Clark Anti-Violence Education Program

Welcome to the Clark Anti-Violence Education Program (CAVE)

What is the CAVE Program?

The Clark Anti-Violence Education (CAVE) program is supported by generous grants from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice. The program is directed by Professors Denise Hines and Kathleen Palm Reed from the Psychology Department. Hannah Richardson, a doctoral student in the Psychology Program, is the project coordinator.

The goal of the program is to reduce dating violence and sexual assault at Clark University through education programs and campaigns throughout the year. It is a coordinated effort by several offices at Clark, including law enforcement, the Dean of Students office, women's studies, athletics, health care services, the counseling center, housing authorities and RAs, judicial boards, and representatives from student government and other concerned student groups. This coordinated campus response team meets regularly to discuss policies, procedures, and programming on campus that are related to issues of dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

We are also working in conjunction with community victim service and law enforcement agencies to develop educational programming for students, campus police, and judicial boards. Among our many community partners in this program, one agency working with us is Daybreak, the most comprehensive domestic violence program in the Greater Worcester area. The Daybreak program, which was originally founded on the campus of Clark University over 30 years ago and is now part of the YWCA of Worcester, offers extensive services, including violence prevention education, staff training, numerous victim services, court and police advocacy, and emergency shelters.

What Kinds of Programming are Scheduled or Planned?

"Bringing in the Bystander" is a 120-minute program presented to incoming students during orientation, where students are divided into same-sex groups of about 30 to discuss what dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking are and how to properly and safely intervene before, during, or after an incident of dating violence or sexual assault that they may witness.

In addition, we are working with several community partners to bring other types of programming, such as plays and discussion groups, to campus at key times, such as during Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October and Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April. We will post and announce information about these programs as they are scheduled. Check our Facebook page for regular updates about events and information as well!

How Can Students Become Involved?

We will be training student peer educators, who will perform various functions, such as:

  • Contacting all incoming students each year about our orientation program
  • Performing key roles in the bystander educational programming
  • Emailing all incoming students each year with information on dating violence, sexual assault and stalking and a link to our website
  • Manning informational tables in the student center
  • Training students on how to be peer educators

Peer educators will be trained primarily through a first seminar in the Psychology Department that will be devoted to educating students on the scholarly literature on dating violence and sexual assault.

For more information on this course and/or how to become a peer educator, please contact either Prof. Denise Hines or Prof. Kathleen Palm Reed.

What is the Expertise of the Program Directors and Coordinators?

Kathleen M. Palm Reed, Ph.D. is Associate Director of Clinical Training and Research Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department. She has published in the areas of sexual victimization, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse, with 15 articles and 5 book chapters. She also has worked as a therapist with victims of violent crime since 1998, and is a licensed psychologist in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Denise A. Hines, Ph.D. is a Research Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department. Having published over 20 articles and two books on issues of family violence, she is an expert on issues of intimate partner violence. In addition to the funding provided by the Department of Education under this project, she is also funded by a research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health on mental health issues and intimate partner violence. For more information, visit her webpage

Hannah Richardson, M.A. is a fifth-year Clinical Psychology doctoral student. Her clinical training has focused on providing psychotherapy to college students, LGBT-identified individuals, and low-income populations. For her master’s thesis, she researched the experiences of lesbian couples who completed transracial adoptions. For her doctoral dissertation, she is researching the impact of same-sex marriage on sexual minorities living in Massachusetts.