In Conversation - Compassionate aged care for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse

Many older adults are living with the impacts of child sexual abuse and many have never disclosed their experience (non-disclosure). As they enter, engage with, or rely more heavily on services such as aged and primary health care, it is critical that caregivers create environments where older adults feel comfortable disclosing, and will respond compassionately and provide trauma responsive care.

This important discussion is designed for practitioners working in aged care, including those in primary health care and community services who regularly interact with and support older adults. It is also relevant for caregivers and/or those supporting older adults in their personal lives who are seeking to better understand the ongoing impacts of non-disclosure and how to provide compassionate care and support.

This webinar is part of a concentrated effort by the National Centre to support the translation of knowledge and improve responses for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Time: 12.00pm – 1.00pm AEST

Where: Online, link will be provided soon. 

Please note this webinar will be recorded.

Featured Speakers:   

Sarah Jade Morris (she/her), Research Fellow, Monash University. Ms Sarah Morris is a social worker and early career researcher who has a lived-experience of residential out-of-home care and participates in an international network of lived experience researchers. Sarah is passionate about applying her insights to academic research and collaborating with organisations to create trauma-informed programs that are informed by lived and living experience. 

She has contributed as a researcher to several leaving care studies, including current projects on transition planning and older care leavers. Additionally, Sarah works as a research evaluator on the Melbourne City Mission study examining services for homeless youth and serves as the leading consultant for evaluating Bridge It’s Cocoon model. Sarah’s lived experience vantage point has been valuable for a number of leaving care and other research studies in identifying the real-world impact of policies and practices on service users, overcoming implementation challenges by embedding lived experience from project inception and incorporating young people's voices and experiences to guide and refine implementation strategies. 

Dr Frank Golding OAM (he/him), author, researcher, activist and historian. After spending his childhood as a state ward in foster care and orphanages where abuse was common knowledge but suppressed by authorities, Frank became a teacher, researcher, historian, advocate, and writer - publishing more than a dozen books, many book chapters and journal articles. With degrees from Melbourne, London and Federation University and Life Membership of CLAN, Frank has contributed to research and formal inquiries dealing with the incarceration of children, and has presented papers on child welfare in a number of countries. Frank has a particular interest in how we carry our history within us as lived and living experience and how giving voice to insider knowledge of ‘difficult’ history can disrupt and challenge dominant narratives. He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2018 for 'services to child welfare and social justice'. 

Leonie Williamson (she/her), Deputy CEO, Healing Foundation. Leonie Malezer Williamson is a descendant of the Gubbi Gubbi and Butchulla peoples through her father, with her maternal side having roots in North West Queensland. With over twenty years of experience in Indigenous policy and programs, Leonie has worked in policy, research and advocacy across both government and the Aboriginal Community Controlled sector. Her work spans various themes including community development, employment, economic development and health and wellbeing. Leonie is firmly committed to the importance of Indigenous governance and leadership. She has a keen interest in processes that empower communities by shifting policy and decision-making to the local level. Leonie believes that healing and overcoming intergenerational trauma are intrinsically linked to truth-telling and the restoration of rights. 

Darcy Orr (he/him), Cluster Lead, Micah Projects. Darcy Orr is the Cluster Lead of Lotus Support Services with the not-for-profit organisation Micah Projects. Lotus Support Services is a group of programs providing services to people who are living with the lifelong impacts of institutional abuse in Queensland. Darcy has worked within the community services sector for over 13 years and has been inspired by the advocacy of Forgotten Australians since starting as a support and advocacy worker at Lotus Place in 2011.