March 3, 2025 • 51 mins
Discover the connections between domestic violence and traumatic brain injury in this eye-opening episode. Our guest, Dr. María Garay-Serratos , a leading expert in domestic violence and traumatic brain injury, shares her powerful personal story and professional insights.
Dr. Garay-Serratos reveals the often overlooked traumatic brain injuries resulting from violence in the home, advocating for better recognition, screening, and treatment of these issues within healthcare systems. Our discussion will unravel the shocking truths behind the silent epidemic of domestic violence, the overwhelming statistics regarding reported crimes, and the long-term health implications for survivors.
Listeners will gain a comprehensive understanding of the urgency surrounding this topic and hear firsthand stories that highlight the necessity of systemic change. Join us in imparting hope, healing, and awareness as we explore the resources available for those affected by domestic violence and advocate for a future where everyone's health and safety are prioritized.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The subject matter of this podcast will address
difficult topics multiple formsof violence, and identity-based
discrimination and harassment.
We acknowledge that thiscontent may be difficult and
have listed specific contentwarnings in each episode
description to help create apositive, safe experience for
all listeners.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
In this country, 31 million crimes 31 million crimes
are reported every year.
That is one every second.
Out of that, every 24 minutesthere is a murder.
Every five minutes there is arape.
Every two to five minutes thereis a sexual assault.
Every nine seconds in thiscountry, a woman is assaulted by
someone who told her that heloved her, by someone who told
(00:43):
her it was her fault, by someonewho tries to tell the rest of
us it's none of our business andI am proud to stand here today
with each of you to call thatperpetrator a liar.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Welcome to the podcast on crimes against women.
I'm Maria McMullin.
Domestic violence, traumaticbrain injury, also referred to
as DVTBI, is a silent,unrecognized and often ignored
epidemic suffered by scores ofwomen who are in violent
relationships or who have beeninvolved in gender-based violent
situations that comprised oftrauma to the head.
(01:14):
Unfortunately, unlike otherindividuals who endure head
trauma or chronic stress fromsports, motor vehicle crashes,
falls, or from professions likethe military or law enforcement,
those who experience DVTBI donot receive the same level of
medical detection, attention nortreatment, which regrettably
(01:35):
leads to lifelong healthproblems, permanent brain damage
, a destroyed quality of lifeand, ultimately, a tragic death.
Quality of life and, ultimately, a tragic death.
The awareness and response toDVTBI for individuals who
encounter or work with victimsand survivors is paramount.
Not only does DVTBI negativelyimpact victims and their
families, but can have a harmfuleconomic bearing on society,
(01:58):
with TBI medical and healthcarecosting billions of dollars for
treatment and or hospitalization.
By promoting the hope ofresilience and healing, this
poignant yet insightful episodewith a brain injury specialist
and DV survivor will be adiscussion that highlights the
ways in which DV TBI goesunnoticed and unchecked, which
(02:18):
hopefully leads to a highercalling of action by people,
practitioners and policymakers.
Dr Maria G-Saratos is a domesticviolence, traumatic brain
injury, chronic traumaticencephalopathy expert and
thought leader.
Her life's mission is to createglobal awareness to address the
silent and unrecognizedDVTBI-CTE pandemic.
(02:39):
Dr Gray-Saratos is currentlythe founder and CEO of Panfila
Domestic Violence HopeFoundation and the protagonist
associate producer and DVTBIC-TEexpert consultant for this Hits
Home, a feature documentaryreleased in 2023.
Her work and story have alsobeen the focus of various media
(03:01):
social media articles,interviews, including NPR, the
National Desk Spotlight onAmerica and others.
Prior to her current work, drGray-Serratos served as a
C-level executive for over 25years for various nonprofit
organizations.
She has her BA from PitzerCollege and her master's degree
and doctorate from USC SuzanneDworak Peck School of Social
(03:22):
Work.
Dr Gray-Serratos, welcome tothe podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm just very honored to behere.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I'm very honored to meet you and learn about your
personal story and about yourmother's personal story, because
we'll be talking today abouttraumatic brain injury and
related conditions and how thosecan be a result of domestic
violence, and this is reallypersonal to you because you
witnessed it firsthand as achild.
What I would like to do, beforewe even get started into the
(03:55):
personal story and the journeythat you've been on, I'd like to
get a working definition oftraumatic brain injury, as well
as a definition for chronictraumatic encephalopathy.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Absolutely so.
Traumatic brain injury isdefined as a bump, blow or jolt
to the head or hit to the body.
So it doesn't have to be justyour head but to the body.
That causes a head and brain tomove quickly back and forth,
that causes the brain to bouncearound or twist right.
(04:31):
There's chemical changes thatare happening within the skull
so it stretches there's.
You know this movement thathappens kind of like if you grab
an egg and you shake it.
Think of the egg, the shell, asthe skull and what's in there
is the brain.
So that's what traumatic braininjury is.
Chronic traumaticencephalopathy is connected to
(04:56):
non-concussive repetitive headimpacts and we're going to get
more into that.
But it is considered aprogressive neural degenerative
brain disorder and so there's alot of symptomatology that comes
from that and I think we'regoing to get into that.
But that is the definition ofwhat chronic traumatic
(05:16):
encephalopathy is.
In traumatic brain injuries Icall it TBI and CT, because
seeing chronic traumaticencephalopathy is a little
burdensome sometimes.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, it is a lot.
Yeah, but thank you forclarifying that and the
abbreviations as well, becausethat's what we'll be using
throughout this conversation isTBI and CTE, and I did watch
just to give people just a hintat what's ahead in this
conversation.
I watched a little bit of thedocumentary film and there's
some good imaging in there togive you the visual of what is
(05:49):
actually happening inside of theskull when you take it to the
head or to the body and how thebrain can actually move back and
forth within the skull andcause that disruption to
neurological activity and canalso be a very serious injury.
Let's dive in a little bit toyour personal experience with
(06:15):
TBI and CTE.
Tell us about your home lifewhen you were growing up and
your personal story.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Thank you, maria.
So forgive me if I get a littleemotional you know I don't tend
to go into it, but I think forthe context of this podcast it's
really important and I'm justvery proud of my upbringing.
So I'm an immigrant.
My family was an immigrant froma little town in Zacatecas
called El Nino Jesus.
(06:43):
We immigrated to the UnitedStates during the 1970s.
I am the eldest of sevenchildren and during the time
that we got here the civilrights movement has just kind of
, you know, started ending andthe battered women's movement
was about to initiate.
So that time zone there was alot of overt racism and
(07:07):
discrimination and a completelack of understanding of what
domestic violence was or abusetowards children and women, no
type of training taking place.
And just to give you a littlebit of context as to why I am so
aware of what was happening inmy family, I have the first
(07:28):
recollection of the first TVepisode when I was about four
years old.
I don't know if I was younger,but definitely by four years old
I knew what was happening.
So my reality as a child wasforever shattered and I took on
the responsibility of being theprotector and just really trying
to, you know, manage that issue.
(07:49):
And just a little bit morebackground.
I, as we came to the UnitedStates, I was hopeful that there
would be services.
So I, you know, I did talk tomy mother several times, many,
many discussions about leavingand seeking help and she told me
that the services of the UnitedStates were not for her and
were not created for help.
And she told me that theservices in the United States
were not for her and were notcreated for her.
So she just didn't feel thatthey were there for her.
(08:13):
Obviously, because we came tothis country during such a civil
unrest and so muchanti-sentiment towards
immigrants, including ice rates,which are going on now, the
stress in my family magnified,meaning that the stress my
(08:36):
father was feeling wasintensifying.
So the abuse in the family wasmagnified.
And there was one time when thepolice came to my family and to
see what was going on, butagain it was during the time
when they were not trained forthis issue.
So my mother was in obviousdistress but they did nothing
for her and then they didn't askto see the children.
So there was just absolutely nocare provided.
(08:57):
I know that as children we wereshowing symptoms of what was
going on, but teachers, priestsand everybody around us just
never really asked us what washappening, and there was no care
provided.
I think the police incident,though, really cemented the fact
that we just didn't matter.
So the violence was just verypervasive.
In my home I often describewhat was happening as a war zone
(09:22):
, and I want to remind thereader, the audience, that there
were happy moments, but it's sodifficult as a war zone.
And I want to remind the reader, the audience, that there were
happy moments, but it's sodifficult as a child to focus on
this when the abuse was sopervasive.
So that just gives you a littlebackground about my family and
my background.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, thank you for sharing that with us.
So all of this, it's been areally long journey, right For
you and for your family and yourmother, and it all has
culminated.
I'm skipping to the end, butwe're going to work backwards.
It culminated in a movementthat you founded and a
documentary film called thisHits Home, which is about TBI,
(09:58):
cte and domestic violence.
Obviously it's this personalstory, right, violence.
Obviously it's this personalstory, right that inspired the
film.
Yes, yes.
So how did you get connected tothe director, sydney Skoshe,
and have you know, get to workwith her on this particular
project?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Absolutely.
I love Sydney, but I gotintroduced to her by her father,
dr David Dodek, who is arenowned neurologist.
He is, as you can imagine, afriend and an incredible,
significant person in my life.
He is Professor Emeritus atMayo Clinic and Consultant for
(10:37):
Mayo Clinic International.
He is also the Chief ScienceOfficer and Chair for Atria
Academy of Science and Medicine.
He is an adjunct professor inthe Department of Neuroscience
Norwegian University, and I cango on and on.
We were working on a projectaround domestic violence and
(10:58):
traumatic brain injury and Ifelt compelled to share with him
, and I felt compelled to sharewith him.
He was the first person closeto me that I shared why this
issue was so near and dear to myheart and I had just gotten the
first diagnosis of my mother'sbrain.
