Alisha Dimovski

Alisha Dimovski presents her thesis that was inspired by the death of her brother Bryson Dimovski in July 2023.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon everyone, my name is Alicia Demoski and I am a fourth year Social Work

00:06Honours student at the University of Newcastle. Today I will be discussing the role social

00:12workers can have in supporting police departments in delivering a death notification, which

00:18is a sensitive and impactful procedure that profoundly affects both the recipients and

00:23the notifiers. I would like to take a moment to recognise

00:30and acknowledge those with lived experiences of trauma, grief and mental health and those

00:35who love and care for them. I acknowledge the traumatic death of those who were taken

00:40unfairly and the grief and suffering this brings to families, friends and communities.

00:45I also acknowledge those who have been victims of crime, who have experienced injustice,

00:51a lack of integrity and a denial of rights in the criminal justice system.

00:59If at any point this presentation is triggering, please don't hesitate to leave. I appreciate

01:05the difficulty of this topic. After thorough research, the question I formulated

01:11for my thesis was, what are the impacts of death notifications received, delivered in

01:16non-hospital settings? Is there currently a role for social workers in first response?

01:23For those who don't know me, you're probably wondering why has this student picked this

01:27topic? I chose this topic because of my personal experience. In July 2023, my 14-year-old brother,

01:39Bryson Demorski, was killed unexpectedly in an alleged hit-and-run. It is alleged as

01:51it is still before the courts. During the time he was missing, the police were notified

01:57of his disappearance. The police had a platitude because of his age. However, at 2am, my family

02:07got the knock on the door that has shattered our lives forever. The behaviour of the police

02:14was unhelpful as we learnt the unthinkable truth. The following morning, the crash investigator

02:21police told us that the driver would only serve 150 hours of community service as a

02:28punishment. This added another complex layer of trauma to our grief.