Supporting non-offending parents after child sexual abuse

Content type
Webinar
Event date

19 February 2025, 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm (AEDT)

Presenters

Sophie McEvoy, Dr Carmela Bastian, Alisa Hall, Dan Moss

Location

Online

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Sensitive content warning

This webinar discusses child sexual abuse and will include content that is derived from the experiences of children and parents following abuse. Please take care while listening and if you think you would benefit from some support and would like to talk to a trained professional, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14. You can also reach out to Blue Knot Helpline and Redress Support Service on 1300 657 380.

If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call Police on 000.

About this webinar

Child sexual abuse continues to be a significant and urgent national issue. The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (2023) revealed that 28% of Australians aged 16 – 24 have experienced this form of abuse, with a higher rate among girls than boys (37.3% vs 18.8%).

When a child discloses sexual abuse the experience for the non-offending parent/s can be overwhelming. Parents often blame themselves and experience a range of other intense emotions including anger, shame and doubt, making it difficult to support their child.

Parents who receive practical and emotional support during this time are more likely to be able to provide their child with the support they need. This can contribute to the healing process and better outcomes for both parent and child. Practitioners can help by normalizing parents' negative emotions and offering a safe space for them to express their feelings. This can help them provide consistent, nurturing messages to their children.

Practitioners who don't have specialist knowledge in responding to child sexual abuse may feel overwhelmed if they are working with families where there has been a disclosure. The aim of this webinar is to equip you with practice skills that will allow you to better support these families.

This webinar will outline some strategies that you can use to support non-offending parents following a child's disclosure of sexual abuse.

This webinar will help you:

  • build your understanding of the impact of child sexual abuse on parents, the parent-child relationship, and children’s mental health and wellbeing
  • better support non-offending parent/s who are navigating their child’s experience of sexual abuse, including making children’s wellbeing central to your conversations
  • develop practice skills that will allow you to support parents’ wellbeing and parenting during their child’s recovery from child sexual abuse.

This webinar will be of interest to a broad range of practitioners in health, social and community services who work with children and families but don’t have specialist knowledge in responding to child sexual abuse.

This webinar is co-produced by CFCA and Emerging Minds in a series focusing on children's mental health. They are working together as part of the Emerging Minds: National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health, which is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care under the National Support for Child and Youth Mental Health Program.

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Presenters

Sophie McEvoy

Sophie McEvoy is a therapist and team leader working with the Child Sexual Abuse Counselling Service and rebuild – Counselling for Victims of Crime at Relationships Australia South Australia. Sophie has previously worked within the adult mental health sector, and within the family and domestic violence sector, working with both victims and perpetrators. Sophie has been the Team Leader for rebuild – Counselling for Victims of Crime and the Child Sexual Abuse Counselling Service at Relationships Australia SA for over four years and has extensive experience working with victim/survivors, both adults and children, and their families and caregivers. Sophie is passionate about the rights of women, children and young people to live their lives free of abuse.

Carmela Bastian

Dr Carmela Bastian is a social work practitioner, educator, and researcher where her practice has predominantly focused on child protection practice and ensuring that practice and service systems are child centred. Prior to academia, Carmela worked extensively in the child protection service sector in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Carmela has a growing national and international reputation in child protection practice and research which focuses on improving outcomes for children in the context of child protection; practice at the intersection of domestic and family violence and child protection and improving practice with Aboriginal children. Carmela has recently established Carmela Bastian Consultancy where her practice continues to focus on improving outcomes for infants, children, young people and their families through evaluation, research, supervision, and knowledge translation.

Alisa Hall

Alisa Hall is the Director of Practice Development and Engagement at the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse leading strategic workforce development, knowledge translation, training and learning and practice development projects.

Alisa has been a social worker, service leader and executive in violence against women and children, health, mental health and community services areas and settings for 30 years. Alisa has extensive experience leading and facilitating workforce and development programs and initiatives to build the capability of practitioners and influence service systems. She led the development of the Domestic and Family Violence and Sexual Violence Capability Framework for Queensland alongside The Healing Foundations WorkUP Queensland Team.
Alisa holds qualifications in social work, public health, organisational behaviour and governance and has sat on various local, state and national advisories and committees across the areas of education and workforce development, consumer advocacy and community services.

Facilitator

Dan Moss - Emerging Minds

Dan Moss has managed the national online gateway for children's mental health for seven years. He has led the development of online courses, papers, podcasts and webinars that have been accessed by practitioners throughout Australia. Dan’s been privileged to work with practitioners and organisations across the country to develop therapeutic strategies to support the mental health of children and young people who have experienced trauma, including childhood sexual abuse. Dan's PhD focused on the effects of gendered violence, and he has a long history working with children affected by trauma.

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