Through the Lens of Trauma: Preventing & Responding to Harmful Sexual Behavior in Young People

If we want to address and prevent sexual behavior problems with children and adolescents, we need to incorporate knowledge about the development of sexually abusive behavior into a comprehensive primary prevention scheme woven into the fabric of schools, clinical therapy, social services, and public policy. This 1-hour session will discuss a primary prevention perspective that looks holistically at the causes and consequences of interpersonal trauma and its far-reaching effects for children, families, communities, and systems of care. This session will challenge attendees to think about abuse and resilience through the lens of trauma, so we can enhance our approaches to children with sexual behavior problems (CSBP). Trauma-informed frameworks provide an innovative approach for treatment and prevention. This session will describe how a history of trauma might influence a child’s behavior, boundaries, and self-regulation. A set of trauma-informed practices (TIPs) will give specific strategies for integrating TIC into services designed to prevent and respond to CSBP.

Presenter: Jill Levenson, Ph.D., LCSW
Presentation Date: February 27, 2024

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this Lunch and Learn session, attendees will understand and be able to:

1. Participants will be briefly introduced to research describing the impact of adverse childhood experiences on cognitive schemas, self-regulation, and relational patterns.
2. Using SAMHSA’s guiding principles of trauma-informed care, participants will be challenged to think differently about sexual abuse prevention and resilience to interrupt the intergenerational cycle of victimization.
3. Participants will be able to apply specific strategies for trauma-informed responses to children with problematic sexual behavior, with a focus on cultural and gender relevance.