When Barnsley Sexual Assault and Rape Crisis Service (BSARCS) launched the Ask the Question initiative in 2023 the aim was simple but ambitious: to create a culture where practitioners are confident to ask adults about experiences of child sexual abuse and sexual harm, and where survivors feel safe enough to disclose and talk about it openly.
We know that many adults living with the impact of sexual harm encounter both statutory and voluntary services every day. They may seek support for mental health difficulties, substance misuse, housing issues, domestic abuse, involvement with the criminal justice system, or a range of other challenges. Yet many tell us the same thing: nobody ever asked them about sexual abuse in their childhood.
Practice Leads Programme: Working with adult survivors
The programme brought together practitioners from a wide range of sectors including mental health, homelessness, probation, adult social care, domestic abuse services, early intervention and education. Over six months, participants engaged in evidence-informed learning and reflective case discussions designed to marry research with real-world practice. The programme focused not only on increasing knowledge, skills and confidence, but also on creating organisational change through service improvement plans and peer support networks. The approach reflected the CSA Centre’s wider practice leads model, which aims to build the knowledge, confidence and skills of individual practitioners and create lasting cultural change within organisations.
The impact
The impact was significant. Following Ask the Question training, practitioners described feeling confident enough to ask a service user about experiences of sexual harm for the first time. Asking directly about child sexual abuse created an opportunity for the practitioner to understand their circumstances differently and to connect them with appropriate support. While we cannot know what longer-term impact that disclosure will have, the conversation changed what the practitioner understood about the person’s experiences and created an opportunity for their support to be more trauma informed and responsive.
Participants on the programme reported increased knowledge of the prevalence, nature and impact of child sexual abuse, alongside greater confidence in asking about sexual harm and having conversations with adults about their experiences. Perhaps most importantly, they described feeling more equipped to respond when disclosures occurred. Some practitioners reported that people they were supporting disclosed childhood sexual abuse for the first time in their lives, because of being asked.
The programme also strengthened professional networks across Barnsley. Practitioners from different organisations were able to share challenges, reflect on complex cases and learn from one another. This helped create a growing community of professionals committed to improving responses to adult survivors and ensuring that conversations about child sexual abuse are not confined to specialist services.
I never thought I could support someone who had been through such a traumatic experience – but I have learnt I can.
Participant on the Practice Leads Programme
Many organisations in Barnsley have started reviewing policies, referral pathways and internal procedures to ensure they better support disclosures of child sexual abuse. Practice leads have increased staff confidence by providing informal guidance to colleagues, promoting reflective conversations and creating opportunities for learning within their own services. This has helped to build a culture where practitioners feel more confident to ask about sexual harm, respond compassionately to disclosures and recognise the long-term impact that childhood experiences can have throughout adulthood. Importantly, this understanding can also help practitioners make stronger connections between experiences of sexual harm and the difficulties people may be experiencing in other areas of their lives, such as mental health, substance misuse, relationships or housing. By understanding the wider context of someone’s experiences, professionals are better placed to provide support that recognises trauma rather than treating presenting difficulties in isolation. While the evaluation did not seek to measure longer-term outcomes for individuals, we hope that this more informed and trauma-aware approach will contribute to better outcomes for survivors across the different areas of their lives.
Rather than ending when the training finished, the programme has created lasting momentum for continued development and improvement. Through strengthened partnerships, increased confidence and a growing network of practice leads championing change, organisations are continuing to embed trauma-informed approaches and improve outcomes for the people they support.
Practice Leads Programme in practice: Building confidence to ask the question – a case study
One of the most powerful outcomes of the Practice Leads Programme (PLP) is the confidence it gives professionals to recognise indicators of sexual harm and feel able to raise concerns, even when there has been no direct disclosure.
Anna, a Targeted Early Help Team Manager whose name has been changed, described a case involving an eight-year-old child presenting with a complex range of behavioural, emotional and sexualised behaviours. Although there had been no verbal disclosure of sexual harm, the combination of concerns prompted Anna to consider whether there could be something more underlying the child’s presentation.
