The lack of data about women’s experiences of strangulation in the context of domestic, family and sexual violence, and consensual sexual choking, impacts service providers’ ability to implement best practice screening and assessment. Developed in May 2025, this recorded training shares information gathered, and key insights learnt by Women’s Health NSW in rolling out the Pathways Project. It is designed to support workforce training by improving service provider confidence responding to women with these experiences.
The Pathways Project was a two-year implementation that included evidence gathering, Australian and international stakeholder engagement, resource production, the development of 20 tailored referral pathways and more than 120 occasions of training. This resulting 45-minute recorded training has already been delivered to more than 3000 people across NSW and Australia. It is influenced by insights from our network of women’s health centres who implemented local referral pathways to respond to women with experiences of strangulation, sexual choking and acquired brain injury.
This recorded training will be most effective when used in conjunction with the Guidelines: Responding to non-fatal strangulation and sexual choking and the accompanying assessment tool. Staff can build upon the lessons outlined in this recording by viewing our recorded demonstration of a strangulation assessment, the service provider digital story, and our sexual choking health promotion resource.
References
The evidence used in this training is consistent with the project evidence brief and the following articles, which were released after the evidence brief was published:
Sharman, L.S., Fitzgerald, R. & Douglas, H. Prevalence of Sexual Strangulation/Choking Among Australian 18–35 Year-Olds. Arch Sex Behav 54, 465–480 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-024-02937-y
Nagorcka-Smith, P. (2024). A Gendered Lens on Acquired Brain Injury. Australian Women’s Health Alliance. https://australianwomenshealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-Gendered-Lens-on-Acquired-Brain-Injury-FINAL.pdf
Mullin, S.P., & Hardiman, R. (2025). The Characteristics and Circumstances of Fatal Interpersonal Strangulation in Australian Adults. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39988982/