International Conference 2024 | Contemporary Responses to Sexual Harm

The 10th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health (ICSWHMH) was held in November 2024 in Melbourne. This significant event in successfully brought together social work professionals, researchers, educators, and students from around the world to discuss and share the latest developments in the field of social work in health and mental health.

Recording 1

Effectiveness of Brief Interventions for Sexual Assault Survivors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Presenters: Ms Renee Burdeu (Australia, VIC)

Sexual assault is a pervasive social and public health issue worldwide, with significant harmful impacts on survivors’ mental health and wellbeing. In Australia, there has been an increase in demand on specialist sexual assault services which has led to longer wait times, delaying critical support for survivors. To address these wait times, brief interventions have emerged as a potential response to provide more timely care and improve accessibility to meet the advocacy and therapeutic support needs of survivors.

This presentation will provide a summary of the current literature that investigates the efficacy of brief interventions with people who have experienced sexual assault via a systematic review and meta-analysis. It will outline the benefits of brief interventions for survivors, challenge the idea that trauma care needs to be long term to be effective, and proposes an alternative model of service implementation. This session will benefit those who deliver direct practice to survivors of sexual assault as well as leaders who are looking at improving service flow and accessibility.

Recording 2

Supporting Victim Survivors of Sexual Misconduct: Trauma-Informed Navigation and Support Within a National Health Practitioner Regulator

Presenters: Ms Belinda Lines (Australia, SA) & Ms Jacinta Evans (Australia, QLD)

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has implemented a new social work led service to provide trauma-informed navigation and support to victim survivors involved in sexual boundary complaints. The Notifier Support Service is unique to this regulatory context and supports victim survivors to engage throughout the process of a complaint. This engagement is key for effective regulation and to protect the public, the paramount objective for AHPRA and the National Boards which help regulate health practitioners.

This session will outline the service and its creation and share findings from an ongoing mixed-methods evaluation. You will learn what worked well in the successful implementation of this service, hear participants’ experiences of being supported by social workers in this setting, and where opportunities for future work exist. The presentation will provide firsthand reflections about developing the service and the complexities of implementation within a national organisation. Social workers with an interest in innovative social work within a combined investigative and legal framework will learn about service development and implementation in this unique setting. More broadly, audiences will gain an understanding of the trauma-informed service framework, and how collaborative evaluation processes can contribute to real-time improvements.

Recording 3

Combatting the Rise of Andrew Tate(s) to Prevent Sexual Violence Through Co-Design and Peer Education With Regional and LGBTQIA+ Young People

Presenters: Mx Rhiannon Williams-Demmon (Australia, VIC)

In 2022, the Centre Against Sexual Assault Central Victoria (CASACV) received a grant from the Victorian Government to increase understanding of new affirmative consent laws. This coincided with a surge in requests for CASACV to respond to increased misogynistic and sexist attitudes and behaviours. These behaviours were frequently linked to online influencers such as Andrew Tate(s). CASACV responded to these challenges and took the lead on the 2-year project aiming to prevent sexual violence among regional and LGBTQIA+ youth aged 12-17.

This presentation will provide an overview of how young people, particularly young men, are pulled into the world of masculinity influencers before providing practical strategies used in the Young People as Agents of Change (YPAC) project to limit this.

Participants will get an overview of how co-designed, peer-led and tactile/art based workshops can foster healthy relationships, address attitudes and behaviours that underly sexual violence and build resilience against online misogyny. The implications from these findings reach beyond primary prevention, and into service design, mental health and advocacy.

Recording 4

Sexual Offending: The Integration of Social Work & Trauma Informed Practice into the Joint Military Police Force

Presenter: Ms Shauna Crimean (Australia, QLD)

The Sexual Offence Response Team is an integrated team within the Joint Military Police Force; an innovative practice where Social Workers and Military Police Investigators work collaboratively to deliver trauma informed investigations and trauma informed care to victim-survivors of sexual violence, and other vulnerable people. This is a nation first approach to trauma informed policing where social workers are embedded within a policing entity & shaping police responses to victim survivors and vulnerable witnesses, whilst providing victim survivors of military sexual violence with support throughout the investigation.

This session is recommended for people working with the Veteran or Australian Defence Force community, and for those interested in practice approaches in the sexual violence and legal sector. You will learn about the supports and reporting options available to those who have experienced military sexual violence, eligibility and referral pathways to access this support.

AASW Credentials: Mental Health