Key Principles in Responding to Sexual Violence 24/25

Target Group

This course is targeted to adults and children health and social care staff in a wide range of settings which includes foster carers, family support workers, children home staff, and those in residential care, nursing care, home care and supported living settings, personal assistants and other frontline practitioners and volunteers who have regular contact with service users/patients and their families or carers in the London Borough of Sutton.

Group Level 2 (regular contact with children, young people and/or parent/carer) or Level 3 (predominantly working with children) or above (including strategic leads), and NHS Inter-Collegiate Standards 2 and above for health professionals.  

Staff Groups B, C, D, and E as per the Bournemouth University National Mental Capacity Act Competency Framework. 

Level 3 staff and above (ref: NHS Intercollegiate document 2018 - Adult Safeguarding: Roles and Competencies For Healthcare Staff): Registered health care staff who engage in assessing, planning, intervening and evaluating the needs of adults where there are safeguarding concerns (as appropriate to role).

Aim

The aims of this course are to:

• Examine the myths and realities of sexual violence within a framework of violence against women and girls;
• Develop an understanding on the law surrounding rape and sexual assault – with a focus on consent;
• Introduce a model of best practice in working with sexual violence and identify key principles in responding to disclosures of sexual violence sensitively and appropriately.

Learning Objectives 

By the end of the course participants will have:

• An improved awareness of the impact of societal attitudes and myths around sexual violence on survivors;
• An improved awareness awareness of how societal attitudes towards sexual violence can either inhibit or encourage disclosures;
• An increased understanding of definitions of rape and sexual assault;
• An increased understanding of how to define consent in law and ethical practice;
• An improved awareness of the empowerment model as best practice in supporting survivors of sexual violence;
• An increased understanding of key principles in responding to disclosures of sexual violence;
• An improved awareness of specialist external sexual violence support services.