Graham, B. (2020) The CSA Centre’s Practice Leads’ Pilot Programme on Child Sexual Abuse and Substance Misuse, London, Barnardo’s.
This service development programme was based around the established links between being sexually abused as a child (CSA) and developing issues with mental health, and/ or drugs and/or alcohol later on in life.
This programme aimed to improve practitioners’ understanding and practice, by sharing research and first-hand accounts, to encourage them to make it routine to ask service users if they had been abused when a child.
The evidence base shared showed that people want to be asked and that disclosing is often a key step in their recovery. However both professionals and service users often wait for the other person to raise the issue first and professionals tend to fear retraumatising the person. At the same time those who have experienced this crime talk about living with trauma and shame every day, and need reassurance that the professional can handle it, before disclosing.