WINGS

Partner: Louisa Gilbert, Co-Director of the Social Intervention Group and Associate Professor of Social Work

Women Initiating New Goals for Safety (WINGS) is a self-paced screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) tool that seeks to reduce intimate partner violence and improve relationships among women. The original study funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) looked at the effect of WINGS among women in community correction settings. WINGS is a collaboration between the Social Intervention Group (SIG) at the Columbia School of Social Work and CTL.

Participants in WINGS are asked to answer a series of online questions about their relationships. The questions encourage the participant to think critically about whether she is safe in her relationship and, if not, be motivated to change. WINGS provides a linear path for a participant to follow through a combination of interactive activities and educational materials, and includes audio and video components that help guide each participant. Take home materials, such as a safety plan and social support strategies, help provide women with tools to prevent intimate partner violence.

WINGS builds on CTL and SIG’s previous intervention projects, in particular using elements developed for Multimedia WORTH. Like WORTH, WINGS supports a range of literacy levels, with every element of WINGS available as audio.

In 2016, after positive outcomes from the original study, CTL worked with Dr. Gilbert to produce a version of WINGS that can be freely disseminated online. Organizations wishing to use WINGS with their population can access a version of WINGS hosted by the Columbia of School of Social Work, or they can upload and customize a version of WINGS to be hosted by their own organization.