Practice guide for workers and organisations
Engaging with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse: A practice guide for workers and organisations
An Australian Government initiative
The National Office for Child Safety engaged the National Association of Services Against Sexual Violence (NASASV) in partnership with the Gendered Violence Research Network (GVRN) at UNSW, Sydney, to develop a practice guide for workers and organisations when engaging with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.
Engaging with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse: A practice guide for workers and organisations: An Australian Government initiative is intended to promote and support accessible, high-quality, trauma-informed services that support all victims and survivors of child sexual abuse of all ages and as their needs change over time. It builds off the NASASV Standards of Practice Manual for Services Against Sexual Violence (3rd Edition), refocused to services engaging with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.
The guide aims to assist all workers engaging with victims and survivors, including specialist sexual assault services, generalist service providers and other frontline organisations that engage with children, young people and adults. It is part of a suite of resources that the National Office is developing to support the sector.
Read the practice guide for workers and organisations
How to use this guide
We know that children, young people and adults who have experienced child sexual abuse may seek help from, and engage with, a wide range of services and organisations, at different points in their life.
This guide provides you with evidence-based information and identifies the knowledge and skills you need to provide a service to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse of all ages, appropriate to your current work context, whether you work in specialist sexual assault services, generalist and mainstream services or are employed by organisations of different sizes and types and operating in urban, regional or remote areas. It includes comprehensive resources to help shape how you will respond.
Practice areas
The guide is structured into 6 practices areas. Each practice area draws out themes to guide you or your organisation to engage with people who use your service. The practice areas are:
- Working safely with trauma
- Embedding cultural safety
- Responding to child sexual abuse disclosures across the lifespan
- Being victim and survivor-centred and building trust for healing and recovery
- Coordinating service systems and developing partnerships
- Prioritising workforce development and wellbeing
Three-tiered approach
Recognising the wide range of workers and organisations that respond to children, young people and adults who are victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, the guide takes a three-tiered approach. Each tier has a specific set of knowledge and skills appropriate to your role and the purpose of your organisation.
Tier 1 – provides the foundational knowledge and skills that all workers need to have as a minimum. This allows you to provide an initial response to victims and survivors.
Tier 2 – incorporates and builds on this foundation, providing you with additional knowledge and skills where your role means you have a higher likelihood of engagement with victims and survivors.
Tier 3 – assumes that you are in a specialist role and will be providing a response to victims and survivors as core business. It assumes you already have Tier 1 and Tier 2 knowledge and skills and reinforces and extends your specialist practice.
Use the following decision tree to work out which tier best fits your role.
Practice area summaries
The summaries below provide a snapshot of the different knowledge and skills under each practice area. Please refer to each practice area within the guide for comprehensive practice responses and resources.
Practice Area 6: Prioritising workforce development and wellbeing
Workers and their managers need to have the appropriate knowledge and skills to best respond to the diverse needs of victims and survivors. It is equally important that organisations support the safety and wellbeing of workers who provide responses to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, as it can impact mental and physical wellbeing.
Tier 1: Foundational knowledge
- You understand it is normal to feel distressed after hearing about someone's experience of child sexual abuse. You can recognise when this is impacting you and affecting your response to victims and survivors.
- You ask for help and can implement self-care strategies that work for you.
- You know what options for support your organisation provides and how to access training and development opportunities.
Tier 2: Building knowledge
- You understand and recognise that trauma exposure in the workplace and personal stressors affect one another and you can develop self-care plans specific to your needs, including debriefing, accessing supervision or additional professional development, and seeking assistance to manage vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue as needed.
- You promote cultural safety and respect for diversity, and request cultural or specialist supervision when working with priority population groups.
Tier 3: Specialist knowledge
- You understand your professional and ethical obligations to work within your professional competencies and you prioritise ongoing leaning to enrich your work, and fill gaps in your knowledge and skills. You share your knowledge with others.
- You understand the importance of your own wellbeing and how it impacts on your work and can advocate for support and supervision that meets your needs.
- You work towards a balanced caseload and understand the importance of diversity of tasks for yourself and others.
- You appreciate the positive aspects of working with victims and survivors.