Milwaukee health department briefs Youth Council on domestic violence prevention, local trends

MILWAUKEE — Liza Herbst, the family violence prevention manager for the City of Milwaukee’s Office of Community Wellness and Safety, and Adrianna Watkins, program coordinator, briefed the Milwaukee Youth Council on Oct. 22 about the office’s programs, referral pathways and local trends in intimate‑partner and family violence.

Herbst told the council the office — recently moved into the Department of Administration and into new quarters on 13th and Maple — includes three divisions: a family violence division, a community division focused on gun‑violence and de‑escalation, and a clinical team contracted through the RECAST program to serve people who have experienced or are at risk of trauma.

The presentation framed domestic violence broadly to include emotional and financial abuse as well as physical violence. "Being told negative things... That is a form of violence," Herbst said, illustrating the office’s emphasis on nonphysical harms. She cited national and international authorities, including the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for prevention frameworks and statistics.

Why it matters: presenters said Milwaukee has recent increases in domestic‑violence incidents and related shootings and that service capacity is strained. The office identified practical gaps — insufficient shelter…