Danielle Allen

Danielle believes when services work exceptionally well together, more support can be provided to victims of domestic violence whom have experienced attempted strangulation and more intimate partner homicides can be prevented. Danielle knows that attempted strangulation is medically very dangerous with unseen injuries and a risk of stroke that most are unaware of. It is also a predictor of lethality, increasing a victim's chance of being murdered by their violent partner by 700%. Danielle plans to travel to the USA and Canada to learn from sector leaders about the best practice strategies needed to ensure services work collaboratively to improve outcomes for victims.

Danielle has over 20 years of experience working as a Social Worker within both rural and metropolitan Health Services, specialising in the area of domestic and family violence. She has particular interests in both quality improvement and advocacy at a systemic level. Danielle holds a Bachelor of Social Work (Hons), Graduate Diploma in Education and a Bachelor of Arts all from the University of Sydney. She has delivered Lovebites Facilitator training nationally to the Community Services , Health and Policing sector for National Association for the Protection of Children from Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN). She is currently conducting research supported by the NSW Health Education and Training Institute (HETI) exploring NSW Emergency Department staff perspectives on 'what works' for supporting domestic violence victims who have experienced non-fatal strangulation.

Danielle is dedicated to pursuing opportunities to improve service responses to those most at risk in our communities. Her goals for her Churchill Fellowship include bringing back innovative strategies to working with agencies in co-designing a community health information campaign about the risks of strangulation and implement best practice principles to improve collaboration between services so that more victims get wrap around support.