Domestic Violence & Brain Injury

Join the Red Rose Foundation, Rachel Ramirez and Dr Julia De Boos during Domestic & Family Violence Prevention Month for an informative webinar that digs deep into the issue of Partner Inflicted Brain Injury.

With increasing discussion and awareness around non-lethal strangulation as part of domestic violence there are shifts occurring in the way recognise and name the impacts. Brain Injury and Traumatic Brain Injury both recognise the impact yet fail to position causality where it belongs- with the perpetrator. As a result, nationally and internationally we are seeing a shift towards the term Partner Inflicted Brain Injury. 

Guest Speakers:

Rachel Ramirez is the Founder and Director of The Center on Partner-Inflicted Brain Injury, a project of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network in the United States. The Center provides statewide, national, and international leadership to raise awareness on the emerging area of brain injury caused by Domestic and Family Violence. For the past 13 years at the Network, Rachel has led multiple initiatives on trauma-informed approaches, mental health and substance use, with a recent national focus on partner-inflicted brain injury. She co-authored Trauma-Informed Approaches: Promising Practices and Protocols for Ohio’s Domestic Violence Programs, as well as peer-reviewed research studies in the Journal of Family Violence and the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma.

Dr Julia De Boos grew up across Geelong, Germany, the United Kingdom and Melbourne, and never imagined she would be working in emergency care in some of the most remote areas of Australia. As the Director of Emergency Medical Training and Senior Medical Officer at Mt Isa Base Hospital, coupled with working with the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), she is thriving in a career and a community that inspires and motivates her. Dr De Boos current responsibilities include training junior doctors in undertaking detailed physical assessments of patients presenting with assault injuries. Dr De Boos also reviews police investigation notes, statements and photos to provide expert opinion, often in Court.

Dr Michelle Fitts is an Australian Research Council DECRA Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University and lives in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). She started her career in alcohol and public health research in Queensland in 2010. Since 2015, she has committed her research energy to disability, with a focus on the rehabilitation and recovery needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living with traumatic brain injury.  She is currently leading a project on improving understanding of the needs and priorities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who live with traumatic brain injury from family violence.

Yasmin Johnson is the newly appointed CEO of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance (NATSIWA).  Yasmin is a proud Wulgurukaba woman from Yunbenun (Magnetic Island and Townsville, Queensland) with strong cultural connections to the Bwcolgman people of Palm Island, the Ngaro people of the Whitsundays and the Goreng Goreng people of North Central Queensland region.  Yasmin’s extensive work over the past 20 years has predominately focused on early family crisis intervention work and more recently, as a specialised practitioner in domestic and family violence.  Yasmin is a published author in creative writing and currently completing a Masters in Research at Western Sydney University.