Working with adult survivors of child sexual abuse

Conservative estimates suggest that one in ten children and young people experience some form of child sexual abuse before the age of 16. For many of these children, their abuse will not be identified or responded to at the time, and my not receive support until many years later.

Being sexually abused as a child can affect every area of someone’s development. As a result, there are substantial numbers of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse within adult mental health and substance misuse services, in the criminal justice system, in abusive relationships and with their own children receiving interventions from children’s services.

Working with adult survivors of child sexual abuse is a full day CPD-certified online course designed to help social workers and wider professionals to best support the adults they work with who have been sexually abused in childhood. This course has been developed with adults who have lived experience of child sexual abuse, embedding learning from experts-by-experience and what they feel is needed from professionals.

Who is this course for?

This course will be especially relevant to professionals whose work brings them into contact with adults who may have been sexually abused in childhood. This includes professionals in mental health and substance misuse services, homelessness and housing, children’s and adult social care, prisons, probation and police.

Who will run the course?

This course is led by two trainers. One is an expert who has lived experience of child sexual abuse, and the other has a background in working with vulnerable adults who were sexually abused as children.

What can you expect to gain?

Following the course, you can expect to have a better understanding of:

• The importance of recognising and responding to adults who were sexually abused as children.
• How child sexual abuse takes place and the impact of the grooming process on the victim into adulthood.
• How childhood trauma affects the brain, and the long-term impact of child sexual abuse
• What makes it difficult to talk about child sexual abuse with adults, and how to address it.
• What supports recovery after childhood sexual abuse and the role of professionals.

Consultation Package Extension

For an additional £150 per hour, we now offer dedicated post-training consultation sessions facilitated by qualified professionals. These sessions will support professionals to apply their learning to practice when working with adult survivors of child sexual abuse, either directly in adult services, or indirectly in children’s services. In the event that participants do not have a case to discuss, case studies will be provided.

To support this course, we would recommend three or six consultation sessions lasting two hours each, over the course of three to six months.

These sessions will focus on:

• supporting practitioners to apply their understanding of the impact of child sexual abuse in adulthood to make sense of presentations, engagement with services, and behaviour.
• sensitively enquire about adults’ experiences of child sexual abuse.
• applying learning on how to manage disclosures from adults effectively.
• considering how best to support adults post-disclosure.
• practicing effective discussion on the impact of child sexual abuse on parenting (where relevant).
• considering appropriate interventions.

Email training@csacentre.org.uk for more information.