The signs of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are not always visible — especially in a digital age where harm can occur behind screens, in secret chats, or through subtle behavioural shifts that even the most attentive adults can miss. As therapists, carers, and professionals supporting children, we need to stay ahead of both online and offline abuse dynamics, and know how to respond with skill and sensitivity when abuse is disclosed — or suspected.

This bundle offers two highly practical trainings for anyone working with children and adolescents. In Part One, Christiane Sanderson provides a therapist’s guide to recognising the signs of CSA, including shame-based behaviours, attachment difficulties, and ‘good child’ compliance masking deep distress. She offers creative, grounded strategies for building therapeutic safety, supporting disclosure, and managing emotional dysregulation. In Part Two, digital harms expert Cath Knibbs delivers a hard-hitting and timely session on technology-assisted child sexual abuse (TA-CSA). From online grooming and sextortion to the psychological impact of sexualised media, this training prepares therapists to ask the right questions — and offer the right support.

Together, these courses equip you to identify, understand, and respond to both traditional and technology-facilitated forms of CSA, with trauma-informed strategies that honour the complexity of children’s experience.

What’s Included:

• Supporting Children Who Have Been Sexually Abused — Christiane Sanderson (3 CPD / 3 CE)
• Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: How to Support Survivors and Families — Cath Knibbs (3 CPD / 3 CE)

Who It’s For:

• Child and adolescent therapists, safeguarding officers, and clinical psychologists
• Counsellors and social workers supporting families affected by CSA or online harm
• Professionals seeking trauma-informed, digitally-aware safeguarding strategies

What You Will Learn:

• How to recognise CSA in children who present as ‘well behaved’ or emotionally withdrawn
• The role of dissociation and shame in preventing disclosure
• How to stabilise attachment ruptures and build trust in therapy with CSA survivors
• The mechanics and psychology of online grooming, sextortion, and TA-CSA
• Key questions to ask young clients when technology may be involved in abuse
• How to support families post-disclosure, including when legal systems are involved

Course 1

Supporting children who have been sexually abused: seminar for practitioners who support and work with children

Christiane Sanderson

CPD/CE credits: 3

Therapists and carers who work with children face multiple challenges:

• Children who have experienced sexual abuse tend to seek approval and as a result often present as a good or well-behaved child, which masks their internal turmoil, distress and emotional dysregulation; making it difficult to pick up signs of sexual abuse
• Children who have suffered abuse are commonly terrified of closeness and can be mistrustful of attachment- as they strive to protect themselves, making it difficult to create a therapeutic / caring alliance
• Sometimes abuse is still ongoing, and we need to view symptoms as adaptations to living under prolonged and inescapable threat. Many times, practitioners find themselves ill equipped to spot such situations
• Progress can be slow as the enduring deactivation or hyper activation of the attachment system and concomitant trauma symptoms lead to unspeakable feeling states – impacting on the child’s sense of self and relational worth

This seminar by Christiane Sanderson, a globally renowned expert in working with childhood sexual abuse (CSA), explores the nature and dynamics of CSA, how it impacts the child and how this might manifest in the therapeutic space. Using illustrative case vignettes, the seminar will:

• explain the impact of CSA on children and highlight best practices for providing support therapy and care
• discuss what not to do especially considering the presence of dissociation and shame – both of which can prevent disclosure
• explain the factors that inhibit attachment, specifically talking about: fear without solution, the trauma bond and the terror of abandonment
• consider the impact of sibling sexual abuse and discuss current terminology and safeguarding guidelines
• Introduce stabilisation skills to manage emotional dysregulation, facilitate re-regulation and promote emotional self-regulation
• Explore how to individualise therapy for each child using grounding skills and mindfulness
• Introduce how to create a mood basket or calm bag for each child
• Consider a range of experiential exercises such as the use of peg dolls, play doh and Russian Dolls
• Examine how to manage and work with families

Overall, the seminar will explain how we can work most effectively with children who have suffered CSA, within the trauma informed practice framework.

