Linda Valenta, Amanda Paton
Rethinking safety planning with children who have displayed harmful sexual behaviours
Workshop Abstract
Safety planning with children and young people has traditionally focused heavily on strategies aimed at reducing access to opportunities to engage in further behaviour by increasing supervision and surveillance… think cameras, locks, and adults vigilantly watching children.
At first glance, such strategies may appear to be addressing risk, but more often than not they achieve little more than creating a false sense of security and safety for professionals and parents. Children and families often experience these attempts to manage risk as punitive rather than supportive and this ultimately stifles rather than promotes communication about safety.
This workshop will introduce participants to a proactive approach to safety planning that involves analysing what is already known about the circumstances in which the child’s harmful sexual behaviour occurs and using this information to identify ongoing vulnerabilities in the home and community.
We will explore effective methods for talking with children and families about safety and risk, and ideas for creating collaborative child and family safety plans that focus not only on vulnerabilities and risks within the home but also highlight and promote safe and healthy family environments and interactions.
About the Speakers
Amanda Paton is an executive leader and Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years’ experience working with child abuse and trauma. She is the Deputy Director, Practice for the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia, and the Program Director for the Graduate Certificate in Childhood Trauma.
She oversees the Solutions Project for Understanding and Responding to Harmful Sexual Behaviours and the Child Sexual Abuse Workforce Capacity Building projects for WA, including the research, development and implementation of evidence-based models and workforce development trainings for responding to child abuse, neglect, trauma and harmful sexual behaviours across the WA context.
Amanda is also the Co-Chief Investigator leading the development of the National Clinical and Therapeutic Framework Responding to Children and Young People who have Displayed Harmful Sexual Behaviours and was Chief Investigator developing the National Minimum Practice Standards for Specialist and Community Support Services Responding to Child Sexual Abuse. Amanda is Chair of the National Clinical Reference Group for Harmful Sexual Behaviours and is a member of the Care Plan Review Panel for WA Department of Communities.
For over three decades, Linda Valenta (www.saiff.com.au) has focused her professional practice on the assessment and treatment of children and youth who engage in harmful sexual behaviour.
Linda’s Social Work and Couple and Family Therapy training (BSW, MSW) reflect strongly in her approach to responding to sexual harm by children with her focus being on providing interventions that support children and families in Being Safe (managing risk), Being Well (reducing risk) and Being Okay (minimizing harm and repair).
Linda’s passion and experience in the field make her a sought-after speaker and trainer and she has presented her work at conferences around the globe and regularly provides training and consultation to professionals and agencies across Australia.