So I shared that with him andhe was very struck with it and
he asked me Maria, I have a waythat we can create a public
(11:24):
massive awareness about thisissue and hence he introduced me
to his daughter, sydney Dodick.
Professional name Sydney,scotia.
You know she is amazing,beautiful producer, actress,
director and I would add to thata tremendous advocate of
domestic violence and TDI andCTE.
(11:46):
So I met her during the time andwas introduced to her by David,
her father, while I was tryingto get confirmation of my
mother's neuropathologyexamination.
So she asked me if we couldtrack her journey in real time
(12:08):
and, as you can imagine, therewas lots of discussions about
this discussion and the step itmeant that I had to go very
public in a very big way.
So I was very fortunate to haveamazing mentors and, um, we did
the film and was incrediblyproud of how sydney did the film
(12:28):
.
So that's how I came to to this, uh, to this wonderful
documentary that can be easilywatched if you google it, it's
available and, uh, for free.
If you're streaming on certainplatforms that you have, you can
access it.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So and just a reminder.
The documentary is called thisHits Home and it is on your
website, which remind me thewebsite again.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Pamphilaorg P-A-M-P-I-L-Aorg.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Okay, so people hopefully can find it there.
You can also find it at theConference on Crimes Against
Women in May 2025.
Let's talk a little bit moredeeply about the film and your
mother's story.
What happened to your motherthat caused TBI?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So my mother was repeatedly hit on the head for
over 40 years.
So the symptoms manifestedthemselves quite early in her
life and when I finally had herunder my care and I took her to
the neurologist that theyinsisted that it was Alzheimer's
(13:37):
that she had it, and I agreed50% with them.
I disagreed that it was acomplete diagnosis.
So unfortunately CTE can onlybe diagnosed post-mortem and I
had the opportunity to donateher brain for the advancements
(13:58):
of science and brain science.
So that's the significance isthat we found the first
neuropathology examinationdemonstrated or showed that she
had CTE and Alzheimer's.
So that was very significant.
But then we had to really worktowards confirming those results
.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
How is CTE diagnosed?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
CTE is diagnosed post-mortem.
You need to seek aneuropathology examination and
usually you know in my mother'scase she couldn't give consent.
She didn't know what washappening.
Cte really ravages your brain.
You have a multitude ofsymptoms behavioral, cognitive,
(14:40):
physical mood.
You know so.
You really can't make thedecision to do that.
Cognitive, physical mood youknow so.
You really can't make thedecision to do that.
I had a full power of attorneyover my mother and there was a
lot of reasons why I wanted tofind out what happened to her.
Yes, so either you give consentfor your brain to be donated or
your family, if they have dualpower of attorney over you,
might make the decision thatthey want to see what happened
(15:02):
to you, because the behavior isso different and so erratic
sometimes, from when you firstmeet somebody and say this is a
wonderful human being, then itjust drastically changes.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
What are some of those symptoms that a person
might exhibit if theypotentially have had traumatic
brain injury?
Could possibly have CTE.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
So traumatic brain injury.
It is such a huge braindisorder.
It's just you know you havemild, moderate to severe and
then many definitions and typesin that spectrum.
So most people suffer mild TBIs.
In fact, 80% of TBIs are mild.
(15:47):
It is the leading cause ofdeath and disability, not just
in the United States butglobally, so it's a public
health crisis.
The acute symptoms of mild TBIare the ones that we need to
watch.
If you had a mild TBI, whichusually is some kind of nausea,
you've been hit in the head oryour body has been shaken in a
(16:09):
way that your brain has beenimpacted Nausea, migraines, you
want to rest, you're feelingdizzy and migraine headaches.
So those are like the acuteones.
It's these long-term effectsthat really go unchecked,
because usually you know youmight go to the doctor and get
care if you think you have amild TBI, but the statistics
(16:33):
demonstrate that only 50% ofpeople that think they've had a
TBI actually go get care.
So you have that Most peopleare not getting care.
The long-term effects arephysical, cognitive, behavior
and mood, which includessensitivity to light and noise,
dizziness or balance problems,feeling tired or fatigued, foggy
(16:55):
or groggy mind, you know,concentration problems,
nervousness, sleeping problems,vision problems, words or letter
jumping around.
So you're having troublethinking clearly.
Migraine headaches are a hugesymptom.
So those are some of thesymptoms.
If you're having repeated headtrauma or any type of trauma,
(17:17):
you increase your chances ofeventually possibly also having
a progressive neurodegenerativedisease.
So traumatic brain injury islinked to Alzheimer's disease,
for example.
Parkinson's CTE is specificallylinked to repetitive
non-concussive head impacts.
So that is how all of this islinked.
(17:40):
Those are some of the symptoms.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
So is there an age limit or an age factor that
relates to these disorders?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
abusive relationship or you're playing amateur sports
or you are prone to falls, youare at risk for developing,
obviously if you have trauma,tbi, but then you're at risk of
developing progressiveneurodegenerative diseases.
But for CTE specifically thisis the issue that I'm so focused
on it has been found in thebrain as young as 17 years old
and because CTE the way itmanifests itself with the tau
(18:33):
proteins and the tau foals ittakes several years for symptoms
to show up.
So that means that the17-year-old most likely was
playing some type of sport itcould be football, anything that
you can think of where thebrain is being moved and just
injured in that skull.
If that individual was alsosustaining some type of
(19:02):
accidents at home or there wasabuse in the home, that young
brain is being damaged.
So by the time of 17, he wasdiagnosed with CTE.
Teen he was diagnosed with CTE.
And if you think of the generalpopulation and abuse, children
who are abused are alsoexperiencing repeated head
trauma.
They are going unchecked.
Tbi is considered a chroniccondition that impacts the
(19:24):
lifespan, just like CTE is.
But because there is noeducation about that, we don't
know these things.
So children are being uncheckedby the time they reach high
school.
It's no wonder that we have ahike in teen dating violence.
So I hope that makes a goodpicture for the audience that
you had a head trauma orrepeated head trauma.
We're just taking an example ofat 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years old.
(19:47):
Example of at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8years old.
Well, those symptoms are goingto take a while to show up as
CTE or progressiveneurodegenerative diseases on
top of the TBI symptoms you'reexperiencing already.
So there's layers TBIsymptomatology, cte and other
progressive neurodegenerativediseases and with abuse victims,
we have depression, we havechronic stress, we have all
(20:12):
these other comorbidities.
So it gives you a good picture.
But no, there is no age limitand everybody is at risk.
Who's had head trauma?
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah, because when we hear about TBI traumatic brain
injury it's most often discussedaround professional athletes,
in particular, football Americanfootball, as well as with
military service members, mayalso be highly susceptible to
the impact of a traumatic braininjury, but it actually is
(20:43):
incredibly common amongstvictims of domestic violence,
and it's an issue that reallyhas only been talked about in
recent years.
And, to your point, is also anissue that the symptoms don't
always show up right away, andit's very similar in that way to
strangulation, because withstrangulation with the hands
(21:06):
around the neck, it can causemild injuries that are not even
detectable at first notice orexamination, and so these things
can slowly deteriorate and alsoshorten a woman's life
Absolutely, and strangulation isa type of TBI.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
I didn't realize that .
I think we've done a great jobof educating people about
strangulation.
We have not done a good job ofeducating the public about what
traumatic brain injury is ingeneral.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, I would agree with that, with the exception of
, maybe, professional sports,like having had kids that play
sports for schools and such theydo educate parents about what
the symptoms would be and whatto look out for, and in recent
years very recent years, atleast at the club and high
(21:59):
school levels, they are beingsuper careful about how kids are
protected when they're playingsports at school.
Now, in this particular case,though, we're playing sports at
school.
Now, in this particular case,though, we're talking about
domestic violence.
There was no protection andthere was no talking about it,
and, to your point, nobodyreally seemed to care what was
happening within your family'shome.
(22:22):
Did you have the opportunity toconfront your father about the
abuse of your mother?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Throughout my life.
I discussed it with him becauseit didn't make sense to me, the
erratic behavior.
So I did speak to him many,many times about his behavior
and how he might be able tocontrol it, and so what he
(22:49):
shared with me is that he couldnot control it.
He could not control hisunpredictable impulsive behavior
, his irritability and rage.
So I discussed it many timeswith him and as I grew,
obviously older, the discussionsgot deeper.
So I, of course, I learned thathe also was abused as a child
(23:12):
at the hands of his father.
So there was really horrificabuse going on.
I suspect from the symptoms andwhat I saw in my father, that he
also had domestic violence, TBI, dvtbi and potentially DVCT.
And I say potentially because Isuspect that in my mother and I
had the authority to donate herbrain to science.
(23:35):
My father also passed away butI did not have the authority to
donate his brain.
I would have done so.
So many times, many times, myfather was very afraid that he.
He was afraid of himself.
He was afraid that he was goingto kill somebody, not just his
family, but just hurt somebody.
He never got care.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, that is incredibly challenging and it's
a lot for you.
I mean, you're the oldest ofseven siblings and it's a lot
for you to have carried all ofthese years and you've turned it
into a movement with thedocumentary film and the
information that you provide onyour website and even as you
(24:17):
work as a social worker.
Let's talk a little bit abouthow to care for someone who has
a traumatic brain injury andcould potentially have CTE.
What type of care is involvedin that?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
The care that's involved in that for traumatic
brain injury really depends onthe type of traumatic brain
injury that has been sustained.
Again, most of it is mild TBI.
If it's moderate to severe,people usually end up in the
hospital.
Having said that, for abusedindividuals, women and children,
they are experiencing moderateto severe traumatic brain
(24:54):
injuries, but they're notseeking care for a lot of
reasons.
But really what you need isrest and then really long-term
care because you want to reallybe aware of the manifestation of
symptoms.
