Do you work with adults who suffered abuse in childhood or know someone who does? You may have heard about services using a more ‘trauma-informed’ approach to supporting adult survivors, but what does this actually mean in practice?

If you would like to deepen your knowledge and learn more about best practice, then you may be interested in our new five hour e-learning course called ‘Working with Adult Survivors of Child Abuse in a Trauma-Informed Way’.

NAPAC has two new support groups for survivors of child sexual abuse. One of them will be in London, starting on 10 Sept for twelve weeks. There are just 12 places and demand is always high, so potential participants should apply now. Places are free, participants must commit to attending all twelve sessions.

Katie talks about volunteering on our support line and the hardest thing about taking calls:
‘When you have a survivor who has suffered really bad abuse and they are really struggling. Sometimes listening can be really sad and you just want to give them a hug and be there for them and make it all better. When that call has to end, you just want to be there a bit longer.’

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has accredited NAPAC’s Supporting Adult Survivors of Childhood Abuse (SASCA) one-day training course.

The SASCA training course is suitable for professionals such as nurses, midwives, safeguarding specialists, police, clinical leads and counsellors who are hearing an increasing number of disclosures from adults who suffered abuse in childhood.

The Home Office has awarded grant funding of £355,670 to the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), so that it can meet more of the ever-growing demand to its national free telephone support line for adult survivors of child abuse.

Gabrielle Shaw, NAPAC’s CEO, said: ‘Call attempts to our telephone support line have rocketed over the past three years. One of the hardest things for us is knowing that people have plucked up the courage to call and may struggle to get through. This funding will help enormously, by enabling NAPAC to double the number of calls we can take. We took over 6,000 calls last year and had over 94,000 call attempts, so this extra funding is going to make a real difference to survivors.’

Demand has risen steadily over the past three years, from
• 61,666 call attempts in 2015
• 83,449 call attempts in 2016
• 94,161 call attempts in 2017

NAPAC and the National Counselling Society (NCS) today launched a unique new e-learning course called ‘Working with Adult Survivors of Child Abuse in a Trauma-Informed Way’, certified by CPD UK – the CPD certification service.

The course will give counsellors and health or social care professionals the fundamental skills to engage with child abuse survivors in a way that is empowering and guards against re-traumatisation. The e-learning course offers a range of benefits for participants, which include learning about the range of impacts that child abuse has in adulthood, how to handle disclosures with greater confidence and ultimately how to adopt trauma-informed practices.

Do you work with adults who suffered abuse in childhood or manage staff who do? Our Supporting Adult Survivors of Child Abuse (SASCA) training has been accredited by the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH), so professionals can offer an effective, supportive and empowering service to survivors.

Date: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Location: Nottingham, NG1 1EQ
Book now for an Early Bird discount.

NAPAC is calling on UK survivors of online child sexual abuse to share their voices, as part of international research to highlight the devastating impacts of online child sexual abuse offending. NAPAC and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (Canadian Centre) have started to gather research about the impacts of online child sexual abuse (CSA) on the survivors depicted in abuse images that are distributed online.

UK adult survivors of child sexual abuse who were photographed or filmed can participate in this survey
Find out more or take part in the survey

Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week runs from 5-11 February 2018, an umbrella campaign supported by numerous NGOs including NAPAC. #ItsNotOK

NAPAC’s support line team often hear from female survivors who are too frightened to undergo gynaecological examinations, even when they have cause for concern. Balancing the fear of re-traumatisation against serious health risks can feel overwhelming for many survivors. Here are some tips, shared by survivors, which have successfully improved their experience of a cervical screening.

Surviving Christmas As A Survivor. The festive season can be marred by reunions with child abusers, family estrangement, or returning to the place where the abuse happened. Simply put, the holidays are hard for us survivors. Dawn Neville shares her tips on getting through the festive season.