Course 2

Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse:

How to Support Survivors and Families

Cath Knibbs

CPD/CE credits: 3

Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse (TA-CSA) is rife, is rising, and is increasingly ensnaring impressionable teenagers and young people, who get caught in the web of looking at child pornography and/or end up becoming victims of the same. The statistics are staggering:

• Under 10s groomed online ‘like never before’ as IWF (Internet Watch Foundation) hotline discovers record amount of child sexual abuse in 2023
• Perpetrators use social media apps and online games to identify young people whom they seek to groom*
• There is now more child sexual abuse imagery being discovered on the internet than ever before – almost every webpage (92%) IWF worked to remove in 2023 including self-generated material extorted from children who were groomed or coerced by predators using webcams (IWF report)

Notably, during the 2020 pandemic, UK law enforcement agencies estimated that around 300,000 known child sex offenders in the UK were under scrutiny for potential online activities, amplifying concerns about heightened risks to children spending more unsupervised time online. Some rampant methods of online exploitation of young people include:

• Harassing and bullying children and young people through text messaging
• Sharing the mobile numbers of vulnerable or groomed children among group or gang members

• Making random contacts with children and vulnerable teenagers via social networking sites
• Using ‘friends’ lists of victims on social media sites to target more children and young people
• Using imagery or video content of violent pornography and sharing it during sexual assaults
• Providing images of victims to rival gang members ^

Understanding the psychology behind this surge is critical. Research by Salter et al (2023) is unsettling: one in six men harbour a sexual interest in children, with a third admitting to offences, including online child sexual abuse. Ties have been established between early exposure to violent pornography, compulsive sexual behaviour, and an increased proclivity toward committing such crimes. Compounding this issue, discussions around pornography in adolescent therapy settings are largely absent, leaving young people ill-equipped to comprehend the gravity and implications of their online experiences. For example, Sexting may not be criminally motivated and can be consensual, but creating or sharing explicit images of a child is illegal, even if the person doing it is a child. Children and young persons may be unaware that they are breaking the law.

The stigma and silence surrounding seeking help exacerbates this problem. Despite a reported 30 per cent of young people desiring assistance, the societal stigma attached to their predicament hinders access to necessary resources. The discourse around pornography in educational settings often creates a toxic narrative, further impeding avenues for help-seeking behaviour.

TA-CSA impacts a child or young person just as profoundly as offline CSA. The young people who are victimized experience:

• self-blame
• flashbacks or intrusive thoughts
• depression and low self-esteem
• nightmares and trouble sleeping
• anxiety and panic attacks
• self-harm
• problems at school, such as difficulty keeping up with work or behavioural problems
• Fear of sexual images being shared online or being viewed in the future

This cutting-edge workshop by renowned Online Harms Consultant Cath Knibbs seeks to shed light on technology-facilitated child sexual abuse (TA-CSA), distinguishing its nuances from non-online cases. It aims to equip attendees with tools to comprehend the traumatic implications of online abuse. Furthermore, it emphasizes the links between early exposure to pornography and a subsequent interest in children, providing guidance on identifying red flags during therapeutic engagements.

Specifically, the seminar delves into the landscape of online spaces accessed by young people, empowering professionals with assessment tools to identify safeguarding concerns.

Importantly, it addresses the often-overlooked aftermath of arrests, investigations, and court cases, offering insights into support systems sorely needed for affected family members, especially women and children. By amalgamating clinical insights, law enforcement processes, and practical case studies, it strives to arm professionals across all levels with the necessary acumen to comprehend, mitigate, and support against the harrowing impact of technology-facilitated child sexual abuse.

In essence, this training initiative delves into uncharted territory, offering a trauma-informed, psychological approach to comprehend and address the disturbing surge in online exploitation of children. The workshop stands as a beacon, illuminating the often-neglected facets of this complex issue, urging a collective effort to bridge knowledge gaps, dispel stigmas, and provide the much-needed support systems for those affected by this dire societal challenge. We will focus on understanding the full range of technologies that can be used to facilitate CSA and realising that abuse that happens online and offline are not entirely separate, and that the two can be entwined. This could mean that as therapists, we ask young people about the involvement of technology in abuse and offer them appropriate support after experiencing TA-CSA.

Overall Programme Learning Objectives for two sessions:

• Explain the impact of CSA on children and highlight best practices for providing support therapy and care
• Discuss the impact of sibling sexual abuse and discuss current terminology and safeguarding guidelines
• Explain the factors that inhibit attachment, specifically talking about: fear without solution, the trauma bond and the terror of abandonment
• Explain what is technology facilitated child sexual abuse and how does this differ from real world cases?
• Explain the links between early exposure to the viewing of pornography and a sexual interest in children. What issues can a professional listen out for during the work with either young people or adults?
• Discuss the factors that may need to be considered when working with young people accessing the internet and what kinds of questions can be a part of the professional’s toolkit for assessments and safeguarding

© nscience UK, 2025 / 26