This week on Root of the Issue our host Barbara Petee is joined by Peter Simonsson, PhD, MSW, LCSW, a criminologist at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.  Dr. Simonsson has extensive experience conducting community research in criminal-legal settings with a focus on violence and violent victimization. In addition to his academic work, he serves as an expert witness in hearings involving children with suspected or known histories of maltreatment, abuse and trauma, and is a consultant for municipal, state and federal agencies on issues involving violent crime.  At Temple University, he is the faculty lead on Philadelphia Cure Violence, which is an evidence-based gun violence prevention program.  In this episode of Root of the Issue, Dr. Simonsson discusses his work with justice-involved people who act as peer mentors to mentor and promote desistance from gun violence and stabbings in Philadelphia.

In talking about the credible messenger approach to addressing community gun violence, Peter shared: 

“We've had this idea of sort of lived experience across healthcare and criminal justice and mental health for some time …  And we're learning that participants in those programs who work with credible messengers, who have lived experience, they share things; if you went across a minefield…It's better to walk in the footsteps of a person who has crossed that before. You need to learn from people like that.”