Date: 23/07/2020 at 9:30am
End date: 23/07/2020 at 5:00pm
Trainer: Dr Andrew Smith

Workshop Description

Anybody who has worked with victims of sexual abuse knows all too well the harm sexual abuse can cause. Individuals who pose a sexual risk are also one of the most demonised groups in society. The neat categories of victim and perpetrator collapse when working with individuals who are both. When supporting such clients, workers
frequently feel concerned about empathy crossing over into collusion. There is also the challenge of working with a client group where there are constraints placed on accommodation, employment, and relationships because of understandable public protection concerns. The training day has been designed to help counsellors and other practitioners engage with such issues, focusing on the following:

• Conflicted feelings about working with victims who are also perpetrators
• Being risk aware but compassion focused
• Research findings about sexual offending and attachment,
  trauma and mental health issues
• Managing the relationship with a perpetrator who is also a victim
• Understanding the relationship between perpetrator behaviour and their abuse history i.e. survivor as perpetrator
• Gender based perpetrator sexual violence i.e. it is not just a male behaviour
• Escalation in behaviour leading to sexual crime
• Role confusion i.e. when the perpetrator plays other valued roles in the system e.g. son, daughter, father, mother etc.
• Working with perpetrating behaviour
• The importance of small steps and valuing each encounter
• Negotiating Safety Plans