So you can never get your brainback to baseline.
(25:14):
You're never going to get thatfresh brain that hasn't been so
the damage is done.
Right, the damage is done.
The science is not there yetthat they can repair brain cells
, so the damage is done.
So what you have to do, myrecommendation, is be very
vigilant of your symptoms.
Track how much brain damage ortraumatic brain injury you've
(25:34):
had.
Establish a good relationshipwith a good neurologist and
track your symptoms so you canget treatment for your symptoms.
Tbi was just recognized in 2024in the United States as a
chronic condition, meaning thata TBI impacts lifespan.
So there's a lot of educationgoing on right now among brain
(25:59):
injury associations about thisissue that it's a chronic
condition.
So it requires long-term careand at one point, if you start
showing symptoms of progressiveneurodegenerative diseases, you
now have this addedmanifestation, sequelae of new
symptoms.
So you're going to have tothink of what type of long-term
(26:22):
care you're going to need.
My mother, at one point,obviously could not take care of
herself, and I know that's avery difficult discussion to
have, it's very difficultdiscussion to have, it's very
difficult information to hear,right, but you know, I believe
that information is important,so then you can plan accordingly
.
I know I don't bring good newsand I'm not sharing good news,
but it's important for us toknow what's going on so we can
(26:44):
prepare.
So that's what I recommend sowe can prepare.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
So that's what I recommend.
Yeah, I think you make a reallyinteresting point because this
is a very complex situation.
When you have a person withtraumatic brain injury who then
begins to present that they canno longer care for themselves,
and then the complexity ofconfronting that as their child
and actually taking action tomake sure that they get the care
(27:11):
that they need, even if it'snot the care that they
necessarily want, and thatlong-term care plan or insurance
is an important thing to thinkabout early, even when there is
nothing happening, just so thatin the future one can be taken
care of or your loved ones canbe taken care of.
(27:31):
Talking about treatment alittle bit further, when a woman
or any person really presentsto a neurologist symptoms that
may be because of a TBI right,do those doctors, is there a
method in place or a process inplace that they would
specifically ascertain if thisis a result of domestic violence
(27:54):
or some type of abuse?
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Well, first of all, there are no standards of care
for screening, treating orassessing for domestic violence,
tbi or DVCT.
So just because you're seeing aneurologist doesn't mean you're
going to get screened for that.
That is one of the reasons whywe've made the film, the
(28:16):
documentary, and I appreciateyou saying trying to really have
this movement of education andawareness, not just for the
population that's at risk, butthe entire service provision,
including other criticalstakeholders.
So then you have, and I canspeak to it, because that's what
happened to my mother, and Iknow that when women reach out
(28:39):
to me and say, Maria, I heardyour speech, I heard, I saw the
film.
Please refer me to aneurologist.
Neurologists are not aware ofthis correlation.
Refer me to a neurologist.
Neurologists are not aware ofthis correlation.
So when I took my mother to getcare, they were ignoring
completely the history oftraumatic brain injury and I was
.
People ask me well, why wereyou?
(28:59):
Why did you want to know?
I wanted to know because she'smy mother and I wanted to get a
complete diagnosis so I can giveher comprehensive, needed care.
I have the right to know andevery woman, child, individual
has a right to know what's goingon with their health and sadly,
the system of care, includinghealthcare, is not aware of this
(29:20):
correlation and they're notscreening routinely in a
standardized way or assessing ortreating.
Then you have women who arereally afraid of sharing what's
going on, especially women whohave children, because they know
the repercussions.
I'm a social worker, I've beeninvolved in mandated reporting,
so you have women who are veryhesitant for many reasons not to
(29:43):
share what's going on.
So we have this kind of areawhere nobody's talking, nobody
knows what to do.
So that's what's happening.
The ideal world would be wherethere is universal screening of
TBI and CT as it relates todomestic violence, so then women
, children and men like myfather could get the proper care
(30:06):
that they need and we might seea difference in behavior
amongst everybody.
Because for my mother, after Igot the results, I still to this
day think at what point did mymom, at what point was her brain
so damaged that she could nolonger make decisions that were
(30:28):
in her best interest?
And because my mom was so braininjured?
I don't know, but I could tellyou the symptoms were very, very
early on, anyway.
So we really have an obligationas a society to really create a
comprehensive educationawareness campaign about this
(30:50):
issue, not just for individualsbut the entire system of care.
I know that the NFL is doing agreat job.
I work with Dr Nowinski wepartner on things and I'm
working very closely with DrAnne McKee.
I know what's being done in themilitary and contact sports,
but the DV population and theentire other population is
(31:11):
massive.
We have an epidemic of traumaticbrain injury, not just in this
country but in the globe, andthen we have an added DV, and
abuse against women and childrenis so pervasive and we're
missing this piece.
I do want to highlight, though,that the science for DVTBI has
been around since the 1980s, andthe first case of DVCT among a
(31:36):
female was there in the 1990s.
Nobody did anything with thatinformation, it just stayed
there.
So I think we also need to do abetter job of disseminating
information that is availableand is there.
I think my mother's case reallyis.
We're trying to highlight itand raise awareness about it for
(31:57):
many reasons, so then we couldreally create systemic change,
right, create that awareness.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yeah, this podcast is part of that, creating that
change and that awareness, andso is the documentary film.
I think you're 100% correctthat there's not enough
awareness or emphasis on what'shappening to domestic violence
victims.
What if someone listening,let's say, knows that she has
(32:27):
experienced traumatic braininjury from mild, moderate so on
?
What could she do today to tryto take control of her own
health?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Well, first of all, I think you know, as somebody
who's living this and is at highrisk for this.
First of all, I want torecognize how difficult it is to
hear this.
Um, I've had to take a lot ofpauses in my life to to really
just kind of take this in.
(32:58):
After I heard my mom's results,for example, it was very
difficult to um to really likeincorporate that information.
What does that mean, not justfor my mother but for me and my
siblings?
So I want to recognize howpainful this information could
be to hear.
I want to encourage you to takea pause, take your time.
Don't push yourself, be gentlewith yourself and once you feel,
(33:19):
okay, this, you're talkingabout me I recommend that you
really track your symptoms, takean inventory of the type of
traumatic brain injury you'vehad and get yourself really
educated.
You can go to palmphilaorg andget yourself educated about this
TBI and CT and otherprogressive neurodegenerative
diseases.
I think the documentary is avery difficult watch.
(33:43):
It's not an easy watch,especially if you feel that you
are somebody who can relate tothis issue.
I recommend that you watch itwith a trusted, safe friend so
then you could process itafterwards and then, when you
are ready, seek proper care.
I would recommend that you seea neurologist and be ready to
(34:05):
self-advocate for yourself,because that neurologist might
not understand or really believe.
You Point them to our website,point them to the documentary
and other information that Iknow is going to be available at
the conference so they can geteducated.
But that's what I wouldrecommend.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I think the self-advocating part is critical
here, because it's really easyto give up when you walk into a
doctor's office and nine timesout of 10, that doctor doesn't
look like you.
Maybe you're a woman, thedoctor's a man you feel like
already you walk in with thisbias of like, oh, this guy's not
(34:43):
going to listen to me, and youcould be very easily written off
, as you said, and accept itbecause you don't know how to
work through it.
I would also say, if you have atrusted person in your life
that can accompany you such asyou had accompanied your mother
(35:04):
and you made sure that youpushed until you got the answers
answers the way that yourmother could not advocate for
herself that is anotherpossibility for you to pursue
some answers for yourself andthe type of care that you want
to receive.
It sounds like a great plan,but I know it's hard.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
It's very hard.
It's very hard and I agree withyou 100%.
Take a trusted friend,especially if you are feeling
experiencing memory loss andhaving a difficult time.
At one point you're going tohave a hard time even writing
things and information jumps atyou.
(35:46):
You can't read, you can'tcomplete forms that the doctor
may want.
So having somebody that youtrust and is a good confidant is
really wise.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah, and just listening to all of this and
thinking about the symptoms andthat they really develop over
time, I would encourage peopleyou may have experienced
traumatic brain injury in thepast maybe not today, maybe not
right now in an abusiverelationship but in the past but
start thinking about yourselfand your own well-being now,
(36:19):
before you may have symptomslater.
And that's really the point youwere trying to make with
long-term care.
That's really the point youwere trying to make with
long-term care and the fact thatit's very hard to accept that
you might possibly have thistype of a condition that's
silent at the moment but mayaffect you down the road.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Absolutely.
I think getting the fear factorfreezes us.
I recognize that yeah factorfreezes us.
I recognize that.
I can't tell you how many timesI had a pause to just exhale
and bring my energy and centerand balance myself and say what
do we do with this information?
So I agree with you as somebodywho is struggling with these
(37:05):
issues myself.
I also think it's importantagain, the education Maria I
can't emphasize recognize andeducate yourself about the TBI
symptoms but also the CTEsymptoms.
There's four stages of CTE.
What are those stages?
So the four stages are they'reconsidered one, two and three
and four and they're allimpacting your behavior
(37:28):
cognitive, physical and mood andthey're clustered.
So some of the things that youmight feel are these persistent
migraine headaches.
That's what my mom had.
So you have headaches for TBI,but now you're experiencing this
profound other headaches thatcould be attributed to CTE
difficulty concentrating, thatcould be treated to CTE
(37:49):
difficulty concentrating,attention problems, nausea,
short-term memory loss andeventually long-term memory loss
, outbursts or explosive mood,depression, memory impairment,
executive function problems,visual spatial dysfunction.
Like your gait shifts that'sone of the big things I noticed
with my mom.
(38:10):
Like oh my God, my mom's walkhas changed.
Her gait has been the balance,vestibular balance issues you
feel like you're going to be.
