Harmful Sexual Behaviour Training
Harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) is developmentally inappropriate sexual behaviour displayed by children and young people which is harmful or abusive and can take many different forms such as peer-on-peer abuse.
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Problematic sexual behaviour (PSB) is developmentally inappropriate or socially unexpected sexualised behaviour which doesn’t have an overt element of victimisation or abuse.
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Sexual exploration and play are a natural part of childhood development which helps children to learn about themselves and their own bodies and identify, identity of others, social understanding and the diversity of relationships and the boundaries which exist within them.
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There are many reasons why some children may present sexualised behaviours which could be considered to be outside of the age, stage and rate of development which would be expected and these behaviours can be of more concern to us and risky.
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Sexualised behaviour impacts a lot of children who are in looked after support and, although the potential reasons for this are broad, it is often associated with early life experiences, sexual abuse and trauma.
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Course Objectives
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Understand the meaning of ‘healthy’, ‘problematic’ and ‘concerning’ sexualised behaviour
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Understand types of physical and non-physical sexualised behaviour
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Understand factors which can influence sexualised behaviour including; early attachment, educational, social and cognitive development
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Understand potential causes of sexualised behaviour including the impact of trauma and abuse
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Understand ways of working to reduce concerning sexualised behaviours including ‘peer on ‘peer’ behaviour
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Understand ways of providing support and safeguarding