About The Project
SOAR (Supporting Survivors of Abuse and Brain Injury through Research) is a multi-disciplinary, program of research that explores the incidence and effects of brain injury in women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV).
The project uses psychosocial and lab-based assessments, and integrated knowledge translation to gather data, and develop and test education and training for those who work with survivors and members of the public, as well as screening and supports for survivors themselves.
The goal? Increase knowledge, awareness, and education, in order to help and ensure women who experience brain injury at the hands of a partner get the trauma-informed supports and services they need to move into healthy lives free of abuse.
It all started with a swipe.
It’s true! SOAR’s co-founders, a university professor/concussion researcher, and the executive director of a women’s shelter, met in 2015 on an online dating site.
They both swiped right, and a few months later, the idea for SOAR was born, with work on the project getting underway in earnest in 2016.