You're always falling apathy,motor skills, the uncontrollable
rage, language difficulties,suicidality, because you're
losing control of who you are.
So now you're having thesethoughts.
(38:30):
Then you have these substancedisorders, because you're trying
to self-medicate right.
Then there's the dementias thatcome in right, and then
Parkinsonism.
Excuse me, you have the maskphase, the gait, the shuffle,
moving, the rigidity, thefreezing, the postural
(38:53):
instability and again theshuffling of steps.
So it's some of the symptoms arevery similar to TBI, but some
of them are vastly different toTBI, and so that's important is
educate yourself about whatthese symptoms are so that you
could track them.
And again, I know it's verydifficult to hear this and you
(39:15):
might just want to isolate.
I urge you to try to balanceyourself, to bring back that
fight in you, because the longeryou wait the symptoms just are
going to get worse.
So getting treatment isimportant, so they can alleviate
some of the symptomatology youare experiencing and hopefully
(39:40):
you are functioning better inlife, because these symptoms are
going to impact your dailyliving Parenting, keeping a job,
going to school, keepingappointments.
If you go to shelter, you'renot going job, going to school,
keeping appointments.
You know if you go to shelteryou're not going to be able to
comply with programs, and sothen you might be terminated.
Many of the women, as you know,end up on the streets with
(40:04):
housing insecurity orhomelessness, where they are at
risk of more traumatic braininjury.
So please, please, try to gettreatment for the symptoms.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
So to that point, you mentioned shelter.
What should shelterprofessionals, law enforcement
and others who are like, in manyways, a first responder to
domestic violence incidents?
What should they be looking forwhen they first encounter a
person who may have TBI?
When they first encounter aperson who may have TBI Because
you know, strangulation is a bigone, that's a big abuse tactic
(40:34):
and she may have been strangledand makes a domestic violence
call and now law enforcement isthere but they are not able to
see the obvious signs of astrangulation.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Yeah, I think you know, what I would recommend is
developing really universalscreening tools, screening tools
for first responders, becausethey're not going to be really
to do it.
Like directly related to TBIthat they're experiencing, like
(41:06):
the acute symptoms, the nausea,the migraines, the vomiting, you
know, just the dizziness.
Those are usually symptoms oftraumatic brain injury, okay,
and either the person recognizesthem themselves or the person
visualizing or looking at theimpacted individual can
(41:27):
recognize them, because theperson who's experiencing them
really might just say this isnot a big deal.
But that's where theprofessionals come in.
If you're seeing these symptoms, then you can screen and then
refer.
I think if you ask an abusedwoman if she's had traumatic
brain injury, I think most womenwho are in relationships that
(41:48):
are abusive tend to minimizethat level of abuse that they've
experienced and they don'tunderstand what traumatic brain
injury is.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
They don't understand , you know, yeah, I think I
wouldn't understand it either ifI was in that situation and you
know I'm standing hereconsciously speaking to you and
how could I have a traumaticbrain injury?
Speaker 2 (42:08):
And.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
I think it's that definition.
We go back all the way to thebeginning of the conversation is
what is it?
It's not just for athletes,right?
It's everyone.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Exactly.
And then you have thesenon-concussive head impacts.
It's not TBIs that don't showsymptoms.
So again, professionals askingfor symptoms, noticing symptoms,
and then you know, I alwaysthink that well, you don't
really need to know if thiswoman is being abused, but if
the symptoms are showing up, youhave an ethical obligation to
make the referral for assessmentand treatment.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
Absolutely how close are we are to having those types
of screening tools?
Speaker 3 (42:43):
I don't think we're close enough because there is a
lack of education among thesystem of care, behavior, health
, mental health, law enforcement.
We're just not there.
I think that the NFL, themilitary and amateur sports are
doing a phenomenal job.
There are legislation andpolicies that are addressing TBI
(43:07):
and what to do when a childthat's playing a sport it needs
to do.
Policies across the country, inall 50 states.
We don't have any legislationthat's been passed or policies
that are addressing DBE and TBI,much less DBE and CTE.
It's just not happening.
So that's why I am so thankfulfor being on the podcast and I'm
(43:31):
so thankful to be presenting atthe conference, just very
honored to be doing this toeducate and create awareness.
So I thank you, maria, for whatyou're doing and this
opportunity.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Oh, it's my honor to work with you and other
survivors on this and otherissues related to gender-based
violence.
Tell us about the presentationyou're going to give at the
Conference on Crimes AgainstWomen.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
Absolutely.
It will be a presentation verymuch about what is traumatic
brain injury and CT as itrelates to abused women.
We're going to go overdefinitions much more in depth,
right, then we're going toreally cover what are the
symptoms and how do you trackthis.
(44:13):
Then I will cover, as well aswhat are treatments that are
available, what can we dotogether to address it in a
comprehensive way, so strategiesaround that.
We will be showing clips of thefilm and reminding people,
obviously, that there's going tobe a screening and then the
screening we're going to have apanel of experts to really
(44:35):
respond to the audience.
So it'll be a lot like whatwe're talking about, what we've
discussed here, but more indepth and more in a presentation
style format, and I do want tohave some breakout groups to
just make sure that the audiencehas an opportunity to practice
what we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
Yeah, because you have a diverse audience there,
right, you have law enforcementadvocates, prosecutors,
survivors, educators, otherprofessionals who work directly
with victims of gender-basedcrime, and then you have people
like me who just I like learning.
So it's a very diverse audience.
(45:15):
You know, in your experience asa person who immigrated to the
United States from anothercountry and now, having gone
through this with your motherand all the medical treatment
and really pushing for answersand getting them right, you
really did work to make sure yougot a resolution Do you feel
(45:36):
like the services for people whomaybe English is a second
language to them or some otherdiversity do you feel like
services are as available andaccessible to them as it might
be for others?
Speaker 3 (45:52):
No, we have health disparities and disparities in
domestic violence.
We know that women from ethnicand racial backgrounds have
higher incidence of domesticviolence.
It is the same thing fortraumatic brain injury.
So the DV populations is highrisk for TBI, as we've shared,
because of the abuse that goeson in episodes of DV.
(46:15):
But racial and ethnic groupsare also high risk for that.
Then we have health disparitieswithin that, which means that my
mother had less access toproper care, meaning she's not
getting diagnosed, propertreatment and the outcomes for
prognosis are very bad.
So we're really having to facemore added barriers based on a
(46:38):
lot of issues ofintersectionality, some of the
stuff that we talked in thebeginning.
So the fight for my mom wasexcruciating.
For me To get answers was verydifficult and I think you know
part of the reason I decided togo and do the documentary and be
doing this work is because Idon't want others to have the
(46:58):
experience I had.
It was singularly with my familytrying to do a treatment plan
and care plan for my mom becausewe didn't find a bilingual,
culturally responsive andrespectful neurologist.
That was just not available andI doubt that that is a
(47:19):
universal resource right now inthe country for women of color
and communities of color thatare struggling with just DV
itself is so monumental.
But then there's experiencesand symptoms that they have no
idea what's going on.
So I think a lot needs to bedone and I am hopeful, maria,
because I do see movement, andI'm hopeful that with these
(47:40):
venues and going to theconference and some of the work
that I'm doing, I am hopefulthat we are seeing progress and
that we will offer moresolutions for racial and ethnic
populations and for the generalpublic period.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Yeah, I'm really encouraged by not only the work
that you're doing but thebreadth of all of it and the
collaborators that you have tokind of just address this issue
and in a 360 kind of way,because it's not just, it's not
just the db, it's not that youhave a tbi from db, and it's
(48:17):
more than that, it's the, thewhole cultural part of it.
It's uh, services in a nativelanguage which are super
important.
You know, I work for genesis,women Shelter and Support, and
we have bilingual services aswell as interpretations to
services and staff that wepartner with, and that makes all
the difference.
(48:38):
The culturally sensitive partmakes all the difference.
And you're right, there is ahuge disparity in healthcare of
finding a person who reallywould understand you enough on
all of those levels to take yoursymptoms seriously and get
testing done and and you know,help you achieve a diagnosis and
a treatment plan.
Tell us your website again sothat people can go there, cause
(49:02):
I'm I don't know if everyonewrote it down but let's get your
website website again, and sopeople can at least take a look
at that and get a sneak peek atthe film.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
Absolutely.
It's Panfila, which is mymother's name P-A-N-F-I-L-Aorg.
So you, if you go on it, youwill see just an introduction to
this issue, to this issue.
I am affiliated with Dr AnneMcKee, which is the lead premier
(49:34):
on traumatic brain injury andCT.
She's a brain scientist, aneuropathologist.
She is in charge also of UniteBrain Bank, which is the largest
brain dissipatory in the world,so we're affiliated with him.
So if you want to find out aboutbrain donation, we're linked to
her and we just worked on acollaborative on a brochure
specifically for the domesticviolence population.
(49:55):
So if you're thinking of doingthat, a neuropathology is very
expensive.
It is free if you're at riskand you go through their system.
So we're linked to that.
There's resources and if youare a professional, meaning that
you are doing research, we haveall the articles where we get
the information.
There is also a page forresources, several links to the
(50:18):
documentary, and I'm building itmore because we're developing
other partnerships, because it'sa comprehensive issue that
needs to be dealt with in acollaborative approach with
multidisciplinary individualsand it needs to be coordinated.
So once we provide services toan individual, it's a
coordinated approach and not asingular approach.
(50:39):
So, yes, palmphilaorg, pleasego to it, and we are happy to
support and provide services.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
Thank you so much for giving us that information, for
talking with me today andsharing your story and your
mother's story, and I lookforward to being with you at the
Conference on Crimes AgainstWomen.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's just a privilege, it's anhonor, and I look forward to
meeting you as well at theconference and meeting the rest
of the other participants thatwill be attending.
