In a recent blog, Australia's National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse supported the implementation of what our petition calls for the Victorian government to pilot. Integrated services and supports, where victim/survivors can gain early access to all services they need, aligned with their specific needs, through one door.
Building capability about child sexual abuse
"Over the last year, victims and survivors of child sexual abuse have told the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse (the National Centre) more about what they need from services. They need to be listened to, respected and supported to meet their diverse needs and recovery goals. These insights align to what victims and survivors consistently told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission). That is, that services need to be trauma-informed, person-centred and culturally safe. They also need to be as accessible and flexible as they can be to best meet the unique needs of each victim and survivor when and where the person reaches out for support.
Victims and survivors have stressed the importance of systemic change to build ‘no wrong door’ responses that are matched to their diverse and unique needs. This includes targeted strategies which consider organisational and service system contexts, alongside initiatives to develop the skill and knowledge base of individual practitioners and organisational- and program-level cultures that are genuinely congruent with a trauma-informed approach. Victims and survivors require services which offer them an integrated client journey that best responds to and meets the range of needs with which they present.
Workforces must be able to meet the core needs of victims and survivors in a way that is trauma-informed, survivor-centred and culturally safe. At a minimum, service responses need to cause no further harm as a result of re-traumatisation, which often leads to ongoing disengagement from the support and services they require. To meaningfully respond to the needs of victims and survivors, there is a need to think and act broadly to equip the range of workforces and organisations that victims and survivors connect with."
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We are continuing to share all existing research, knowledge and recommendations (such as this) on what our petition is asking the Victorian government to pilot, with the Board of Inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and certain other government schools.
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Thank you to all our supporters. We are stronger together.