Reflecting on the case, she said: “It was basically the confidence that our course gave us that gave me the courage to raise it.” The Practice Leads Programme gave Anna the confidence to be professionally curious and raise the possibility of sexual harm with children’s social care, despite initially facing some resistance about the lack of a direct disclosure.
Her ability to articulate the concerns led to further exploration as part of the social care section 17 assessment, including use of the CSA Centre Signs and Indicators template and specialist consultation – the outcome of this was child in need planning. Although the assessment did not substantiate any sexual harm concerns at the time, the concern about continued harmful sexualised behaviours exhibited by the child have since been further explored through the Harmful Sexualised Behaviour Panel for the current risk and needs to be assessed and a more robust plan of support to be put in place. The Targeted Early Help Service remains involved with the family focusing on emotional wellbeing and education worries, alongside social care.
The case demonstrates that the impact of the programme is not simply about increasing knowledge. It is about empowering professionals to notice, question and act on concerns that might otherwise remain unspoken.
As Anna reflected, even where sexual harm is not ultimately identified, “having the capability to raise the question means it can be appropriately explored rather than overlooked”.
The power of partnership working
For BSARCS, the partnership with the CSA Centre demonstrates the power of combining local innovation with national expertise. This created the conditions for change by helping services recognise the importance of asking about child sexual abuse and sexual harm and developing the confidence to respond sensitively and appropriately. The CSA Centre’s Practice Leads Programme built on that foundation by sharing knowledge and skills that developed practitioners who could champion the importance of asking people about child sexual abuse, and bring about – and sustain – change within their organisations.
Together, the Ask the Question initiative shows what is possible when we move beyond awareness raising and invest in workforce development. When professionals are equipped with the knowledge, confidence, skills and support to ask difficult questions, survivors are more likely to be heard and their needs met. When organisations embed trauma-informed and trauma-responsive approaches, people are more likely to receive the support they need. And when agencies work together with a shared commitment to change, the impact extends far beyond individual services.
Outcomes for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse
During the first two years of the initiative, more than 5,800 people were asked about their experiences of sexual harm, with around 20% disclosing an experience across participating services. Disclosure rates were higher in some settings, demonstrating the level of previously hidden need within services that may not traditionally be seen as specialist sexual harm services.
For someone seeking support for mental health difficulties, substance misuse, housing problems or other challenges, being asked about sexual harm can provide an opportunity to make connections between their current circumstances and experiences they may have carried for many years. The Ask the Question evaluation recognised that people who have experienced sexual harm are more likely to experience difficulties such as poor mental health and substance misuse, and that asking about sexual harm may help services identify and address some of the underlying causes of these difficulties.
We cannot yet say that Ask the Question has directly reduced mental health difficulties, substance use or other outcomes for individual survivors, and measuring these longer-term changes was beyond the scope of the evaluation. However, the initiative has created more opportunities for people to disclose, be heard and have their experiences understood within the context of the support they are already receiving.
This matters because a disclosure can change the conversation. Instead of responding only to what is visible in the present, professionals can begin to understand what may sit underneath it. We hope that, over time, this more informed and trauma-informed approach will contribute to better outcomes for survivors across the different areas of their lives, alongside appropriate specialist support where it is needed.
Final thoughts
The potential benefit for survivors is at the heart of Ask the Question. The purpose of asking is not simply to increase the number of disclosures, but to help professionals better understand the experiences and circumstances of the people they are supporting. Ultimately, Ask the Question is about moving from asking “What is wrong with you? What is happening?” to also asking “What has happened to you?” and using that understanding to provide more compassionate, appropriate and effective support.
Barnsley’s journey is ongoing. The message is clear: asking the question sensitively about child sexual abuse and sexual harm matters. Equally important is that the person asking has the confidence, knowledge, skill and support to respond sensitively and appropriately. The partnership between BSARCS and the CSA Centre demonstrates how investment in the workforce can help create a system that is better equipped to recognise, understand and support adult survivors of child sexual abuse.
For further information about the CSA Centre Practice Leads Programmes, please visit here. The CSA Centre has also created a helpful hub of resources for adult survivors of child sexual abuse here.