We can't wait.
I'll see you there.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Thank you.
Thanks so much for listening.
Until next time, stay safe.
The 2025 Conference on CrimesAgainst Women will take place in
Dallas, Texas, May 19th throughthe 22nd at the Sheraton Dallas
.
Learn more and register atconferencecaworg and follow us
on social media at National CCAW.
The subject matter of this podcast will address
difficult topics multiple formsof violence, and identity-based
discrimination and harassment.
We acknowledge that thiscontent may be difficult and
have listed specific contentwarnings in each episode
description to help create apositive, safe experience for
all listeners.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
In this country, 31 million crimes 31 million crimes
are reported every year.
That is one every second.
Out of that, every 24 minutesthere is a murder.
Every five minutes there is arape.
Every two to five minutes thereis a sexual assault.
Every nine seconds in thiscountry, a woman is assaulted by
someone who told her that heloved her, by someone who told
(00:43):
her it was her fault, by someonewho tries to tell the rest of
us it's none of our business andI am proud to stand here today
with each of you to call thatperpetrator a liar.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Welcome to the podcast on crimes against women.
I'm Maria McMullin.
Domestic violence, traumaticbrain injury, also referred to
as DVTBI, is a silent,unrecognized and often ignored
epidemic suffered by scores ofwomen who are in violent
relationships or who have beeninvolved in gender-based violent
situations that comprised oftrauma to the head.
(01:14):
Unfortunately, unlike otherindividuals who endure head
trauma or chronic stress fromsports, motor vehicle crashes,
falls, or from professions likethe military or law enforcement,
those who experience DVTBI donot receive the same level of
medical detection, attention nortreatment, which regrettably
(01:35):
leads to lifelong healthproblems, permanent brain damage
, a destroyed quality of lifeand, ultimately, a tragic death.
Quality of life and, ultimately, a tragic death.
The awareness and response toDVTBI for individuals who
encounter or work with victimsand survivors is paramount.
Not only does DVTBI negativelyimpact victims and their
families, but can have a harmfuleconomic bearing on society,
(01:58):
with TBI medical and healthcarecosting billions of dollars for
treatment and or hospitalization.
By promoting the hope ofresilience and healing, this
poignant yet insightful episodewith a brain injury specialist
and DV survivor will be adiscussion that highlights the
ways in which DV TBI goesunnoticed and unchecked, which
(02:18):
hopefully leads to a highercalling of action by people,
practitioners and policymakers.
Dr Maria G-Saratos is a domesticviolence, traumatic brain
injury, chronic traumaticencephalopathy expert and
thought leader.
Her life's mission is to createglobal awareness to address the
silent and unrecognizedDVTBI-CTE pandemic.
(02:39):
Dr Gray-Saratos is currentlythe founder and CEO of Panfila
Domestic Violence HopeFoundation and the protagonist
associate producer and DVTBIC-TEexpert consultant for this Hits
Home, a feature documentaryreleased in 2023.
Her work and story have alsobeen the focus of various media
(03:01):
social media articles,interviews, including NPR, the
National Desk Spotlight onAmerica and others.
Prior to her current work, drGray-Serratos served as a
C-level executive for over 25years for various nonprofit
organizations.
She has her BA from PitzerCollege and her master's degree
and doctorate from USC SuzanneDworak Peck School of Social
(03:22):
Work.
Dr Gray-Serratos, welcome tothe podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm just very honored to behere.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I'm very honored to meet you and learn about your
personal story and about yourmother's personal story, because
we'll be talking today abouttraumatic brain injury and
related conditions and how thosecan be a result of domestic
violence, and this is reallypersonal to you because you
witnessed it firsthand as achild.
What I would like to do, beforewe even get started into the
(03:55):
personal story and the journeythat you've been on, I'd like to
get a working definition oftraumatic brain injury, as well
as a definition for chronictraumatic encephalopathy.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Absolutely so.
Traumatic brain injury isdefined as a bump, blow or jolt
to the head or hit to the body.
So it doesn't have to be justyour head but to the body.
That causes a head and brain tomove quickly back and forth,
that causes the brain to bouncearound or twist right.
(04:31):
There's chemical changes thatare happening within the skull
so it stretches there's.
You know this movement thathappens kind of like if you grab
an egg and you shake it.
Think of the egg, the shell, asthe skull and what's in there
is the brain.
So that's what traumatic braininjury is.
Chronic traumaticencephalopathy is connected to
(04:56):
non-concussive repetitive headimpacts and we're going to get
more into that.
But it is considered aprogressive neural degenerative
brain disorder and so there's alot of symptomatology that comes
from that and I think we'regoing to get into that.
But that is the definition ofwhat chronic traumatic
(05:16):
encephalopathy is.
In traumatic brain injuries Icall it TBI and CT, because
seeing chronic traumaticencephalopathy is a little
burdensome sometimes.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, it is a lot.
Yeah, but thank you forclarifying that and the
abbreviations as well, becausethat's what we'll be using
throughout this conversation isTBI and CTE, and I did watch
just to give people just a hintat what's ahead in this
conversation.
I watched a little bit of thedocumentary film and there's
some good imaging in there togive you the visual of what is
(05:49):
actually happening inside of theskull when you take it to the
head or to the body and how thebrain can actually move back and
forth within the skull andcause that disruption to
neurological activity and canalso be a very serious injury.
Let's dive in a little bit toyour personal experience with
(06:15):
TBI and CTE.
Tell us about your home lifewhen you were growing up and
your personal story.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Thank you, maria.
So forgive me if I get a littleemotional you know I don't tend
to go into it, but I think forthe context of this podcast it's
really important and I'm justvery proud of my upbringing.
So I'm an immigrant.
My family was an immigrant froma little town in Zacatecas
called El Nino Jesus.
(06:43):
We immigrated to the UnitedStates during the 1970s.
I am the eldest of sevenchildren and during the time
that we got here the civilrights movement has just kind of
, you know, started ending andthe battered women's movement
was about to initiate.
So that time zone there was alot of overt racism and
(07:07):
discrimination and a completelack of understanding of what
domestic violence was or abusetowards children and women, no
type of training taking place.
And just to give you a littlebit of context as to why I am so
aware of what was happening inmy family, I have the first
(07:28):
recollection of the first TVepisode when I was about four
years old.
I don't know if I was younger,but definitely by four years old
I knew what was happening.
So my reality as a child wasforever shattered and I took on
the responsibility of being theprotector and just really trying
to, you know, manage that issue.
(07:49):
And just a little bit morebackground.
I, as we came to the UnitedStates, I was hopeful that there
would be services.
So I, you know, I did talk tomy mother several times, many,
many discussions about leavingand seeking help and she told me
that the services of the UnitedStates were not for her and
were not created for help.
And she told me that theservices in the United States
were not for her and were notcreated for her.
So she just didn't feel thatthey were there for her.
(08:13):
Obviously, because we came tothis country during such a civil
unrest and so muchanti-sentiment towards
immigrants, including ice rates,which are going on now, the
stress in my family magnified,meaning that the stress my
(08:36):
father was feeling wasintensifying.
So the abuse in the family wasmagnified.
And there was one time when thepolice came to my family and to
see what was going on, butagain it was during the time
when they were not trained forthis issue.
So my mother was in obviousdistress but they did nothing
for her and then they didn't askto see the children.
So there was just absolutely nocare provided.
(08:57):
I know that as children we wereshowing symptoms of what was
going on, but teachers, priestsand everybody around us just
never really asked us what washappening, and there was no care
provided.
I think the police incident,though, really cemented the fact
that we just didn't matter.
So the violence was just verypervasive.
In my home I often describewhat was happening as a war zone
(09:22):
, and I want to remind thereader, the audience, that there
were happy moments, but it's sodifficult as a war zone.
And I want to remind the reader, the audience, that there were
happy moments, but it's sodifficult as a child to focus on
this when the abuse was sopervasive.
So that just gives you a littlebackground about my family and
my background.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, thank you for sharing that with us.
So all of this, it's been areally long journey, right For
you and for your family and yourmother, and it all has
culminated.
I'm skipping to the end, butwe're going to work backwards.
It culminated in a movementthat you founded and a
documentary film called thisHits Home, which is about TBI,
(09:58):
cte and domestic violence.
Obviously it's this personalstory, right, violence.
Obviously it's this personalstory, right that inspired the
film.
Yes, yes.
So how did you get connected tothe director, sydney Skoshe,
and have you know, get to workwith her on this particular
project?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Absolutely.
I love Sydney, but I gotintroduced to her by her father,
dr David Dodek, who is arenowned neurologist.
He is, as you can imagine, afriend and an incredible,
significant person in my life.
He is Professor Emeritus atMayo Clinic and Consultant for
(10:37):
Mayo Clinic International.
He is also the Chief ScienceOfficer and Chair for Atria
Academy of Science and Medicine.
He is an adjunct professor inthe Department of Neuroscience
Norwegian University, and I cango on and on.
We were working on a projectaround domestic violence and
(10:58):
traumatic brain injury and Ifelt compelled to share with him
, and I felt compelled to sharewith him.
He was the first person closeto me that I shared why this
issue was so near and dear to myheart and I had just gotten the
first diagnosis of my mother'sbrain.
So I shared that with him andhe was very struck with it and
he asked me Maria, I have a waythat we can create a public
(11:24):
massive awareness about thisissue and hence he introduced me
to his daughter, sydney Dodick.
Professional name Sydney,scotia.
You know she is amazing,beautiful producer, actress,
director and I would add to thata tremendous advocate of
domestic violence and TDI andCTE.
(11:46):
So I met her during the time andwas introduced to her by David,
her father, while I was tryingto get confirmation of my
mother's neuropathologyexamination.
