In 2018, Lisa Tullio with Ignite Change Counseling and Melissa Hall, Probation Officer with the 7th Judicial District found that the DVOMB Standards were not fully understood by the Judicial System. Based on a desire to get the word out and educate individuals, Lisa and Melissa created a training to review the standards and to identify main misconceptions regarding DV Treatment.  

As a result of creating and presenting this training to judges, district attorneys, probation officers, public defenders, and victims advocates, the district adopted positive changes including sentencing orders prohibiting the use and consumption of alcohol and illegal substances and random drug testing for all domestic violence proven cases. Not only have these changes resulted in a near-complete reduction of unsupervised probation at the time of sentencing and probation sentences of at least 18 months were implemented to account for the treatment process, the trainings have increased collaboration and teamwork within the entire system.  

Since Lisa and Melissa started offering the trainings in 2018, the Public Defender’s office, District Attorneys office and victims advocates have requested this training multiple times for all staff trainings and events throughout the district. Congratulations Ignite Change Counseling! 

We look forward to sharing more stories like this. If you have a success story, please contact DVOMB program staff.