Non-fatal strangulation is currently in headlines through a powerful story in Coronation Street. And a group of student doctors from the University of Plymouth has also focused on the topic to raise awareness of the harms and address barriers to reporting.

The students, based in Taunton, chose the topic as part of a community-based learning exercise where groups are required to understand pressing issues and deliver interventions to help. They worked with charities to understand the impact and harm caused by non-fatal strangulation. 

A survey from the Institute for Addressing Strangulation showed that 55% of people aged 16-34 thought strangulation during intimacy was normal, having experienced it themselves – and yet non-fatal strangulation occurred in nearly half of attempted, or completed, domestic homicides.    

So, the team of third-year students focused in on the topic and the barriers to people reporting it, working with BSc Professional Policing students at the University to educate them about the impacts, and how to ensure victims were supported through empathetic listening and accurate reporting. 

Hopeful of continuing the workshops and even rolling out further to serving police officers, the team is proud of its work taking on something that’s both inherently normalised, and a social taboo.