Responding Effectively to People who have Experienced Sexual Violence

Disclosures of sexual violence strike fear into the heart of many clinicians and the most frequent response is to refer to sexual assault experts. Latest estimates however, suggest that one in five Australian women and one in 22 Australian men experience sexual violence after the age of 15 years (Cox, 2016). Such prevalence rates mean that specialist sexual assault services are unable to respond to total demand of people affected by sexual violence.

A safe relational space is critical to recovery from sexual violence. Disclosures of sexual violence are most often made to clinicians who already offer a safe relational space suggesting that at least some of the recovery work could be achieved within that therapeutic context.

This course will equip clinicians to understand and apply the fundamentals of working with a humanized stage-based approach to recovery from sexual violence including facilitating progress towards recovery and making intelligent decisions about when to refer to specialists.

This interactive session will move beyond the limits of the Recovery Model and Trauma Informed Care to articulate key principles for supporting progress towards recovery from sexual violence in ways that are both effective and accessible. Participants will be equipped to immediately apply their learning in therapeutic practice.

Participants will discover how to:

• Comprehend stage-based models of recovery from sexual violence
• Determine in which stage of recovery their client is presenting
• Work out what sort of recovery work is needed
• Support clients' recovery from sexual violence
• Know when to refer to specialists
• Enhance their ability to offer a safe relational space in therapy

Who should attend?

Clinicians who work with people who have experienced sexual violence, or who have received a disclosure of sexual assault from a client.