Domestic Violence Awareness

For employees, managers, HR, health care and community workers: recognize domestic violence, respond safely to disclosures, and know when and where to report.

For: All employees, managers, HR professionals, health care workers and community and social service workers

  • 2 contact hours
  • 8 modules
  • 10 interactives
  • 5 job aids
  • Updated October 7, 2026

What you will be able to do

  • Recognize the forms and possible indicators of domestic and intimate partner violence, including coercive control, economic and technology-facilitated abuse, and stalking, without jumping to conclusions.
  • Explain who is affected by intimate partner violence using current CDC data, how exposure affects children, and the barriers that make leaving dangerous or difficult.
  • Respond to a disclosure using private, safe and trauma-informed language, including how health care teams ask about intimate partner violence.
  • Identify danger and lethality red flags and connect people to emergency help, advocates, safety planning and protective-order information without giving legal advice.
  • Determine when a report is required (child, vulnerable adult or reportable injury), route it to the correct agency, document factually and protect confidentiality.
  • Apply a fair, safe workplace response, including leave and accommodation options, security measures, confidentiality and the elements of a domestic violence policy.

Learn to recognize the many forms of domestic and intimate partner violence, from physical and sexual abuse to coercive control, economic abuse, technology-facilitated abuse and stalking. You will practice responding to a disclosure in a way that is safe and trauma-informed, spot danger red flags, and work through when a report is required and where it goes.

This course is for anyone who may be the first person a survivor tells: coworkers, managers and HR, nurses and medical assistants, dental and pharmacy teams, case managers, school and youth staff, and community workers. Health care learners get a focused look at private screening, the 2025 USPSTF recommendation and documentation; managers get practical guidance on leave, safety and performance.

The course uses the newest CDC national survey data (NISVS 2023/2024), the 2022 VAWA definitions and real state examples, and keeps you within your role: no investigating, no legal advice. Branching scenarios, a reporting decision tree, a state lookup and printable job aids (documentation template, hotline sheet, reporting checklist and policy review checklist) help you act with confidence on your next shift.

What you’ll be able to do Monday morning

  1. Recognize a cluster of possible warning signs in a coworker, patient or client and offer a private, non-judgmental check-in.
  2. Respond to a disclosure with the four core messages and share the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233, text START to 88788) in a way that is safe.
  3. Spot danger red flags such as threats to kill, gun access, past strangulation and recent separation, and get same-day expert help.
  4. Use a decision tree to decide whether you must report to a child abuse hotline, adult protective services or law enforcement in your state.
  5. Write a factual concern note in the person's own words and store it confidentially.
  6. As a manager or HR professional, apply leave, accommodation and security steps instead of jumping to discipline.

Curriculum

8 modules · 31 lessons · about 2 contact hours

01What counts as domestic violence, and why is it about control?Free preview15 min
  1. What do the terms mean?
  2. What forms can domestic violence take?
  3. What is coercive control, and why does it matter?
  4. What is the 'power and control' lens?
  • Sort activity: Which form of abuse is it?

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

02Who is affected, how are children harmed, and why is leaving so hard?15 min
  1. How common is intimate partner violence in the United States?
  2. Who is affected, and who faces extra barriers?
  3. How does domestic violence affect children who live with it?
  4. Why don't people 'just leave'?
  • Matching activity: Myths and facts about domestic violence

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

03What signs might you notice at work, in care or in the community?14 min
  1. Why are signs only clues, not proof?
  2. What signs show up in the workplace?
  3. What signs show up in health care and community settings?
  4. How do you avoid bias when you notice signs?
  • Spot the issue: Spot the possible warning signs

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

04How do you ask safely and respond when someone tells you?16 min
  1. Who should ask about domestic violence, and when?
  2. How do you ask safely?
  3. What do you say when someone discloses?
  4. What should happen in the next five minutes?
  • Branching scenario: A screening conversation at a prenatal visit

Diagram · In practice checklist · 3-question knowledge check

05How do you recognize danger, support safety planning and explain protective orders?16 min
  1. Which signs suggest serious or lethal danger?
  2. What is safety planning, and what is your role?
  3. What are protective orders, and how do they work?
  4. How do you share information without giving legal advice?
  • Ethics dilemma: "Please don't tell anyone"

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

06When must you report, to whom, and what should you write down?18 min
  1. Is there a duty to report domestic violence between adults?
  2. How do you decide and report to the right place?
  3. What should you document, and how?
  4. How do you protect confidentiality?
  • Decision tree: Do I need to report, and to whom?
  • State rules selector: Look up domestic violence-related rules for your state
  • Spot the issue: Spot the problems in a concern note

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

07What should employers, managers and coworkers do when domestic violence reaches work?17 min
  1. Why is domestic violence a workplace issue?
  2. What leave and job protections might apply?
  3. How should a manager respond?
  4. What should coworkers do, and what belongs in a workplace policy?
  • Self-assessment: How ready are you, and your workplace, to respond?

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

08How do the pieces fit together in real situations, and how do you sustain yourself?14 min
  1. Five reporting scenarios: what would you do?
  2. What about teens and dating violence?
  3. How do you keep doing this work without burning out?
  • Ethics dilemma: Performance or protection?

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

Final assessment: 25 questions, 80% to pass, then your certificate

Try it now, no account needed

A screening conversation at a prenatal visit

A branching scenario from this course. Your choices are not saved.

