09/29/2026
💜💜Purple Thursday, the third Thursday in October has been designated as the day to bring awareness to the connection between intimate partner violence and the resulting brain injuries (IPV-BI)- two important issues in Canada.
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Statistics:
One in three women, one in six men (Womenslaw.org)
Of those 80% Will have suffered a concussion due to “hits to the head, neck and face are the most common sites of injury”
76% of the physical assaults reported to police involve women”
4 in 10 Canadian women and 1 in 3 world wide have experienced IPV – that’s more than a 1 in 3 average. The majority are between 12 and 24. Indigenous women’s stats are 3X higher. source: Canadian Department of Justice stats
Every 6 days a women in Canada is murdered by an intimate partner (Roy and Mareilles, 2019)
Sask and Man have the highest provincial rates of IPV reported to police. 80% generally going unreported (Canada.ca)
Up to 80% of women who have been in a violent relationship have received at least one brain injury from their partner (The Cridge Center for the Family)
For every NHL player who sustains a concussion at least 5500 (as high as 7000) women sustain the same injury. (the Cridge Center for the Family)
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Definition.
A brain injury is an insult to the brain caused by a hard blow or jolt, shaking or strangulation or suffocation.
Often this injury goes undiagnosed and undocumented.
The interpersonal might end but the brain injury has short and the long term impact.
The brain injury increases the risk of poverty, homelessness, addiction and involvement with the justice system.
“There are no designated services for women experiencing IPV-BI – no plan, no funding, no guidelines to assess injury.” Cridge center
The injury doesn’t always show up on an MRI. (The Board Voice Society of BC)
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Effects:
Cognitive – memory, attention, problem solving
Physical – headaches, fatigue, balance issues
Emotional - depression, anxiety, irritability
These affect daily life, work, difficulty with new information, takes longer to process information, difficulty multitasking, problem-solving and decision making, reading, writing or dealing with complex language
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