Rebecca Griego’s death earlier this month has prompted new discussion about domestic and workplace violence on campus.

Although the finality to Griego’s story is not common, the events leading up to that April morning were not unique to her own experience, but are shared by most victims of domestic violence.

According to experts, Greigo took all the right steps — from telling friends about her situation to seeking a protection order and notifying the UW Police Department.

“She came to us on March 16,” UWPD Chief Vicky Stormo said. “She gave us the protection order at that time. We were attempting to locate [her ex-boyfriend], and actually the Seattle Police Department was also attempting to locate him to serve was very elusive.”

Most importantly, the victim must seek help and intervention, Stormo said. This can be accomplished through filing a police report with the UWPD, or by contacting one of the many counseling resources available to student, faculty and staff.

UW community members have a wide variety of options at their disposal if they believe that they are a victim of domestic violence, said Sara Dale, clinical psychologist and outreach coordinator for the UW Counseling Center. Staff and faculty can discuss their situation confidentially with a Human Resources Consultant, and while students can contact the Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence and Information Service or the UW Counseling Center for advice about assessing the level of potential danger in their relationships.

These departments can also help student, faculty and staff in obtaining medical and legal aid.

“Students are never coerced into filing a police report or seeking a protective order, but are supported in doing so if they would like to,” Dale said.

Dale also said that the term “domestic violence” has been replaced on most university campuses with “relationship violence.” The new term provides a broader definition than the more restrictive term “domestic violence.”

“Relationship violence occurs along a continuum, ranging from verbal and emotional abuse, [such as] manipulation, making insulting comments, embarrassing or shaming one’s partner in public, to severe, on-going physical abuse [such as] hitting, slapping, confining one’s partner to the home, forced sexual activity and threatening with weapons,” Dale said.

The psychologist also pointed to several key warning signs of relationship violence, ranging from forced isolation from friends and family to physical violence.

“Often, when I talk with survivors of relationship violence, they report a history that includes jealous and possessive behavior on the part of their partner, escalating over time to include more threatening forms of control,” she said.

Griego’s killing has prompted the University and the UWPD to reassess how reports of relationship violence are handled.

“We’ve already looked at our process of what we do with protection orders when they come to our attention,” Stormo said. “We’ve already looked at that process and cleaned it up a bit.”

A special advisory board will convene within the next few weeks to explore how the UW can improve its current handling of relationship violence reports. The board will be staffed by members of the UW faculty, the ASUW and the administration, including Stormo, Vice Provost of Student Life Eric Godfrey and Griego’s sister Rachel.

The main points of interest for the board include developing a better understanding of what current resources and support mechanisms are in place for dealing with workplace and relationship violence, establishing a process that allows for automatic and immediate response to threats and recommending an improved communication plan that will include annual violence prevention information and training.

Reach reporter Shaun Moore at news@thedaily.washington.edu.