May 1 was a big day for Brain Injury Australia as we, along with our research partners, launched our major report into Australia’s first research directly linking family violence and brain injury. Funded by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, the report was launched by 2015’s Australian of the Year and tireless domestic violence campaigner, Rosie Batty, in front of 250 people at Melbourne Town Hall.
Among the research’s key findings:
- 2 in every 5 of the 16,000 victims of family violence attending Victorian hospitals over a decade had sustained a brain injury;
- nearly 1 in every 3 of the victims of family violence were children,
- and, of those, 1 in every 4 had sustained a brain injury.
The research was completed by a consortium led by Brain Injury Australia, comprising Monash University, Domestic Violence Victoria, No to Violence and the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare. It was an implementation of Recommendation 171 of the Victorian Royal Commission Into Family Violence, specifically that: ‘The Victorian Government fund research into the prevalence of acquired brain injury among family violence victims and perpetrators.’
The next step is to put the report’s recommendations into action.
Brain Injury Australia is actively seeking partners and funders/ funding to pursue the report’s four recommendations, including:
- the development and distribution of information resources on brain injury;
- the addition of screening questions for brain injury in family violence risk assessments;
- the mapping, or development of, services and supports for both victim-survivors of family violence with a brain injury as well as those at increased risk of perpetrating of family violence as a result of their brain injury;
- and the piloting of an integrated brain injury and family violence service.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, I look forward to hearing from you.
Video of May 1st’s launch is also available via Brain Injury Australia’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmjK_Aa7lv5i23Sn9cm8AHg
You can also download a PDF of the report here
If you have any questions about the report, or the research, please do not hesitate to contact us here.