EMPOWER CLINIC TEAM
EMPOWER CLINIC STUDY
The EMPOWER team is conducting a retrospective chart review of biopsychosocial and medical information from women being treated at the EMPOWER Clinic. Dr. Veronica Ades founded the EMPOWER clinic to provide comprehensive health services to serve women who are survivors who have experienced sex trafficking, sexual violence, and/or genital cutting. The EMPOWER clinic team analyzes the clinical information collected in the EMPOWER clinic visits to learn more about the healthcare needs and experiences of survivors of gender-based violence.
Check out the EMPOWER Clinic website here!
Findings and Publications
Caring for the long term health needs in women with a history of sexual trauma
Published on October 22nd, 2019 by the British Medical Journal
Authors: Dr. Veronica Ades, Dr. Judy Greene, Brian Goddard, and Savannah Pearson Ayala
This paper explains the need for providing trauma informed care to patients who are survivors of sexual trauma and how the EMPOWER Clinic model provides this level of care for patients during check-ups and routine gynecological exams.
Please click here to read the full text article and visit the EMPOWER Clinic’s website to learn more about current projects and studies.
An Integrated, Trauma-Informed Care Model for Female Survivors of Sexual Violence: The Engage, Motivate, Protect, Organize, Self-Worth, Educate, Respect (EMPOWER) Clinic
Published in April 2019 by Obstetrics and Gynecology
Authors: Dr. Veronica Ades, Stephanie Wu, Emily Rabinowitz, Sonya Chemouni Bach, Brian Goddard, Savannah Pearson Ayala, and Dr. Judy Green
This article describes the Engage, Motivate, Protect, Organize, self-Worth, Educate, Respect (EMPOWER) Clinic for Survivors of Sex Trafficking and Sexual Violence located at Gouverneur Health in New York, New York, as a model for integrated gynecologic and psychiatric care of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Although patients with a history of sexual trauma often have critical health needs that persist long after the traumatic event, most existing services for survivors of sexual violence focus solely on the provision of acute care immediately after the violence has occurred.
Please click here to read the full text article and visit the EMPOWER Clinic’s website to learn more about current projects and studies.
ACOG Committee Opinion No. 729: Importance of Social Determinants of Health and Cultural Awareness in the Delivery of Reproductive Health Care.
Published in June 2018 by Obstetrics and Gynecology
Authors: Ades, Veronica; Goddard, Brian; Pearson Ayala, Savannah; Chemouni Bach, Sonya; Wu, Stephanie X
This article offers an additional social determinant not mentioned in the Committee Opinion No. 729: a patient's sexual trauma history. This Committee Opinion represents an important integration of clinical care and public health. Recognizing trauma as a determinant is a vital step toward making trauma-informed care more accessible.
Please click here to read the full text article and visit the EMPOWER Clinic’s website to learn more about current projects and studies.
Prioritizing Posttrafficking Care for Trafficked Individuals
Published in February 2018 by the American Journal of Public Health
We read with great interest the article "Public Health Research Priorities to Address US Human Trafficking" by Rothman et al.[ 1] We applaud the five priorities that Rothman et al. put forth for preventing trafficking as well as for identifying trafficking victims, but we believe that the article missed an important gap in knowledge regarding care provision in the critical posttrafficking period.
Please click here to read the full text article and visit the EMPOWER Clinic’s website to learn more about current projects and studies.
