Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Content warning: This Ed Talk contains descriptions of physical violence and suicide that some may find distressing.
Had health care staff been trained to recognize signs of abuse, things may have turned out very differently for Ielena Lesar.
At seven months pregnant, she was choked unconscious by her husband and later discharged without question after an assessment of her unborn child.
Looking back, she says it was an opportunity for people in the healthcare system to step in and intervene.
“If only someone … had taken the time to talk to me, to see me and to see the signs of abuse, how different the trajectory would have been,” she says. “This very brief encounter … underscores the broader failures of an underfunded healthcare system that fails to support individuals in crisis.”
In her International Ed Talk, she speaks about her story, and how it led her to Royal Roads University and to complete her Master of Arts in Justice Studies.
Learn more about Royal Roads: royalroads.ca
Follow Royal Roads on social:
TikTok: tiktok.com/@royalroadsuniversity
Facebook: facebook.com/royalroadsu
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/school/royal-roads-university
Instagram: instagram.com/royalroadsu
Twitter: twitter.com/RoyalRoads
President Philip Steenkamp: twitter.com/rrupresident
Content warning: This Ed Talk contains descriptions of physical violence and suicide that some may find distressing.
Had health care staff been trained to recognize signs of abuse, things may have turned out very differently for Ielena Lesar.
At seven months pregnant, she was choked unconscious by her husband and later discharged without question after an assessment of her unborn child.
Looking back, she says it was an opportunity for people in the healthcare system to step in and intervene.
“If only someone … had taken the time to talk to me, to see me and to see the signs of abuse, how different the trajectory would have been,” she says. “This very brief encounter … underscores the broader failures of an underfunded healthcare system that fails to support individuals in crisis.”
In her International Ed Talk, she speaks about her story, and how it led her to Royal Roads University and to complete her Master of Arts in Justice Studies.
Learn more about Royal Roads: royalroads.ca
Follow Royal Roads on social:
TikTok: tiktok.com/@royalroadsuniversity
Facebook: facebook.com/royalroadsu
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/school/royal-roads-university
Instagram: instagram.com/royalroadsu
Twitter: twitter.com/RoyalRoads
President Philip Steenkamp: twitter.com/rrupresident
