Drawing on more than 150 in-depth interviews, Becoming Strong: Impoverished Women and the Struggle to Overcome Violence explores the diverse effects of trauma in the lives of homeless female victims of violence.

Laura Huey and Ryan Broll closely examine the negative patterns common to cases of homeless female victims of violence and develop informed solutions for responding to issues that perpetuate cycles of female homelessness. Becoming Strong offers not only a comprehensive examination of trauma and the role it can play in shaping homeless women’s lives, but it also explores how women may recover and develop strategies for coping with traumatic experiences.

Laura Huey is Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario and the founder and Chair of the Advisory Council of the Canadian Society of Evidence Based Policing (Can-SEBP). Renée J. Mitchell is Senior Police Researcher at Research Triangle Institute International and the co-founder of the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing. Hina Kalyal is a policy analyst at London Police Service in Ontario. Roger Pegram is Chief Inspector in Merseyside Police, the Vice Chair of the UK Society of Evidence Based Policing and a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology.

Laura Huey's profile page

Ryan Broll is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph.

Ryan Broll's profile page

"The authors analyzed interviews conducted with nearly two hundred homeless women in U.S. cities, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit. Most of the women who suffered a wide range of traumas exhibited signs of resiliency. Where women remain in negative patterns, they may be solutions, rather than perpetuating female homelessness."

Feminist Caucus, July 2018

"As the book title suggests, the message of the book is that marginalized and victimized women can become strong, often already are (but not realized to be) strong, and there are ways that society and other individuals can assist women on the journey to becoming strong."

Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books, online