University Health Truman Medical Center's (UHTMC) RISE Program is a comprehensive, stepped-care treatment program that seeks to provide nonfatal shooting victims and their families with timely mental health supports in the immediate aftermath of a shooting. The RISE (Responsive Individualized Support and Early Intervention) Program consists of an interdisciplinary team of nurses, social workers, chaplains, and behavioral health professionals working to make sure that people affected by gun violence have all the resources they need to recover.

Nearly 500 Served In First 33 Months

All Jackson County residents should have the opportunity to make choices that allow them to live long, healthy lives, regardless of their income, education or ethnic background. The violence in our community has made those choices difficult for some in Jackson County.

University Health Truman Medical Center (UHTMC)—located in the UMKC Health Sciences District—is acutely aware of the impact of the level of violence. Between September 1, 2019, and May 31, 2022, UHTMC's RISE Program screened and/or provided services to 491 individuals, including nonfatal shooting victims and victims' family members. Despite efforts to reduce gun violence,nonfatal firearm-related crime remains a significant problem both locally and nationally.

Providing Mental Health Care

An opportunity exists for a new model to provide adequate mental health care for nonfatal shooting victims in the aftermath of a violent crime. Nonfatal shooting victims are at risk for a wide range of crime-related mental health problems, including PTSD, that in and of themselves, may increase risk for revictimization and violent behavior. To further underscore the severity of this issue, approximately 44.1% of victims screened for PTSD risk during the first 21 months of our project period screened high risk for chronic posttraumatic stress symptoms. Thus, providing nonfatal shooting victims with more opportunistic, responsive mental health services is a critical element in reducing the “cycle of violence.”

With additional resources provided through COMBAT Prevention Funding, we will continue implementing a Stepped-Care Model of Intervention for PTSD with nonfatal shooting victims that was initially developed with the support of COMBAT Anti-Violence Special Initiative (AVSI) funds in July 2019 and has since been continuously supported with COMBAT Prevention Funds from 2020 to present.

STRiVIN' Referral Program

In addition to providing much needed care to victims and their families, our active participation in COMBAT's STRiVIN' initiative will help connect victims in need of basic resources to community partner agencies that can assist in providing basic resources and services, further supporting program engagement and retention and overall health and recovery for gunshot victims.

Locations

Click on the window icon (upper right corner) of the map below to expand. List of all program locations is included with expanded view of map. Locations are also listed on this page below the map.