This 6-hour professional development workshop is open to anyone who works with children and young people with disabilities, but particularly targeted to those new to the sector.

The workshop focuses on empowering carers who work with children and young people who have a disability, and providing them with practical skills and evidence-based knowledge to support sexual safety, identify harmful sexual behaviours and to respond to these behaviours in a trauma-informed ‘best practice’ manner.

Topics include:
• SASS overview and referral pathways
• Sexual harm awareness raising
• Consent and Tasmanian Law
• Neurological impact of trauma
• Socio-cultural drivers of sexual harm
• Sexuality in the disability space
• How to talk about sex and sexual topics with clients/patients
• Resources for teaching clients about healthy relationships
• Identifying problem sexual behaviours
• Responding to problem sexual behaviours
• Responding to disclosures of sexual harm

Learning outcomes:
• Improved knowledge of support services
• Understanding of trauma informed practice principles
• Knowledge of sex positive values relative to service delivery
• Understanding of theories relative to exploring sexual topics with clients
• Knowledge of core principles of healthy relationships
• Information on how to improve client understanding of healthy relationships
• Understanding of the potential negative and positive outcomes associated with pornography consumption, and alternatives to use
• Knowledge of problem sexual behaviours and enhanced capacity to respond
• Improved capacity to respond to disclosures of sexual harm