Technology-facilitated Child Sexual Abuse: Characteristics, Responses and Treatment

Abstract
This half day workshop will discuss 'best practice' service and clinical responses to children subject to technology-facilitated child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSEA). The internet and technology are increasingly implicated in sexual violence against children in ways that can be difficult for therapists, counsellors and clinicians to understand and address. Technology-facilitated CSEA includes face-to-face sexual abuse where images and videos are circulated online, online sexual abuse between same-aged peers, as well as online offenders who groom and threaten children using social media, gaming platforms, live stream and other online services. Victims and survivors of technology-facilitated CSEA find it difficult to access mental health care that is attentive to the dynamics of online abuse. The aim of this workshop is to build the understanding and capability of attendees to provide responsive and informed mental health care to the growing population of online abuse survivors.

The workshop will include an overview of cutting-edge global research on the scope and nature of the problem and the impacts on child victims and adult survivors. Presenters will explain how CSEA is perpetrated through the internet and technology, demystifying terms like the “dark web” and “encryption”, and identifying the unique impacts of online sexual violence on children. The workshop will discuss screening and assessment of technology-facilitated CSEA and effective interventions for children, adolescents, and their families and caregivers. Presenters will highlight existing service gaps that present challenges for victims, survivors and their therapists with the aim of opening discussion about needed services. Key strategies and techniques for serving this population include safety planning, psychoeducation, and supporting clients to regulate the anxiety and shame they experience that is linked to the distribution of images and videos, and anticipation of future revictimisation.

Survivors of technology-facilitated CSEA often have unique clinical needs that require more than one therapeutic approach to fully address. This workshop will explain and demonstrate how the creative weaving of different therapeutic approaches together can be used to address the various needs of these clients, including issues with dissociation, identity, somatic complaints, relationships, safety, and other symptoms of complex trauma. Effective clinical work with survivors of TF-CSEA draws from established techniques such as EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Somatic Experiencing, narrative therapy, and art therapy to create tailored interventions, all of which emphasize a collaborative processes to empower clients..

Attendees will leave the workshop with a firm grounding in research and best practice to support victims and survivors of technology-facilitated child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Timed Outline
5 Minutes – Introduction; presenters, topic and workshop overview
10 Minutes – Forms of tech-facilitated abuse, Child sexual abuse material and sextortion
5 Minutes – Prevalence of victimization and perpetration
10 Minutes – Common platforms and offender strategies
10 Minutes – Screening and assessment of tech facilitated CSA
10 Minutes – Unique impacts and harms of tech facilitated CSA
5 Minutes – Disclosure: effective responding
5 Minutes – Q & A: Screening – skills and tools, knowledge and service gaps
30 Minutes – Clinical considerations & therapeutic framework for treating survivors of technology-facilitated CSA
30 Minutes – Break
20 Minutes – Therapeutic techniques part 1: Coping skills, emotional safety, and body connection
10 Minutes– Demonstration role play and discussion
10 Minutes – Therapeutic techniques part 2: Overview
10 Minutes – Identity and “parts”
10 Minutes – Timelines
15 Minutes – Therapeutic techniques part 3: Importance of art and symbolism for moving forward
15 Minutes – Demonstration role play and discussion