May 16, 2023
With round two of the NHL playoffs underway, hockey is top of mind for many. And such high stakes means that the games are more physical than ever, leading to a greater risk of injuries such as concussions.
Thankfully for hockey, the sport has dominated the conversation around concussions for the past decade, leading to greater protocols and treatment. But there’s another leading cause of concussions in Canada:
For every NHL concussion, it is estimated that more than 7,000 women in Canada suffer the same injury as a result of violence by an intimate partner, according to recent calculations by YWCA.
Concussions are the leading cause of brain injury in Canada — and concussions sustained by intimate partner violence are a historically taboo topic that often goes unreported, underreported and untreated.
So, YWCA Metro Vancouver, an organization committed to the well-being of women, girls and gender-diverse peoples, has partnered with former NHL All-Star Trevor Linden on a new public service announcement to highlight the shocking rate of concussion from violence by an intimate partner.
The YWCA is not alone in its mission to raise awareness of intimate partner violence and concussion. As you may know, the BC Centre for Disease Control and the Office of the Provincial Health Officer released a report on gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. It found that the pandemic “increased the risk, and likely also the prevalence and severity, of gender-based violence in BC while reducing access to related support services.”
The YWCA and its partners are calling on Canadians to help raise awareness about intimate partner violence that hundreds of thousands of women, girls and gender-diverse people are experiencing every day.
