The Hidden Cost of Violence: Whanganui conference aims for better screening and care

Whanganui Family Violence Intervention Network coordinator Lorraine Sheenagh. Photo / Bevan Conley

An international conference in Whanganui linking traumatic brain injuries to interpersonal violence is calling for better screening and care for victims.

The Hidden Cost of Violence is being held next month, with 300 people expected to attend.

Whanganui Family Violence Intervention Network co-ordinator Lorraine Sheenagh said the conference would raise public awareness and improve early intervention for victims.

She said a large number of women and children had been coming through the doors of community services with brain injuries caused by interpersonal violence — which included child abuse, intimate partner violence and family violence.

“It’s a massive problem,” she said.

New Zealand is ranked as the worst developed country in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) for family violence and Sheenagh said Whanganui was “really high” on New Zealand’s list.

She said at Jigsaw Whanganui, social workers were seeing the grandchildren of people they had worked with 30 years ago, who were stuck in the same cycle of family violence.

“I really think that people don’t want to confront it.”

The long-term consequences of multiple concussions in sports players, such as early onset dementia, have been well-documented, she said.

However, women experiencing interpersonal violence often had more severe injuries and little access to support.

“The average rugby player gets 19 traumatic brain injuries in their career but for women who have been in a violent relationship for six years, the average number of knocks to the head or strangulations is 50.”

Sheenagh said women living in a violent environment had no chance for rest, downtime or rehabilitation and the conference aimed to give doctors and nurses better tools for screening patients.

In many cases, if medical assessments were not carried out properly, victims would not be eligible for ACC compensation for head injuries as a result of interpersonal violence.

Many victims also had their credibility doubted as a result of their injuries, she said.

“When the police go to a call-out and a woman’s been knocked on the head she might be presenting as if she’s drunk because she’s slurring her words,” Sheenagh said.

“Or, when a woman who has had multiple head injuries tries to give a testimony, she doesn’t look as credible as the perpetrator who’s standing up there completely calm and collected.”

Sheenagh said the conference aimed to draw in professionals from across all services, including the justice sector and the Whanganui Hospital.

For members of the general public attending the conference, it would help destigmatise conversations about interpersonal violence.

“With abuse it doesn’t start with someone strangling their partner, it starts with other signs that happen early on over a long period of time — people need to talk to their mates about any questionable behaviour,” Sheenagh said.

Many prisoners also had traumatic brain injuries that were caused by family violence in their childhood.

“It has not been looked at as a factor for why their lives have taken the turn they have.”

The Hidden Cost of Violence takes place at the Whanganui War Memorial Centre on March 21 and 22.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.