Bright Futures Webinars

24 April 2024, 1:00pm AEST

Webinar 1 – The prevalence and characteristics of men in the Australian community who sexually abuse children

Join Professor Michael Salter, Professor of Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales, to discuss a global study’s shock findings on the number of Australian men who are sexually attracted to children and teens.

This webinar presents the findings of a representative survey of almost 2000 Australian men regarding their sexual feelings and behaviours towards children. The webinar will discuss the prevalence of online and offline offending amongst men in the community, the characteristics and risk factors associated with offending, and the implications of the study for prevention, early intervention and detection.

Presenter

22 May 2024, 3:00pm AEST

Webinar 2 – Preventing Harmful Sexual Behaviours in Schools

Join us for the 2nd Bright Futures FREE webinar for 2024 presented by Dr Kjersti Draugedalen, Associate Professor Lesley-Anne Ey and Tim Wong. 

The webinar will give an overview of a newly started R&D innovation project in Norway. Through a public health approach to prevention, the project will explore whether focus on comprehensive sexuality education, youth participation, and enhanced interdisciplinary cooperation between schools and services can strengthen teachers’ safeguarding of children and young people in schools.

Presenters

19 June 2024, 3:00pm AEST

Webinar 3 – Responding to sibling sexual abuse – putting research into action

Sibling sexual abuse is perhaps the most common form of intrafamilial sexual harm, yet cases involving sibling sexual abuse can be very challenging for practitioners and agencies, and outcomes for children affected and their families are often suboptimal. This workshop will cover content of two recent publications by the UK based ‘Centre of expertise in child sexual abuse’ written for social workers and other professionals. They outline current knowledge and evidence in the sibling sexual abuse field and look at how that knowledge can be used to inform how we positively support a family’s journey, from identification of harm, safety planning and assessment, through to intervention, case closure and aftercare support. The webinar will also draw on recent research on the lived experiences of adult survivors of sibling sexual abuse and how that can inform child protection decision making and better outcomes for families.

Presenter

31 July 2024, 1:00pm AEST

Webinar 4 – Contextual Safeguarding: the idea, the implementation and the opportunities

Child protection systems in many countries around the world have been designed on the basis then when a child has been abused, or come to harm, that the responsibility for their protection rests with their parents and carers. Yet cases of exploitation, peer-abuse and street-based violence affecting young people has demonstrated a need to look beyond parents if we want to protect children from the risks they face beyond their front doors. In this webinar Prof. Carlene Firmin from Durham University UK will introduce the idea of Contextual Safeguarding; where it came from and how it has been used to transform the response of child welfare systems in the UK, and beyond, to extra-familial forms of abuse. During the webinar Carlene will share the key features of implementation that have been identified as the approach has been gradually piloted and adopted in different test locations, and will reflect on why leadership from social care and wider child welfare organisations is paramount for protecting children abused beyond their front doors. She will outline opportunities for further development of the idea in Australia and other countries outside the UK, and what she hopes such testing will mean for advocates of the approach in the UK.

Presenter

21 August 2024, 1:00pm AEST

Webinar 5 – Feel Safe, Be Safe: Protective Strategies for everyday teaching, learning and care for birth to 5 year olds

Goodstart’s Feel Safe, Be Safe: Protective Strategies Kit is an example of emerging and exemplary practice that supports educators and teachers of children aged birth-5 to meaningfully embed protective strategies within everyday teaching, learning and care.

Mixing pedagogy and play, protective strategies empower children with age–appropriate knowledge, strategies, and skills to respond to a range of unsafe situations (including online), understand their bodies, emotions, and early warning signs, set boundaries, and persist in seeking help from a trusted adult. Protective strategies are crucial in promoting personal child safety and well-being, they are underpinned by the Universal Protective Behaviours Framework and are predicated on two key themes: 

• We all have the right to be safe all of the time  

• We can all talk with a trusted adult about anything.  

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse highlighted the importance of providing children with access to protective strategies to reduce the risk of child sexual abuse or harm. Protective strategies are woven throughout the vision, principles, practices and learning outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0, and central to the National Principles for Child Safe Organizations and State-based Child-Safe Standards.  

Presenters

18 September 2024, 1:00pm AEST

Webinar 6 – Keeping the Brain in Mind: Treating neurodiverse youth engaged in problematic sexual behavior

Attending to and understanding how neurodevelopmental issues can contribute to the emergence of sexual behavior problems in children not only assists in shaping our assessment and treatment interventions, but it can also dissuade us from over-pathologizing the motivations and intentions of the children who present with these behavioral issues.
This webinar will focus on highlighting the common principles and obstacles associated with the effective assessment and treatment of neurodiverse youth exhibiting problematic sexual behaviors while identifying specific treatment needs and treatment interventions for some of the different constellations of social, emotional, and cognitive difficulties with which these youth may present.

Presenter

23 October 2024, 1:00pm AEST

Webinar 7 – Online pop-up messages as an early intervention strategy for cyber-sex offending

This webinar will explain the evidence that indicates that well-designed pop-up messages may be a useful (& low-cost) strategy to prevent the viewing and sharing of illegal sexual images online. Jeremy will then summarise current research that his team is undertaking to examine how online messages may be useful to reduce the risk of a range of online harms for adolescents.

Presenter

20 November 2024, 1:00pm AEST

Webinar 8 – Unlocking the Potential of Co-Design to Enhance Prevention of Harmful Sexual Behaviours

There is increasing recognition of the role that young people and community members play in co-designing strategies to prevent and address harmful sexual behaviour. Join A/Professor Nadine McKillop and Dr Susan Rayment-McHugh from the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit as they share examples of projects that showcase the potential of co-designing strategies to identify and address the unique risks and needs of local communities to enhance HSB prevention and response.

Presenters

4 December 2024, 1:00pm AEST

Webinar 9 – Identifying and responding to the influence of the ‘manosphere’ in the classroom

An increase in misogynistic rhetoric and language online has resulted in new challenges in classrooms across Australia. The impact of what is known as the ‘manosphere’ affects children of all genders, even though the primary targets of the content are boys.

Join body safety expert Deanne Carson in this webinar as she discusses prevention and intervention strategies to respond to the needs of children affected by the ‘manosphere’.

Presenters