So she asked me if we couldtrack her journey in real time
(12:08):
and, as you can imagine, therewas lots of discussions about
this discussion and the step itmeant that I had to go very
public in a very big way.
So I was very fortunate to haveamazing mentors and, um, we did
the film and was incrediblyproud of how sydney did the film
(12:28):
.
So that's how I came to to this, uh, to this wonderful
documentary that can be easilywatched if you google it, it's
available and, uh, for free.
If you're streaming on certainplatforms that you have, you can
access it.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So and just a reminder.
The documentary is called thisHits Home and it is on your
website, which remind me thewebsite again.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Pamphilaorg P-A-M-P-I-L-Aorg.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Okay, so people hopefully can find it there.
You can also find it at theConference on Crimes Against
Women in May 2025.
Let's talk a little bit moredeeply about the film and your
mother's story.
What happened to your motherthat caused TBI?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So my mother was repeatedly hit on the head for
over 40 years.
So the symptoms manifestedthemselves quite early in her
life and when I finally had herunder my care and I took her to
the neurologist that theyinsisted that it was Alzheimer's
(13:37):
that she had it, and I agreed50% with them.
I disagreed that it was acomplete diagnosis.
So unfortunately CTE can onlybe diagnosed post-mortem and I
had the opportunity to donateher brain for the advancements
(13:58):
of science and brain science.
So that's the significance isthat we found the first
neuropathology examinationdemonstrated or showed that she
had CTE and Alzheimer's.
So that was very significant.
But then we had to really worktowards confirming those results
.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
How is CTE diagnosed?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
CTE is diagnosed post-mortem.
You need to seek aneuropathology examination and
usually you know in my mother'scase she couldn't give consent.
She didn't know what washappening.
Cte really ravages your brain.
You have a multitude ofsymptoms behavioral, cognitive,
(14:40):
physical mood.
You know so.
You really can't make thedecision to do that.
Cognitive, physical mood youknow so.
You really can't make thedecision to do that.
I had a full power of attorneyover my mother and there was a
lot of reasons why I wanted tofind out what happened to her.
Yes, so either you give consentfor your brain to be donated or
your family, if they have dualpower of attorney over you,
might make the decision thatthey want to see what happened
(15:02):
to you, because the behavior isso different and so erratic
sometimes, from when you firstmeet somebody and say this is a
wonderful human being, then itjust drastically changes.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
What are some of those symptoms that a person
might exhibit if theypotentially have had traumatic
brain injury?
Could possibly have CTE.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
So traumatic brain injury.
It is such a huge braindisorder.
It's just you know you havemild, moderate to severe and
then many definitions and typesin that spectrum.
So most people suffer mild TBIs.
In fact, 80% of TBIs are mild.
(15:47):
It is the leading cause ofdeath and disability, not just
in the United States butglobally, so it's a public
health crisis.
The acute symptoms of mild TBIare the ones that we need to
watch.
If you had a mild TBI, whichusually is some kind of nausea,
you've been hit in the head oryour body has been shaken in a
(16:09):
way that your brain has beenimpacted Nausea, migraines, you
want to rest, you're feelingdizzy and migraine headaches.
So those are like the acuteones.
It's these long-term effectsthat really go unchecked,
because usually you know youmight go to the doctor and get
care if you think you have amild TBI, but the statistics
(16:33):
demonstrate that only 50% ofpeople that think they've had a
TBI actually go get care.
So you have that Most peopleare not getting care.
The long-term effects arephysical, cognitive, behavior
and mood, which includessensitivity to light and noise,
dizziness or balance problems,feeling tired or fatigued, foggy
(16:55):
or groggy mind, you know,concentration problems,
nervousness, sleeping problems,vision problems, words or letter
jumping around.
So you're having troublethinking clearly.
Migraine headaches are a hugesymptom.
So those are some of thesymptoms.
If you're having repeated headtrauma or any type of trauma,
(17:17):
you increase your chances ofeventually possibly also having
a progressive neurodegenerativedisease.
So traumatic brain injury islinked to Alzheimer's disease,
for example.
Parkinson's CTE is specificallylinked to repetitive
non-concussive head impacts.
So that is how all of this islinked.
(17:40):
Those are some of the symptoms.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
So is there an age limit or an age factor that
relates to these disorders?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
abusive relationship or you're playing amateur sports
or you are prone to falls, youare at risk for developing,
obviously if you have trauma,tbi, but then you're at risk of
developing progressiveneurodegenerative diseases.
But for CTE specifically thisis the issue that I'm so focused
on it has been found in thebrain as young as 17 years old
and because CTE the way itmanifests itself with the tau
(18:33):
proteins and the tau foals ittakes several years for symptoms
to show up.
So that means that the17-year-old most likely was
playing some type of sport itcould be football, anything that
you can think of where thebrain is being moved and just
injured in that skull.
If that individual was alsosustaining some type of
(19:02):
accidents at home or there wasabuse in the home, that young
brain is being damaged.
So by the time of 17, he wasdiagnosed with CTE.
Teen he was diagnosed with CTE.
And if you think of the generalpopulation and abuse, children
who are abused are alsoexperiencing repeated head
trauma.
They are going unchecked.
Tbi is considered a chroniccondition that impacts the
(19:24):
lifespan, just like CTE is.
But because there is noeducation about that, we don't
know these things.
So children are being uncheckedby the time they reach high
school.
It's no wonder that we have ahike in teen dating violence.
So I hope that makes a goodpicture for the audience that
you had a head trauma orrepeated head trauma.
We're just taking an example ofat 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years old.
(19:47):
Example of at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8years old.
Well, those symptoms are goingto take a while to show up as
CTE or progressiveneurodegenerative diseases on
top of the TBI symptoms you'reexperiencing already.
So there's layers TBIsymptomatology, cte and other
progressive neurodegenerativediseases and with abuse victims,
we have depression, we havechronic stress, we have all
(20:12):
these other comorbidities.
So it gives you a good picture.
But no, there is no age limitand everybody is at risk.
Who's had head trauma?
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah, because when we hear about TBI traumatic brain
injury it's most often discussedaround professional athletes,
in particular, football Americanfootball, as well as with
military service members, mayalso be highly susceptible to
the impact of a traumatic braininjury, but it actually is
(20:43):
incredibly common amongstvictims of domestic violence,
and it's an issue that reallyhas only been talked about in
recent years.
And, to your point, is also anissue that the symptoms don't
always show up right away, andit's very similar in that way to
strangulation, because withstrangulation with the hands
(21:06):
around the neck, it can causemild injuries that are not even
detectable at first notice orexamination, and so these things
can slowly deteriorate and alsoshorten a woman's life
Absolutely, and strangulation isa type of TBI.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
I didn't realize that .
I think we've done a great jobof educating people about
strangulation.
We have not done a good job ofeducating the public about what
traumatic brain injury is ingeneral.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, I would agree with that, with the exception of
, maybe, professional sports,like having had kids that play
sports for schools and such theydo educate parents about what
the symptoms would be and whatto look out for, and in recent
years very recent years, atleast at the club and high
(21:59):
school levels, they are beingsuper careful about how kids are
protected when they're playingsports at school.
Now, in this particular case,though, we're playing sports at
school.
Now, in this particular case,though, we're talking about
domestic violence.
There was no protection andthere was no talking about it,
and, to your point, nobodyreally seemed to care what was
happening within your family'shome.
(22:22):
Did you have the opportunity toconfront your father about the
abuse of your mother?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Throughout my life.
I discussed it with him becauseit didn't make sense to me, the
erratic behavior.
So I did speak to him many,many times about his behavior
and how he might be able tocontrol it, and so what he
(22:49):
shared with me is that he couldnot control it.
He could not control hisunpredictable impulsive behavior
, his irritability and rage.
So I discussed it many timeswith him and as I grew,
obviously older, the discussionsgot deeper.
So I, of course, I learned thathe also was abused as a child
(23:12):
at the hands of his father.
So there was really horrificabuse going on.
I suspect from the symptoms andwhat I saw in my father, that he
also had domestic violence, TBI, dvtbi and potentially DVCT.
And I say potentially because Isuspect that in my mother and I
had the authority to donate herbrain to science.
(23:35):
My father also passed away butI did not have the authority to
donate his brain.
I would have done so.
So many times, many times, myfather was very afraid that he.
He was afraid of himself.
He was afraid that he was goingto kill somebody, not just his
family, but just hurt somebody.
He never got care.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, that is incredibly challenging and it's
a lot for you.
I mean, you're the oldest ofseven siblings and it's a lot
for you to have carried all ofthese years and you've turned it
into a movement with thedocumentary film and the
information that you provide onyour website and even as you
(24:17):
work as a social worker.
Let's talk a little bit abouthow to care for someone who has
a traumatic brain injury andcould potentially have CTE.
What type of care is involvedin that?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
The care that's involved in that for traumatic
brain injury really depends onthe type of traumatic brain
injury that has been sustained.
Again, most of it is mild TBI.
If it's moderate to severe,people usually end up in the
hospital.
Having said that, for abusedindividuals, women and children,
they are experiencing moderateto severe traumatic brain
(24:54):
injuries, but they're notseeking care for a lot of
reasons.
But really what you need isrest and then really long-term
care because you want to reallybe aware of the manifestation of
symptoms.
So you can never get your brainback to baseline.
(25:14):
You're never going to get thatfresh brain that hasn't been so
the damage is done.
Right, the damage is done.
The science is not there yetthat they can repair brain cells
, so the damage is done.
So what you have to do, myrecommendation, is be very
vigilant of your symptoms.
Track how much brain damage ortraumatic brain injury you've
(25:34):
had.
