Jennie Noll, Pat Branigan
The appliance of science to tackle the policy-sticky issues of child sexual abuse prevention.
Workshop Abstract
This workshop will be devoted to the nuts and bolts of forging community-based partnerships, implementing community-wide interventions across multiple sectors and stakeholders, applying cutting-edge science, and impacting system-wide policies to prevent child sexual abuse at the population level.
Jennie Noll will describe the Research-to-Policy Collaboration (RPC) model of policy engagement—an empirically backed framework that teaches researchers how to address pressing questions, translate findings into policy-relevance, and engage the political process. The RPC also teaches policy- and decision-makers how to consume research findings, identify and partner with researchers and scientific coalitions, and use evidence to gain traction in passing legislation.
A detailed example of how this model was used to pass child sexual abuse prevention legislation in the state of Pennsylvania, USA will be showcased.
The second half of the workshop will be devoted to an additional application of a place-based intervention in the UK, Together for Childhood (TfC), specifically devoted to shifting local conditions through collective action and systems change.
Patrick Branigan will review best practices and lessons learned in the 10-year implementation of TfC by (1) Identifying and understanding a viable "place" for systemic change; (2) Developing a shared vision and local governance of diverse stakeholders—including the police, health services, schools, and families—to protect children; (3) Building trust through consistent presence and relational practice to break down barriers and maximize engagement; (4) Co-producing locally-relevant, evidence-based preventive activities with those who live and work in the area; (5) Embedding research and evaluation infrastructure and capacity to demonstrate long-term sustainability.
Establishing a Place-Based Approach — Steps 1 and 2
What follows are the foundational steps for setting up a Together for Childhood (TfC) place-based approach, specifically focusing on identifying the geographic area and establishing robust local governance and a shared vision. These steps are critical for moving away from traditional service delivery toward long-lasting systems change to prevent child abuse.
Step 1: Identify and Understand the Specific "Place"
Identifying with and caring about a specific place is the starting point for the TfC model. This step involves moving beyond arbitrary boundaries to understand the unique ecosystem of a neighbourhood.
• Mapping Assets and Challenges: Practitioners must conduct a scoping exercise to understand what already exists within a place, including current prevention work, available data, and existing policies. Success depends on understanding a community's unique strengths (assets) rather than focusing solely on deficits or risks.
• Assessing Community Readiness: It is vital to assess whether there is an authentic desire for change within a community to catalyse and sustain the work. For example, in Plymouth, the neighbourhood of Ernesettle was chosen through a strengths-based process involving a panel of local strategic leaders, a parent, and a young person. Selection was based on the community's strong spirit and willingness to engage, rather than just the prevalence of abuse.
• Building Foundational Trust: Establishing a consistent and visible presence is essential for building the mutual trust required to understand a place. This often involves informal networking and "turning up time and time again" to community events to show that the initiative is committed to the area for the long term.
• Defining Practice Boundaries: Sites must grapple with what "place" means in their specific context, determining whether boundaries are purely geographical or defined by existing practice networks.
Step 2: Develop a Shared Vision and Local Governance
Meaningful shared ownership is the foundation of a place-based systems change approach. This step ensures that the initiative's priorities resonate with those who live and work in the community.
• Creating a Locally Tailored Vision: While the NSPCC initially led the design through high-level Theories of Change, these broad frameworks must be used as a starting point for dialogue to create a vision tailored to local ambitions. The vision must be "bottom-up," ensuring that activities are co-produced with local people and act as solutions they perceive as important.
• Formalising Partnerships and Governance: Effective structures, such as dedicated multi-agency operational groups and program boards, are required to take the initiative forward. In Grimsby, for example, appointing a strategic lead within the local council led to monthly meetings with the TfC lead, which significantly increased strategic buy-in from the council, health services, and police.
• Inclusive Leadership: Governance must involve a diverse cross-sector partnership, including statutory agencies, the voluntary sector, and in the original TfC case (the NSPCC). It is important to review these structures to ensure frontline staff can contribute their learning at a strategic level, as their relationships with the community often provide the most rapid insights.
• Accountability Frameworks: Implementing clear structures, such as Activity Initiation Documents, helps align day-to-day activities with the project's core principles and intended outcomes. This creates a sense of accountability and ensures that the work remains goal-directed rather than reactionary.
• Sustaining Momentum: To ensure sustainability, governance should facilitate a shift in ownership away from a single organization toward the local workforce and community. This requires a dedicated "backbone support" team to coordinate activities, mobilise funding, and maintain a shared vision.
Conclusion:
Steps 1 and 2 are intrinsically linked; a deep understanding of a place (Step 1) is necessary to create a vision that local people will actually own (Step 2). By investing time in these foundational phases, sites can create the trauma-informed, collaborative environment necessary to drive sustainable prevention of child abuse.
About the Speakers
Jennie G. Noll, PhD is Professor of Psychology and Executive Director of the Mt. Hope Family Center at the University of Rochester, New York, USA. She is an internationally recognized, leading scientist in the fields of childhood maltreatment and stress resilience with research awards from the National Institutes of Health (N(H) totaling over $40M including 2 national centers of excellence.
Her primary research foci include: the long-term adverse health outcomes of child abuse and neglect, models of resilience and neurobiological reversibility, the impact of online and social media behaviors on teen development, and the primary prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.
Results from Dr. Noll's research are published in high-impact journals such as Nature and JAMA and have informed public policy recommendations for child abuse prevention and treatment by joint-state government commissions, the Institute of Medicine, and the U.S. Congress. Dr. Noll supports local, state, and federal policymakers in their use of cutting-edge science to leverage large public investment in the prevention of child abuse and improving outcomes for survivors. In 2025, Dr. Noll was awarded the Gold Medal Award for Impact on the Field of Psychology—the highest honor bestowed by the American Psychological Association.
Pat Branigan is Assistant Director at the NSPCC. By discipline he’s a medical anthropologist with a background in public health. When based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine his specialism was research into sensitive health topics and he led the development of government funded national HIV and sexual health campaigns and illicit drugs research including developing the ‘Talk to Frank’ harm reduction drug campaigns.
In 2016 he co-authored the UK’s first HSB framework and was commissioned to redevelop it for the National Health Service in 2019. Pat is now responsible for leading on the key elements of the NSPCC’s 10 year place-based response to the prevention of child sexual abuse and abuse and neglect of children facing adversity.