New Faculty Member Gleans Insight for Preventing Domestic Violence from Work in Nepal
Domestic violence (DV) is a global health issue that impacts the well-being of survivors, families, and future generations. Claire Willey-Sthapit, Ph.D., assistant professor in the KU School of Social Welfare, has studied responses to DV both in the United States and Nepal, gaining insight into community responses that empower survivors and hold those who use violence accountable.
Willey-Sthapit started her social work career in 2009 as a resident in marriage and family therapy in a private practice outside of Washington, D.C. Not long after, she and her spouse, who is Nepali, moved to Nepal. There, she worked as a couple’s counselor and trainer for Transcultural Psychosocial Organization in Kathmandu and as a psychosocial counseling trainer with Kopila Nepal in Pokhara.
While the stories of relationship violence Willey-Sthapit heard in both countries were all too familiar, some of the strategies used in Nepal for preventing and addressing DV were different. Nepali social workers took an approach that was grounded in a human rights lens, and often began with building family and community support, Willey-Sthapit says.
“There was a lot happening in Nepal in terms of things people were doing to address DV that I hadn’t seen so much in the United States. I was interested to learn more, both to highlight the strengths and strategies being used in Nepal, and also to consider how these could inform our work in the United States,” she says. “That influenced my desire to study community strategies to address DV in Nepal.”
I n 2013, Willey-Sthapit returned to the United States so she could earn her Ph.D. in social work from the University of Washington, with graduate certificates in feminist studies and South Asian studies. She also holds an MSSW from the University of Louisville.
At KU, Willey-Sthapit is continuing her work in domestic violence research, policy and practice, both in the U.S. and in international development settings. Her work focuses on how social workers in Nepal are engaged in domestic violence prevention and intervention, and what knowledge they can share that could inform and influence DV practice internationally.
Policy and practice are often dominated by institutions in the west and countries that are wealthier or considered “developed,” Willey-Sthapit says.
“For this reason, part of my research project is to consider how the knowledge from service providers, activists, and community members in Nepal could influence the ways we understand DV internationally and in the United States,” Willey-Sthapit says. “This is in contrast to what is often seen, where I, as a white academic from the United States might just go in and say, ‘Here is what you need to know about DV and here is how to handle it.’ A thing that is important to me is to consider how can we reverse that process and create opportunities for mutual learning that is also mutually beneficial.”
For example, Willey-Sthapit observed that service providers working in and around Pokhara recognize the importance of family and community for the economic, social, and political well-being of survivors. Thus, they may build support for survivors by encouraging community members to analyze gender-based violence as a human rights issue and by sharing the negative impacts of violence on mental and physical health. They support community groups where women and other marginalized individuals in society can share experiences, build knowledge, gain economic opportunities, provide mutual support, and gain some positive visibility for their work in the wider community. Where possible, they encourage those who know of situations where DV is occurring to get involved by actively supporting survivors and confronting those who have used violence.
“The primary goal that I understood service providers to express was that anyone who has experienced domestic violence should have the material, social, and political resources needed to enhance their available options,” Willey-Sthapit says. She adds, “Though I’m sure that I still have much to learn, I’m grateful to Kopila Nepal for their partnership which made this research possible, as well as to all of the service providers who shared their time, experiences, and expertise with me.” Willey-Sthapit plans to return to Pokhara, Nepal this summer to share and gain additional feedback from service providers on her research.
Willey-Sthapit plans to return to Nepal this summer, to share and gain feedback on the findings from her previous research, and to develop a plan alongside service providers for further dissemination of the research and possible future collaborations.
Willey-Sthapit joined the KU faculty in 2022–2023. She is a faculty affiliate of the Toni Johnson Center for Racial and Social Justice, where she will look at racism from a transnational perspective.
“Gender-based violence is a social justice issue and problem, but it’s also important to recognize global racism and the way that racism plays out between countries in the context of colonialism and international development approaches that often do not recognize the strengths of countries that have been categorized as ‘least developed,’” she says. “A lot of this plays along racial lines.”
Willey-Sthapit is excited about the role KU social welfare students will play in addressing complex social challenges in the future.
“They come with these experiences and commitments that drew them into the field, where they want to make a change in the world, but they are doing so in a conscious way,” she says. “For example, in the first class I taught at KU, my students shared with me and one another that they wanted to be challenged, to learn about things that are unsettling to them, including confronting their own privileges. This self-reflective interest in learning gives me hope for the future.”
