About Us
What is SWIRL?
Founded in 2019, the Social Work Interdisciplinary Research Lab is dedicated to addressing gender-based violence (GBV) affecting women, adolescents, and children. Its mission is to collaborate with vital stakeholders in resource-constrained environments to increase GBV awareness and develop interventions tailored to the unique challenges of these communities. Resource constraints are more than just financial in nature and are not limited to locales outside the United States. We interpret resource constraint to include lack of culturally appropriate interventions to address needs of minoritized populations, such as African American teen mothers, immigrant South Asian women, and residents of urban Cité Soleil community in Haiti. The lab’s goal is to foster capacity building, sustainable change, and empowerment in such communities both within the United States and globally.
What is Gender-Based Violence (GBV)?
The work of Drs. Joshi and Rahill have long focused on the Syndemic intersection of disparities in preventable infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS with contextual norms and behaviors that invalidate, disparage, and harm women, adolescents, and children based on gender identity, gender-assigned roles, and/ or gender expression. Depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, trauma and social stigma are part of the outcomes of gender-based violence against women and children that hinder their capacity to seek and obtain healthcare, reduce their capacity to protect themselves and constrain them to cycles of poverty, various forms of abuse, and poor quality of life.
If you are interested in joining our team or you wish to get in contact with our lab about collaboration or services, please contact Dr. Manisha Joshi.