Establish a good relationshipwith a good neurologist and
track your symptoms so you canget treatment for your symptoms.
Tbi was just recognized in 2024in the United States as a
chronic condition, meaning thata TBI impacts lifespan.
So there's a lot of educationgoing on right now among brain
(25:59):
injury associations about thisissue that it's a chronic
condition.
So it requires long-term careand at one point, if you start
showing symptoms of progressiveneurodegenerative diseases, you
now have this addedmanifestation, sequelae of new
symptoms.
So you're going to have tothink of what type of long-term
(26:22):
care you're going to need.
My mother, at one point,obviously could not take care of
herself, and I know that's avery difficult discussion to
have, it's very difficultdiscussion to have, it's very
difficult information to hear,right, but you know, I believe
that information is important,so then you can plan accordingly
.
I know I don't bring good newsand I'm not sharing good news,
but it's important for us toknow what's going on so we can
(26:44):
prepare.
So that's what I recommend sowe can prepare.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
So that's what I recommend.
Yeah, I think you make a reallyinteresting point because this
is a very complex situation.
When you have a person withtraumatic brain injury who then
begins to present that they canno longer care for themselves,
and then the complexity ofconfronting that as their child
and actually taking action tomake sure that they get the care
(27:11):
that they need, even if it'snot the care that they
necessarily want, and thatlong-term care plan or insurance
is an important thing to thinkabout early, even when there is
nothing happening, just so thatin the future one can be taken
care of or your loved ones canbe taken care of.
(27:31):
Talking about treatment alittle bit further, when a woman
or any person really presentsto a neurologist symptoms that
may be because of a TBI right,do those doctors, is there a
method in place or a process inplace that they would
specifically ascertain if thisis a result of domestic violence
(27:54):
or some type of abuse?
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Well, first of all, there are no standards of care
for screening, treating orassessing for domestic violence,
tbi or DVCT.
So just because you're seeing aneurologist doesn't mean you're
going to get screened for that.
That is one of the reasons whywe've made the film, the
(28:16):
documentary, and I appreciateyou saying trying to really have
this movement of education andawareness, not just for the
population that's at risk, butthe entire service provision,
including other criticalstakeholders.
So then you have, and I canspeak to it, because that's what
happened to my mother, and Iknow that when women reach out
(28:39):
to me and say, Maria, I heardyour speech, I heard, I saw the
film.
Please refer me to aneurologist.
Neurologists are not aware ofthis correlation.
Refer me to a neurologist.
Neurologists are not aware ofthis correlation.
So when I took my mother to getcare, they were ignoring
completely the history oftraumatic brain injury and I was
.
People ask me well, why wereyou?
(28:59):
Why did you want to know?
I wanted to know because she'smy mother and I wanted to get a
complete diagnosis so I can giveher comprehensive, needed care.
I have the right to know andevery woman, child, individual
has a right to know what's goingon with their health and sadly,
the system of care, includinghealthcare, is not aware of this
(29:20):
correlation and they're notscreening routinely in a
standardized way or assessing ortreating.
Then you have women who arereally afraid of sharing what's
going on, especially women whohave children, because they know
the repercussions.
I'm a social worker, I've beeninvolved in mandated reporting,
so you have women who are veryhesitant for many reasons not to
(29:43):
share what's going on.
So we have this kind of areawhere nobody's talking, nobody
knows what to do.
So that's what's happening.
The ideal world would be wherethere is universal screening of
TBI and CT as it relates todomestic violence, so then women
, children and men like myfather could get the proper care
(30:06):
that they need and we might seea difference in behavior
amongst everybody.
Because for my mother, after Igot the results, I still to this
day think at what point did mymom, at what point was her brain
so damaged that she could nolonger make decisions that were
(30:28):
in her best interest?
And because my mom was so braininjured?
I don't know, but I could tellyou the symptoms were very, very
early on, anyway.
So we really have an obligationas a society to really create a
comprehensive educationawareness campaign about this
(30:50):
issue, not just for individualsbut the entire system of care.
I know that the NFL is doing agreat job.
I work with Dr Nowinski wepartner on things and I'm
working very closely with DrAnne McKee.
I know what's being done in themilitary and contact sports,
but the DV population and theentire other population is
(31:11):
massive.
We have an epidemic of traumaticbrain injury, not just in this
country but in the globe, andthen we have an added DV, and
abuse against women and childrenis so pervasive and we're
missing this piece.
I do want to highlight, though,that the science for DVTBI has
been around since the 1980s, andthe first case of DVCT among a
(31:36):
female was there in the 1990s.
Nobody did anything with thatinformation, it just stayed
there.
So I think we also need to do abetter job of disseminating
information that is availableand is there.
I think my mother's case reallyis.
We're trying to highlight itand raise awareness about it for
(31:57):
many reasons, so then we couldreally create systemic change,
right, create that awareness.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yeah, this podcast is part of that, creating that
change and that awareness, andso is the documentary film.
I think you're 100% correctthat there's not enough
awareness or emphasis on what'shappening to domestic violence
victims.
What if someone listening,let's say, knows that she has
(32:27):
experienced traumatic braininjury from mild, moderate so on
?
What could she do today to tryto take control of her own
health?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Well, first of all, I think you know, as somebody
who's living this and is at highrisk for this.
First of all, I want torecognize how difficult it is to
hear this.
Um, I've had to take a lot ofpauses in my life to to really
just kind of take this in.
(32:58):
After I heard my mom's results,for example, it was very
difficult to um to really likeincorporate that information.
What does that mean, not justfor my mother but for me and my
siblings?
So I want to recognize howpainful this information could
be to hear.
I want to encourage you to takea pause, take your time.
Don't push yourself, be gentlewith yourself and once you feel,
(33:19):
okay, this, you're talkingabout me I recommend that you
really track your symptoms, takean inventory of the type of
traumatic brain injury you'vehad and get yourself really
educated.
You can go to palmphilaorg andget yourself educated about this
TBI and CT and otherprogressive neurodegenerative
diseases.
I think the documentary is avery difficult watch.
(33:43):
It's not an easy watch,especially if you feel that you
are somebody who can relate tothis issue.
I recommend that you watch itwith a trusted, safe friend so
then you could process itafterwards and then, when you
are ready, seek proper care.
I would recommend that you seea neurologist and be ready to
(34:05):
self-advocate for yourself,because that neurologist might
not understand or really believe.
You Point them to our website,point them to the documentary
and other information that Iknow is going to be available at
the conference so they can geteducated.
But that's what I wouldrecommend.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I think the self-advocating part is critical
here, because it's really easyto give up when you walk into a
doctor's office and nine timesout of 10, that doctor doesn't
look like you.
Maybe you're a woman, thedoctor's a man you feel like
already you walk in with thisbias of like, oh, this guy's not
(34:43):
going to listen to me, and youcould be very easily written off
, as you said, and accept itbecause you don't know how to
work through it.
I would also say, if you have atrusted person in your life
that can accompany you such asyou had accompanied your mother
(35:04):
and you made sure that youpushed until you got the answers
answers the way that yourmother could not advocate for
herself that is anotherpossibility for you to pursue
some answers for yourself andthe type of care that you want
to receive.
It sounds like a great plan,but I know it's hard.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
It's very hard.
It's very hard and I agree withyou 100%.
Take a trusted friend,especially if you are feeling
experiencing memory loss andhaving a difficult time.
At one point you're going tohave a hard time even writing
things and information jumps atyou.
(35:46):
You can't read, you can'tcomplete forms that the doctor
may want.
So having somebody that youtrust and is a good confidant is
really wise.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah, and just listening to all of this and
thinking about the symptoms andthat they really develop over
time, I would encourage peopleyou may have experienced
traumatic brain injury in thepast maybe not today, maybe not
right now in an abusiverelationship but in the past but
start thinking about yourselfand your own well-being now,
(36:19):
before you may have symptomslater.
And that's really the point youwere trying to make with
long-term care.
That's really the point youwere trying to make with
long-term care and the fact thatit's very hard to accept that
you might possibly have thistype of a condition that's
silent at the moment but mayaffect you down the road.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Absolutely.
I think getting the fear factorfreezes us.
I recognize that yeah factorfreezes us.
I recognize that.
I can't tell you how many timesI had a pause to just exhale
and bring my energy and centerand balance myself and say what
do we do with this information?
So I agree with you as somebodywho is struggling with these
(37:05):
issues myself.
I also think it's importantagain, the education Maria I
can't emphasize recognize andeducate yourself about the TBI
symptoms but also the CTEsymptoms.
There's four stages of CTE.
What are those stages?
So the four stages are they'reconsidered one, two and three
and four and they're allimpacting your behavior
(37:28):
cognitive, physical and mood andthey're clustered.
So some of the things that youmight feel are these persistent
migraine headaches.
That's what my mom had.
So you have headaches for TBI,but now you're experiencing this
profound other headaches thatcould be attributed to CTE
difficulty concentrating, thatcould be treated to CTE
(37:49):
difficulty concentrating,attention problems, nausea,
short-term memory loss andeventually long-term memory loss
, outbursts or explosive mood,depression, memory impairment,
executive function problems,visual spatial dysfunction.
Like your gait shifts that'sone of the big things I noticed
with my mom.
(38:10):
Like oh my God, my mom's walkhas changed.
Her gait has been the balance,vestibular balance issues you
feel like you're going to be.
You're always falling apathy,motor skills, the uncontrollable
rage, language difficulties,suicidality, because you're
losing control of who you are.
So now you're having thesethoughts.
(38:30):
Then you have these substancedisorders, because you're trying
to self-medicate right.
Then there's the dementias thatcome in right, and then
Parkinsonism.
Excuse me, you have the maskphase, the gait, the shuffle,
moving, the rigidity, thefreezing, the postural
(38:53):
instability and again theshuffling of steps.
