This online course will run continuously – meaning that you can sign up at any time. It offers self-directed learning which you can undertake at a time, pace and location that suits you.

You will have access to the course and its materials for one year. Access begins the day after you’ve booked, when you will receive your account details by email.

You’ll engage with video interviews from survivors and professionals, interactive lectures, reflective activities, poems and artwork, recommendations for further reading and opportunities for self-assessment.

This is not a skills-based training, although there are tools and learning that you can take away. You will be provided with information, and engage through interactive learning, to more fully understand the many different needs that a survivor may have when telling you about child sexual abuse. At the end of this training, you may still have worries, questions and concerns and this is to be expected. Throughout the training there will be lots of opportunity to reflect on your experience and this is encouraged as an important learning tool. It can also be helpful to talk further with your colleagues or manager and think about how you continue to develop your thinking.

You will cover the following areas:

Background

• how child abuse has been perceived in society, moving from outrage to denial towards greater acceptance
• the role of survivors in keeping child sexual abuse on the public and political agenda
• the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Truth Project and how this has affected the visibility of child sexual abuse as well as developing an understanding of disclosure

What do we mean by disclosure?

• definitions of disclosure
• staff/professional and organisational barriers to disclosure
• how intersectionality affects disclosure and why it might be harder for certain groups to disclose
• disclosure as a relational process involving the breaking of secrets

The survivor’s experience of disclosure

• the different reasons why a survivor might disclose child sexual abuse
• what has helped survivors disclose
• learnings from difficult experiences of disclosure
• the different experience of males and Black and other People of Colour
• how a survivor might present in a professional setting, understanding trauma
• what a trigger is and what triggers might be present in your professional setting
• words and the importance of language in disclosure
• the many identities of a survivor
• learning how survivors’ experiences can help develop your professional practice

Professional’s experience of disclosure

• an understanding of trauma and why this is important to know
• how active listening can help facilitate disclosure and what are the limitations of this for certain groups
• the importance of choice and respect in asking survivors what they need you to do
• safeguarding concerns and the importance of asking for help

Working together and putting learning into practice

• the importance of reflection and developing awareness about your emotions and how this can help you to listen to survivors
• how trauma-informed care can improve the experience for survivors, and the limitations of this approach
• reflect on self-care and support as a tool for professional and personal development and where you can go for further support
• where to get help for the survivor

There are no specific requirements for the course although we suggest you are working with, or have an interest in working with adult survivors of child sexual abuse, or in situations where a disclosure might take place.

There’s a self-assessment at the end of the course which, on completion, provides access to a completion certificate from The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.