Webinar: HSB in children and young people: how to recognise it and respond effectively by MA Exhibitions

About This Webinar

Areas to be covered:
• What HSB by children looks like and how to spot it in assessment
• Therapeutic approaches and what works best in different settings
• The outcomes that can be achieved and how that can be measured

Harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) by children is a difficult issue to discuss yet research shows that it is a common feature of safeguarding practice with it being identified as a factor in 43% of child protection plans.
All too often practitioners find it difficult to talk to parents about what is and isn’t normal behaviour in childhood which can result in HSB being missed at initial assessment along with opportunities to intervene early.
Children & Young People Now has teamed up with Amberleigh Care and Kites Children’s Services to host a webinar aimed at helping practitioners working with vulnerable children, young people and families to improve their response to HSB by children.
Four leading experts in the field will be sharing their experiences and knowledge about a range of issues related to childhood HSB including how to identify it at assessment and start a conversation with parents, what therapeutic responses are available and how to tailor these to different settings, and what outcomes can be achieved and how to measure these.
The webinar is aimed at children’s social workers, safeguarding leads in schools, residential care and fostering services, children’s social care commissioners and third sector providers, and will include a panel discussion and opportunities for audience participation.
Registration for the webinar is free and we look forward to you joining us on Wednesday 29 November for what is sure to be an informative and stimulating hour of discussion and debate.

Derren Hayes, editor, CYP Now & webinar host

Timings: 12:00 - 13:00

Presenters

Derren Hayes (chair)

Editor, Children & Young People Now

Marcella Leonard MBE

Director, Leonard Consultancy

Marcella is Director of Leonard Consultancy and qualified as a social worker in 1989. Marcella has specialised in assessment and therapy in the fields of sexuality, sexual deviancy and trauma with both victims and perpetrators. Marcella co-ordinated the management of sex and violent offenders in Northern Ireland and has worked with several jurisdictions to establish their statutory management of sex and violent offenders. As Director of Leonard Consultancy, Marcella works internationally. She delivers specialist safeguarding training to sports, criminal justice, religious, educational, social care, voluntary and statutory organisations which includes assessing and managing sexual and violent risk, consultancy, strategic and safeguarding policy development. She undertakes Sports and Statutory Case Management Reviews for organisations, training safeguarding officers and assisting organisations strategically and operationally to have robust safeguarding for children and adults at risk. Marcella’s practice, as a therapist with victims and survivors, is grounded in a trauma informed humanistic approach which is also embedded in her training and consultancy work.

Dr Kevin Gallagher PhD

Managing Director, Organisational Consultant, Trustee

Kevin is Managing Director of Amberleigh Care which operates two accredited therapeutic communities for boys who have displayed HSB – these are national centres based in Shropshire and Powys. Founded in 2004, the models and practice at Amberleigh have evolved in keeping with the evidence base and NICE guidance for HSB assessment and intervention. A qualified social worker, manager and organisational consultant, Kevin has worked in and around residential care and education for looked after children for almost 30 years in both practice and leadership roles. His PhD thesis completed in 2023 developed a Theory of Change for HSB interventions in a therapeutic residential context. Kevin is also a Trustee at practice charity TCTC and active in promoting and developing therapeutic models and systems, supporting both local authorities and providers to improve quality. Amberleigh are active members of NOTA and other networks and regularly share their work on therapeutic practice and/or HSB at a range of conferences and training events.

Pete Thomason MBACP CQSW

Head of Therapy, Kites Children’s Services

For 25 years Pete has worked exclusively with young males who have displayed HSB. This includes being Therapy manager at three other organisations which provide services in this specific field of work, and Principle Therapist at The Lucy Faithfull Foundation. Prior to this Pete was a Probation Officer working with violent men, adult male sex offenders and men who use violence against their female partners. As Head of Therapy at Kites, Pete’s primary function is to ensure that the young people benefit from a high standard of therapy during their placement, which Pete does by liaising with all disciplines on a general basis and via participation in weekly Case Discussion Groups. It is also part of Pete’s role to keep himself informed about contemporary research findings in relation to this specific topic and consider these with regard to the overall development and provision of therapeutic services. In addition, Pete provides individual and Group Therapy for young people and oversees the development of Kites therapeutic support.

Sharron Wareham

Children’s Services Manager, Barnardo’s Cymru, Better Futures Service.

Sharron is a qualified social worker with over 20 years’ experience working with children in the sexual abuse field. Following her role of Service Practitioner at the Taith, harmful sexual behaviour service she was employed as the Research Practitioner at the service where she developed assessment measures and intervention resources to be used with females displaying harmful sexual behaviour. The findings of this research were positively referenced in current NICE guidelines into working with Children and Young people who sexually harm. Sharron was also involved in informing the parliamentary enquiry on the same topic. Sharron currently works for Barnardo’s Cymru Better Futures Service as the Children’s Services Manager for Taith (HSB), and Seraf (CSE) Service. Most recently Sharron has managed a research team working alongside boys and young men to improve identification, assessment, and intervention for this largely hidden group. Sharron is the chair of the national organisation for the treatment of sexual abuse (NOTA) Wales and is actively involved in advancing research and best practise with children, young people and families around issues relating to sexual behaviour and relationships across all its domains.