Consent Matters for people with disabilities: A program by Sexual Health Victoria, Women's Health Loddon Mallee and Women's Health in the South East (WHISE)

Sexual Health Victoria, Women’s Health Loddon Mallee and Women's Health in the South East (WHISE) are pleased to present this capacity-building session for practitioners working in the disability support sector, to increase knowledge, skills and confidence in delivering affirmative consent education to young people with cognitive disabilities. 

This workshop will increase practitioners' understanding of the new affirmative consent legislation and the primary prevention of sexual violence, with a focus on young people with cognitive disabilities.  

In this session, you will gain a greater understanding of: 

• Ethical and legal aspects of sexual consent 

• New affirmative consent legislation 

• Teaching strategies about affirmative consent 

• Healthy and respectful relationships 

• Sex positive approaches to education and support 

• Trauma informed approaches to responding to disclosures 

• Sexual health and well-being services for young people with cognitive disabilities 

Additionally, all participants will have the opportunity to workshop effective, evidence-informed approaches to relationships and sexuality education, including creating safe spaces for education and discussions about sex and relationships, and modelling and practicing seeking and giving affirmative consent, as pertains to young people with cognitive disabilities.  

Refreshments will be provided. We aim to cater to common dietary requirements, however, if you have specific needs, please bring lunch and snacks that are safe for you to consume.  

Online modules: 

As part of registering to attend this session, you will also gain access to a comprehensive suite of online modules, that will furnish your understanding of the new affirmative consent legislation, including how to discuss this with young people with cognitive disabilities. Following your registration, you will be sent information about accessing Sexual Health Victoria's online learning management system. 

Event details 

Location: Health Science 2 Building, Rooms 327/328 and 329/330, Level 3, La Trobe University Bendigo Campus, Sharon Street, Flora Hill
Time: 9:30-4:30pm
Date: Tuesday 13 October 2026

Catering: Morning tea and lunch will be provided, and we will do our best to accommodate most dietary requirements. If you have specific dietary needs, we encourage you to bring your own food. 

Accessibility requirements: We want our event to be accessible to as many people as possible. Please indicate in the registration form if you have specific accessibility requirements that will enable you to participate, and we will endeavour to accommodate these.  

For more information: 

For more information about this session, the Consent Matters program, or Sexual Health Victoria, please contact Health Promotion Lead Joanna Anagnostou: janagnostou@shvic.org.au

For more information about Women’s Health Loddon Mallee, please contact Health Promotion Manager, Dr Karen Anderson: kanderson@whlm.org.au

Sexual Health Victoria's privacy notice:

While completing the ticket selection, we request that you answer some questions to help us understand your current levels of knowledge and confidence. Responding to this survey is entirely voluntary and is not a requirement, we would be very grateful for your time and support. Your responses to this survey are only accessible to Sexual Health Victoria's (SHV) and Women's Health in the South East's (WHISE) delivery teams. All data collected in this survey is anonymous and confidential. No identifying data will be collected. We won’t report any individual responses—only overall results. The findings from this survey may be included in our reports to the Department of Health, and/or included in our annual report. All reported data will be anonymous and cannot be traced back to an individual person. You can read about SHV’s Privacy Policy and WHISE’s Privacy Policy for more information.