Free sample activity

A screening conversation at a prenatal visit

You are Brianna Holt, a medical assistant at a prenatal clinic in Omaha, Nebraska. Your clinic screens all pregnant patients for intimate partner violence using a brief validated tool, asked in private. Your patient, Mei Lin Zhou, 26, is 22 weeks pregnant. Her partner, Kyle, has come into the exam room with her, as he does at every visit.

Inside the course

Practice activities

  • Sort activity1
  • Matching activity1
  • Spot the issue2
  • Branching scenario1
  • Ethics dilemma2
  • Decision tree1
  • State rules selector1
  • Self-assessment1

Job aids you keep

  • Domestic Violence Concern Documentation TemplateTemplate
  • Domestic Violence Hotline and State Reporting SheetReference sheet
  • Domestic Violence Response and Reporting ChecklistChecklist
  • Workplace Domestic Violence Policy Review ChecklistChecklist
  • Responding to a Disclosure: Pocket CardPocket card

Credit and approval status

Certificate of completion

This course awards a certificate of completion for 2 contact hours of instruction. It is not currently approved or accredited by any licensing board, state agency or continuing education accreditor. In particular, it is not approved by any Florida board or reported through CE Broker, so it does not fulfill the Florida domestic violence course requirement in s. 456.031, which requires a course approved by the licensee's board. Before you enroll to meet a requirement, check with your licensing board, employer or state agency whether this course is accepted.

Pathways we may pursue for future editions include a Florida edition submitted for approval by the relevant Florida boards with CE Broker reporting, nursing continuing education through an approver accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), and social work continuing education through the Association of Social Work Boards ACE program. None of these approvals exists today; the course page will show an approval only after it is granted.

Our full approvals list

State notes

Most rules that affect how you respond to domestic violence are set by state law. Before relying on this course, confirm these points for the state where you work:

  • Child abuse reporting. Every state has a child abuse reporting law, but who must report, the reporting standard and timelines differ. Texas (Family Code §261.101) and Florida (ch. 39) require any person to report; Texas professionals must report within 48 hours and may not delegate. Illinois (325 ILCS 5/4) lists mandated reporters, including school personnel. Whether a child's exposure to domestic violence is itself reportable depends on your state's definitions.
  • Vulnerable adults. Every state has an adult protective services system, but who must report and which adults are covered vary. Long-term care settings often have additional rules.
  • Injury reporting by health practitioners. Some states require health practitioners to report certain injuries to law enforcement. California Penal Code §11160 requires covered practitioners to report injuries from firearms or from assaultive or abusive conduct, by phone and then in writing within two working days. Other states have narrower or different rules.
  • Training mandates. Florida s. 456.031 requires licensees under chapters 458, 459, part I of 464, 466, 467, 490 and 491 to complete a 2-hour domestic violence course approved by their board as part of every third biennial relicensure. This national course is not approved for that purpose.
  • Leave and workplace protections. Some states and cities provide domestic violence leave, safe time, accommodations or anti-discrimination protections. Illinois VESSA (820 ILCS 180) provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period depending on employer size.
  • Protective orders. Names, eligibility, duration and firearm-surrender rules vary by state. Federal law (18 U.S.C. §922(g)(8)) separately restricts firearm possession by people subject to qualifying orders.

Use the state lookup in Module 6 and the hotline sheet job aid, and check your state agency, licensing board and domestic violence coalition for current rules.

Questions about this course

Does this course meet Florida's domestic violence CE requirement?

No. Florida s. 456.031 requires certain licensees, including physicians, nurses, dentists, midwives, psychologists and mental health professionals, to take a 2-hour domestic violence course approved by their board every third biennial renewal. This course is not approved by any Florida board or reported to CE Broker. It earns a certificate of completion for 2 contact hours that employers may accept for general training. Check with your board before enrolling.

Who is this course for?

It is designed for anyone who might be the first person a survivor talks to: employees and coworkers, managers and HR staff, nurses, medical and dental assistants, pharmacy teams, case managers, school and youth workers, and community service staff. Health care and manager-specific sections show how the same principles apply in clinical and supervisory roles.

How long does the course take, and what do I receive?

Plan for about 2 hours, including eight short modules, interactive scenarios, knowledge checks and a 25-question final assessment with an 80% pass mark. When you pass, you receive a certificate of completion for 2 contact hours, plus downloadable job aids: a documentation template, a hotline and state reporting sheet, a reporting checklist and a policy review checklist.

Will this course tell me exactly what my state requires?

It explains the main types of state rules (child abuse reporting, adult protective services, health practitioner injury reporting, leave and training mandates) with verified examples from several states, and gives you a state lookup and a checklist for confirming your own rules. Laws change and differ by state, so always confirm with your state agency, licensing board or employer.

Does the course teach me how to investigate abuse?

No. Investigating, confronting an abusive partner or gathering evidence can increase danger. The course teaches you to recognize signs, respond supportively, connect people with advocates and experts, report when the law requires it, and document what you saw and heard factually.

This topic is personal for me. Is support available?

Yes. Many learners have their own experience of domestic violence. You can pause the course at any time. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-799-7233, by texting START to 88788, or by chat at thehotline.org. In an emergency, call 911.

This course is general education and training awareness from CE Courses Hub on domestic violence. It is not legal, medical or professional advice and does not replace your employer's policies, your licensing board's rules, or advice from a qualified professional. Completing it earns a certificate of completion for the stated contact hours; it is not approved or accredited by any licensing board, state agency or accreditor unless an approval is shown on the course page. Check with your board, employer or state agency whether this course meets your specific requirement.