Child sexual abuse prevention is not an event but a mindset. Hiring a speaker on the topic of childhood sexual abuse is a must - to raise awareness, call people to action, and facilitate dialog about how to create a safer environment for the children in your care. But then what? How do you actually create change? Your key prevention team members will need a deep understanding of informed best practices and guidance in creating a plan for lasting change. 

Schedule an In-Depth Workshop
To Empower Your Team to Create Change

We offer a series of in-depth workshops that will prepare your sexual abuse prevention team members to:

1. Assess your current environment
2. Prepare a gap analysis of current state versus best practices and
3. Develop a strategy to close the gaps

Every workshop includes three aspects - knowledge transfer, hands-on exercises, and small group interaction and feedback. The workshops are designed around the informed best practices as defined in Diane Cranley's book entitled 8 Ways to Create their Fate: Protecting the Sexual Innocence of Children in Youth-Serving Organizations as follows:

#1 Determine Your Starting Point
#2 Manage Access to Children
#3 Set, Document, and Enforce Boundaries
#4 Regularly and Actively Assess Behaviors
#5 Create an Accountability Team
#6 Educate and Empower Children
#7 Pre-Establish Your Response &Take Bold Action
#8 Provide Support and Resource Referrals

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Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Workshops

Workshop #1: Child Sexual Abuse Prevention - An Introduction

This workshop provides a detailed overview of the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention program including the eight informed best practices and focused in-depth on Best Practice #1. Participants will:

1. Identify their organization's barriers to protecting children and document possible resolutions
2. Learn how to prepare a gap analysis between their organization's current practices and best practices
3. Consider which departments and individuals will lead project implementation and monitoring

Duration: Full Day
Prerequisites: None

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Workshop #2: Managing Access to Children

This workshop will provide an in-depth look at Best Practice #2. Participants will learn to: 

1. Apply a child protection filter to their existing employee and volunteer screening processes
2. Evaluate and identify potential access vulnerabilities in facility design and internet access policies

Duration: Full Day
Prerequisites: Workshop #1

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Workshop #3: Boundaries that Intercede with Child Molesters' Behaviors

This workshop will provide participants with a thorough understanding of how child molesters seduce children, their families, and school personnel in an effort to abuse children and not get caught. We will do a deep dive into Best Practice #3. Participants will:

1. Learn over 50 boundaries specifically designed to thwart child molesters' efforts
2. Using the gap analysis developed in Workshop #1, strategize on how to incorporate these boundaries into new or existing documented policy.

Duration: Full Day
Prerequisites: Workshop #1

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Workshop #4: Assess Behaviors

This workshop will help participants understand that policies alone do not protect - they must create an environment where people pay attention, listen with their eyes, and provide feedback to truly make a difference in the lives of children. This workshop is based on Best Practice #4. Participants will:

1. Discuss potential mechanisms for obtaining feedback from employees, contractors, volunteers, parents, and children
2. Identify the challenges of each approach and the potential solutions to overcome these challenges
3. Determine a recommendation and define a draft project plan for approval & successful deployment

Duration: Full Day
Prerequisites: Workshops #1 and #3

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Workshop #5: Create an Accountability Team

This workshop will provide participants with a vision for engaging employees, contractors, volunteers, parents, and children in the accountability process based on Best Practice #5 and #6. Participants will:

1. Review training options to determine whether to utilize in-person or on-line training or a combination
2. Strategize on when and how to deliver mandatory training for employees, contractors, and volunteers
3. Develop a draft project plan and marketing plan for successfully engaging parents in optional training
4. Share existing and available options for formal training and informal actions that empower children

Duration: Full Day
Prerequisites: Workshop #1, #2, #3, #4

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Workshop #6: Beyond Mandated Reporting

This workshop, based on Best Practice #7 will present a deep understanding of how our response to abuse impacts the physical and emotional safety of children as well as the legal investigation. Participants will:

1. Explore reporting procedures beyond mandated reporting (internal, licensing agencies, etc.)
2. Evaluate and determine recommendations for preventing victim harassment
3. Evaluate processes for working with law enforcement to gather and protect crucial evidence

Duration: Full Day
Prerequisites: Workshop #1, #4

 

Note: Best Practice #8 will be a part of every workshop.

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Continuous Improvement

Every youth-serving organization is different - in their culture, the community they serve, past cases of sexual abuse, and policies and practices. So we need to approach prevention planning with this in mind and use the workshops to identify your organization's starting point, need for improvement, and readiness for change. Remember prevention is not an event but a proactive continuous improvement process.

Though we are happy to deliver workshops for individual organizations, we recommend you partner with other similar organizations whenever possible so you have the benefit of learning from each other.