Startling recent research shows traumatic brain injury (TBI) is extremely common among domestic violence survivors - even more common than with football players. One study found that -88 % of victims- have multiple head injuries and most never sought medical care. Victims of strangulation may be even be less likely to identify their symptoms as a brain injury.

This hidden epidemic matters for victim service providers because unidentified brain injury can affect memory, behavior, decision-making, and emotional regulation, leading to misinterpretation of survivors’ needs and barriers to safety and healing. Knowing about TBI allows providers to screen, adapt support, and connect survivors with the right medical and social resources.

Join co-hosts The North Carolina Victim Assistance Network (NCVAN) and the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCCADV) in this essential training with specialized facilitators Desireé Gorbea-Finalet from Disability Rights North Carolina and Erica Davis of The Brain Injury Association of North Carolina.

This training is ideal for any first responders working directly with victims of strangulation and head injury from domestic violence/IPV, including law enforcement, victim advocates, shelter staff, prosecutors,  and social workers, to better recognize symptoms and risk factors both directly following an event, and in the many survivors we have already missed.

Be prepared now by learning to implement head injury screenings in day-to-day work with survivors who may have brain damage from head injuries or strangulation and what to do to support them.