Strangulation: Improving Responses to an Often-Invisible Form of Gender-Based Violence
Tracks
Room 2: In-Person Only
| Wednesday, November 27, 2024 |
| 10:05 AM - 10:35 AM |
| Room 2 |
Overview
Jackie Mcmillan, Women's Health NSW
Speaker
Ms Jackie McMillan
Senior Project Officer
Women's Health NSW
Strangulation: Improving Responses to an Often-Invisible Form of Gender-Based Violence
Abstract
Around half of women who experience non-fatal strangulation, also known as choking, will have no external signs that the strangulation occurred. Without systemic change to ensure we’re all asking the right questions, both non-fatal strangulation and sexual choking are easy to miss.
This project, “Local pathways for victim survivors of sexual assault related non-fatal strangulation and acquired brain injury” dubbed the Pathways Project, came about when Women’s Health NSW identified a need to support and strengthen professional understanding and local capacity to respond to sexual assault-related non-fatal strangulation and acquired brain injury.
In this presentation Women’s Health NSW will introduce their work on improving responses to strangulation and sexual choking across the state, including via their new online learning hub, 'It Left No Marks'. This includes delivering training to build workforce capability across 21 women’s health and special purpose centres that improves recognition and understanding of these issues. Women’s Health NSW build upon this understanding by bringing together research and expert insights to identify what a best practice response to strangulation, sexual choking and acquired brain injury might look like for each centre. This includes helping the centres develop a robust, multidisciplinary referral pathway that is specific to each local area, along with protocols for using it.
Drawing upon our work in community health settings, this presentation will highlight three key learnings that all services could use to improve the way they respond to women with experiences of strangulation, sexual choking, and potential brain injuries. These key learnings are carefully considering the way we ask women about these issues; collecting accurate data to advocate for improved access to brain injury and other services the women need; and meeting the woman’s holistic needs by making a multidisciplinary response.
Key Learnings:
1. Language matters: carefully considering the way we ask women about strangulation and sexual choking.
2. Improved data: collecting accurate data to advocate for improved access to brain injury and other services the women need.
3. Making a multidisciplinary response that holistically meets the woman's needs.
This project, “Local pathways for victim survivors of sexual assault related non-fatal strangulation and acquired brain injury” dubbed the Pathways Project, came about when Women’s Health NSW identified a need to support and strengthen professional understanding and local capacity to respond to sexual assault-related non-fatal strangulation and acquired brain injury.
In this presentation Women’s Health NSW will introduce their work on improving responses to strangulation and sexual choking across the state, including via their new online learning hub, 'It Left No Marks'. This includes delivering training to build workforce capability across 21 women’s health and special purpose centres that improves recognition and understanding of these issues. Women’s Health NSW build upon this understanding by bringing together research and expert insights to identify what a best practice response to strangulation, sexual choking and acquired brain injury might look like for each centre. This includes helping the centres develop a robust, multidisciplinary referral pathway that is specific to each local area, along with protocols for using it.
Drawing upon our work in community health settings, this presentation will highlight three key learnings that all services could use to improve the way they respond to women with experiences of strangulation, sexual choking, and potential brain injuries. These key learnings are carefully considering the way we ask women about these issues; collecting accurate data to advocate for improved access to brain injury and other services the women need; and meeting the woman’s holistic needs by making a multidisciplinary response.
Key Learnings:
1. Language matters: carefully considering the way we ask women about strangulation and sexual choking.
2. Improved data: collecting accurate data to advocate for improved access to brain injury and other services the women need.
3. Making a multidisciplinary response that holistically meets the woman's needs.
Biography
Jackie McMillan is a senior project officer at Women's Health NSW working on a project creating pathways for women experiencing non-fatal strangulation and acquired brain injuries. This role harnesses her commitment to ending violence against women honed during her time at Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS) with her expertise in sexual consent and sexual health developed across nearly a decade at the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP NSW). Jackie has worked with sexual adventurous women for almost three decades at The Sydney Hellfire Club and is the current president of the SWOP NSW board.
