Violence

Life-Path Interview 13

Purpose: Understand how exposure to violence or threat affected a person's development, safety, relationships, behaviour, and ways of responding to conflict.

This is not an investigation. The participant does not need to identify another person, describe an offence, or provide graphic details. They may skip any question.

Participant code: ____________________ Date: ____________________

Interviewer: ____________________

□ The participant agrees to have these responses recorded and stored privately for Union support planning. Questions may be skipped. The participant can ask the administrator to review or correct the record, or discuss withdrawal.

1. Earliest Awareness

When did you first become aware that people could seriously hurt or threaten one another?

About how old were you?

Was this something you witnessed, directed toward you, happening in your home or neighbourhood, among peers, connected to school, connected to institutions, or something else?

You do not need to describe exactly what happened.

2. What You Learned

At the time, what did the experience teach you?

Did you learn to stay quiet, fight back, run, never show weakness, protect others, distrust people, stay alert, find allies, seek authority, avoid authority, or something else?

Did those lessons continue to affect you later?

3. Safety

As you got older, when did you feel safest?

When did you feel least safe?

What helped you judge whether somebody was dangerous?

Were those instincts usually useful?

4. Conflict

How did you learn to respond when somebody challenged, threatened, embarrassed, or frightened you?

Has that response changed over time?

What helps you avoid escalation now?

5. Consequences

Did violence or fear affect school, work, family, housing, friendships, substance use, police involvement, sleep, trust, ability to relax, or something else?

6. Turning Points

Was there a moment when you decided you wanted violence to play a smaller role in your life?

What caused that change?

Was there someone who showed you another way of handling conflict?

7. Strength and Protection

What does being strong mean to you now?

What is the difference between protecting yourself and escalating a situation?

Who or what are you protective of?

8. Looking Back

What would have made you safer earlier in life?

What do people misunderstand about someone who learned to survive through aggression, vigilance, or toughness?

9. Participant's Own Interpretation

Finish: "I learned to protect myself by..."

Finish: "What I would rather be able to do now is..."

Interviewer Notes

Approximate age of first significant exposure: ____________________________________________

Primary learned response: ____________________________________________

De-escalation strengths: ____________________________________________

Protective motivations: ____________________________________________

Do not collect graphic detail, third-party identifying information, or unnecessary admissions about offences.