Family & Friends' Guide to Domestic Violence: How to Listen, Talk, and Take Action when Someone You Care about is Being Abused

Elaine Weiss is a professional educator and writer. She has interviewed hundreds of women who survived physical and psychological domestic abuse. Her first book about domestic violence, Surviving Domestic Violence: Voices of Women Who Broke Free, tells the stories of twelve women who successfully escaped from an abusive relationship. Dr. Weiss is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine, in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. There, she teaches medical students and faculty how to recognize and support patients who are victims of domestic violence. She has made presentations to thousands of people across the country. She speaks to professionals who help abused women directly, including physicians, nurses, social workers, therapists, and shelter staff. She also conducts training sessions for parents, teachers, teenagers, college students, religious groups, law enforcement personnel, and business leaders. Her essays and articles have appeared in local and national publications, as well as on domestic violence web sites. They have also been incorporated into the teaching and counseling programs at a number of battered women's shelters. Elaine and her husband, Neal Whitman, divide their time between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Pacific Grove, California.