies sounds like your next move. Giving yourself space to reflect on questions such as these are the first steps.  Working with Trace Forensic Health Strategies to take a deeper dive into these questions unlocks the door to the opportunity to strategically shift your current response to one where the response of your program and community directly resonates with the questions above.