Our History

We are a registered Scottish charity of healthcare professionals adopting a public-health approach to violence reduction because we believe prevention is better than cure.

MAV's History

We were founded in 2008 in response to Scotland’s growing knife-crime epidemic, and we’ve continued to grow since.

November 2008

Medics Against Violence is founded

We were established in 2008 by three Glasgow surgeons - Dr Christine Goodall, Mr Mark Devlin and Mr David Koppel. Each had professional experience of dealing with violence in their everyday work and felt things had to change.

September 2009

Schools Programme is launched

Volunteering in their free time, our founding members and volunteer healthcare professionals started to deliver bespoke lessons to school pupils across the West of Scotland focusing on knife crime and the health consequences of violence.

2010

AVDR training is rolled out

We realised that youth violence was not the only issue we faced in Scotland. In 2010, we developed training on domestic abuse to a range of health professionals using AVDR.

June 2014

5 years of MAV

We celebrated our first 5 years with our conference Violence Makes you Ill in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Featuring Paul Gray, Iain Livingston, Karyn McCluskey and a host of other great speakers we explored the effect of violence on health, how the health sector can help to reduce violence and how partners in health, justice and other sectors can work together to reduce not only violence but injury.

2015

AVDR becomes ASC

AVDR was redeveloped in 2015 with support and funding from the Equally Safe fund at the Scottish Government. The new training format incorporates the bystander approach and allows everyone to see a role for themselves in the prevention of domestic abuse

November 2015

Navigator launches in Glasgow Royal Infirmary

In 2015 we launched the Navigator service in partnership with the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit. Navigators are support workers who work between the Emergency Department and the community offering support and practical help to people whose lives are affected by a range of complex social issues. Navigator was supported by funding from the Scottish Government.

2016

MAV interns is launched

Peer education is known to be a very effective way of getting messages across to young people so in 2016 we launched our peer education programme, MAV Interns. MAV interns trains 5th or 6th year pupils to present their version of our violence reduction lesson to younger pupils in the school with the aim of keeping the whole school safe.

December 2016

Navigator launches in Royal Infirmary Edinburgh

June 2018

Navigator launches in Queen Elizabeth University Hospital

September 2018

MAV Interns at Whitburn Academy

Students at Whitburn Academy became our second group of MAV Interns

November 2018

We celebrate our 10th Birthday

In 2018 we celebrated our 10th Birthday with a conference based around the theme of partnership. The conference brought together many of our partners and allowed us to look back at the progress of violence reduction in Scotland.

November 2018

Navigator launches in University Hospital Crosshouse

June 2019

MAV Interns goes to Holyrood Secondary

Holyrood Secondary became our third MAV Interns school

September 2019

MAV Interns is now at Knightswood Secondary

Knightswood Secondary become the latest school to join the MAV Interns programme

November 2019

Navigator launches in Dundee Royal Infirmary