So it's some of the symptoms arevery similar to TBI, but some
of them are vastly different toTBI, and so that's important is
educate yourself about whatthese symptoms are so that you
could track them.
And again, I know it's verydifficult to hear this and you
(39:15):
might just want to isolate.
I urge you to try to balanceyourself, to bring back that
fight in you, because the longeryou wait the symptoms just are
going to get worse.
So getting treatment isimportant, so they can alleviate
some of the symptomatology youare experiencing and hopefully
(39:40):
you are functioning better inlife, because these symptoms are
going to impact your dailyliving Parenting, keeping a job,
going to school, keepingappointments.
If you go to shelter, you'renot going job, going to school,
keeping appointments.
You know if you go to shelteryou're not going to be able to
comply with programs, and sothen you might be terminated.
Many of the women, as you know,end up on the streets with
(40:04):
housing insecurity orhomelessness, where they are at
risk of more traumatic braininjury.
So please, please, try to gettreatment for the symptoms.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
So to that point, you mentioned shelter.
What should shelterprofessionals, law enforcement
and others who are like, in manyways, a first responder to
domestic violence incidents?
What should they be looking forwhen they first encounter a
person who may have TBI?
When they first encounter aperson who may have TBI Because
you know, strangulation is a bigone, that's a big abuse tactic
(40:34):
and she may have been strangledand makes a domestic violence
call and now law enforcement isthere but they are not able to
see the obvious signs of astrangulation.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Yeah, I think you know, what I would recommend is
developing really universalscreening tools, screening tools
for first responders, becausethey're not going to be really
to do it.
Like directly related to TBIthat they're experiencing, like
(41:06):
the acute symptoms, the nausea,the migraines, the vomiting, you
know, just the dizziness.
Those are usually symptoms oftraumatic brain injury, okay,
and either the person recognizesthem themselves or the person
visualizing or looking at theimpacted individual can
(41:27):
recognize them, because theperson who's experiencing them
really might just say this isnot a big deal.
But that's where theprofessionals come in.
If you're seeing these symptoms, then you can screen and then
refer.
I think if you ask an abusedwoman if she's had traumatic
brain injury, I think most womenwho are in relationships that
(41:48):
are abusive tend to minimizethat level of abuse that they've
experienced and they don'tunderstand what traumatic brain
injury is.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
They don't understand , you know, yeah, I think I
wouldn't understand it either ifI was in that situation and you
know I'm standing hereconsciously speaking to you and
how could I have a traumaticbrain injury?
Speaker 2 (42:08):
And.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
I think it's that definition.
We go back all the way to thebeginning of the conversation is
what is it?
It's not just for athletes,right?
It's everyone.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Exactly.
And then you have thesenon-concussive head impacts.
It's not TBIs that don't showsymptoms.
So again, professionals askingfor symptoms, noticing symptoms,
and then you know, I alwaysthink that well, you don't
really need to know if thiswoman is being abused, but if
the symptoms are showing up, youhave an ethical obligation to
make the referral for assessmentand treatment.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
Absolutely how close are we are to having those types
of screening tools?
Speaker 3 (42:43):
I don't think we're close enough because there is a
lack of education among thesystem of care, behavior, health
, mental health, law enforcement.
We're just not there.
I think that the NFL, themilitary and amateur sports are
doing a phenomenal job.
There are legislation andpolicies that are addressing TBI
(43:07):
and what to do when a childthat's playing a sport it needs
to do.
Policies across the country, inall 50 states.
We don't have any legislationthat's been passed or policies
that are addressing DBE and TBI,much less DBE and CTE.
It's just not happening.
So that's why I am so thankfulfor being on the podcast and I'm
(43:31):
so thankful to be presenting atthe conference, just very
honored to be doing this toeducate and create awareness.
So I thank you, maria, for whatyou're doing and this
opportunity.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Oh, it's my honor to work with you and other
survivors on this and otherissues related to gender-based
violence.
Tell us about the presentationyou're going to give at the
Conference on Crimes AgainstWomen.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
Absolutely.
It will be a presentation verymuch about what is traumatic
brain injury and CT as itrelates to abused women.
We're going to go overdefinitions much more in depth,
right, then we're going toreally cover what are the
symptoms and how do you trackthis.
(44:13):
Then I will cover, as well aswhat are treatments that are
available, what can we dotogether to address it in a
comprehensive way, so strategiesaround that.
We will be showing clips of thefilm and reminding people,
obviously, that there's going tobe a screening and then the
screening we're going to have apanel of experts to really
(44:35):
respond to the audience.
So it'll be a lot like whatwe're talking about, what we've
discussed here, but more indepth and more in a presentation
style format, and I do want tohave some breakout groups to
just make sure that the audiencehas an opportunity to practice
what we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
Yeah, because you have a diverse audience there,
right, you have law enforcementadvocates, prosecutors,
survivors, educators, otherprofessionals who work directly
with victims of gender-basedcrime, and then you have people
like me who just I like learning.
So it's a very diverse audience.
(45:15):
You know, in your experience asa person who immigrated to the
United States from anothercountry and now, having gone
through this with your motherand all the medical treatment
and really pushing for answersand getting them right, you
really did work to make sure yougot a resolution Do you feel
(45:36):
like the services for people whomaybe English is a second
language to them or some otherdiversity do you feel like
services are as available andaccessible to them as it might
be for others?
Speaker 3 (45:52):
No, we have health disparities and disparities in
domestic violence.
We know that women from ethnicand racial backgrounds have
higher incidence of domesticviolence.
It is the same thing fortraumatic brain injury.
So the DV populations is highrisk for TBI, as we've shared,
because of the abuse that goeson in episodes of DV.
(46:15):
But racial and ethnic groupsare also high risk for that.
Then we have health disparitieswithin that, which means that my
mother had less access toproper care, meaning she's not
getting diagnosed, propertreatment and the outcomes for
prognosis are very bad.
So we're really having to facemore added barriers based on a
(46:38):
lot of issues ofintersectionality, some of the
stuff that we talked in thebeginning.
So the fight for my mom wasexcruciating.
For me To get answers was verydifficult and I think you know
part of the reason I decided togo and do the documentary and be
doing this work is because Idon't want others to have the
(46:58):
experience I had.
It was singularly with my familytrying to do a treatment plan
and care plan for my mom becausewe didn't find a bilingual,
culturally responsive andrespectful neurologist.
That was just not available andI doubt that that is a
(47:19):
universal resource right now inthe country for women of color
and communities of color thatare struggling with just DV
itself is so monumental.
But then there's experiencesand symptoms that they have no
idea what's going on.
So I think a lot needs to bedone and I am hopeful, maria,
because I do see movement, andI'm hopeful that with these
(47:40):
venues and going to theconference and some of the work
that I'm doing, I am hopefulthat we are seeing progress and
that we will offer moresolutions for racial and ethnic
populations and for the generalpublic period.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Yeah, I'm really encouraged by not only the work
that you're doing but thebreadth of all of it and the
collaborators that you have tokind of just address this issue
and in a 360 kind of way,because it's not just, it's not
just the db, it's not that youhave a tbi from db, and it's
(48:17):
more than that, it's the, thewhole cultural part of it.
It's uh, services in a nativelanguage which are super
important.
You know, I work for genesis,women Shelter and Support, and
we have bilingual services aswell as interpretations to
services and staff that wepartner with, and that makes all
the difference.
(48:38):
The culturally sensitive partmakes all the difference.
And you're right, there is ahuge disparity in healthcare of
finding a person who reallywould understand you enough on
all of those levels to take yoursymptoms seriously and get
testing done and and you know,help you achieve a diagnosis and
a treatment plan.
Tell us your website again sothat people can go there, cause
(49:02):
I'm I don't know if everyonewrote it down but let's get your
website website again, and sopeople can at least take a look
at that and get a sneak peek atthe film.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
Absolutely.
It's Panfila, which is mymother's name P-A-N-F-I-L-Aorg.
So you, if you go on it, youwill see just an introduction to
this issue, to this issue.
I am affiliated with Dr AnneMcKee, which is the lead premier
(49:34):
on traumatic brain injury andCT.
She's a brain scientist, aneuropathologist.
She is in charge also of UniteBrain Bank, which is the largest
brain dissipatory in the world,so we're affiliated with him.
So if you want to find out aboutbrain donation, we're linked to
her and we just worked on acollaborative on a brochure
specifically for the domesticviolence population.
(49:55):
So if you're thinking of doingthat, a neuropathology is very
expensive.
It is free if you're at riskand you go through their system.
So we're linked to that.
There's resources and if youare a professional, meaning that
you are doing research, we haveall the articles where we get
the information.
There is also a page forresources, several links to the
(50:18):
documentary, and I'm building itmore because we're developing
other partnerships, because it'sa comprehensive issue that
needs to be dealt with in acollaborative approach with
multidisciplinary individualsand it needs to be coordinated.
So once we provide services toan individual, it's a
coordinated approach and not asingular approach.
(50:39):
So, yes, palmphilaorg, pleasego to it, and we are happy to
support and provide services.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
Thank you so much for giving us that information, for
talking with me today andsharing your story and your
mother's story, and I lookforward to being with you at the
Conference on Crimes AgainstWomen.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's just a privilege, it's anhonor, and I look forward to
meeting you as well at theconference and meeting the rest
of the other participants thatwill be attending.
We can't wait.
I'll see you there.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Thank you.
Thanks so much for listening.
Until next time, stay safe.
The 2025 Conference on CrimesAgainst Women will take place in
Dallas, Texas, May 19th throughthe 22nd at the Sheraton Dallas
.
Learn more and register atconferencecaworg and follow us
on social media at National CCAW.
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