Child Sexual Assault Counselling Service runs successful new model of practice with New Street team from South Western Sydney Local Health District.

Client-focused collaborative care has always been the working model of practice for the Sydney Local Health District Child Sexual Assault Counselling Service (CSACS) , and the benefits of this way of working have been highlighted following positive outcomes in a case of sibling sexual harm.  

In a  recent collaboration, CSACS Counsellors Maxine Lee and Mel Clifford worked closely with Brandy Murphy and Patrick Smith from South Western Sydney Local Health District’s New Street Service to provide a holistic health service to an entire family involved in a case.  

“While sibling sexual harm involves working with multiple agencies and support services, the depth of the collaboration in this case is not something that happens every day,” said Mel.  

“The extent of positive outcomes for this family would not have been possible had we worked individually and in isolation.” 

Close communication and careful planning, trust in each other, and a shared goal of wanting to help the whole family were the tip of the iceberg. 

“We recognised the need to address the impacts that sexual harm causes within a family, and the willingness to consider ways of working that are ‘outside the box’ but that were responsive to the needs of everyone involved,” said Maxine.  

CSACS and New Street worked directly with the child who was harmed, the young person who engaged in sexual harm, the parents and stepparents, siblings, and one of the grandparents.  

For the child who was harmed, the team ensured her physical, emotional and psychological safety, including ongoing safety planning and reviews. 

“She was supported to process the trauma, to have a voice and input into her counselling and in the counselling of her stepbrother, and to have her needs heard by her family,” said Mel.  

The young person who engaged in sexual harm was also supported to desist from further harmful behaviour, improve his own wellbeing, and take steps to address the harm he had caused. Parents were assisted to hold the enormity of what had occurred, to manage grief and impacts on the family, and to support all their children and each other during this time. 

The counsellors involved have all expressed feeling privileged to have worked together with this family. 

“The opportunity to collaborate with skilled and experienced clinicians is generally regarded as an honour but to be able to do so for a family impacted by sibling sexual harm was also a deeply rewarding and moving experience,” said Mel.  

Intervention outcomes and the family’s positive experience of collaborative work were highlighted at the District’s Problematic and Harmful Sexual Behaviour Forum, attended by more than 200 people from a range of services and agencies around NSW. 

Receiving a referral for a young person who has been sexually harmed by a sibling is not uncommon, and abuse is often under-reported and under-disclosed. The CSACS team continues to work within this collaborative model of practice to ensure young people and their families receive the most appropriate and beneficial care.  

To raise concerns about the welfare and wellbeing of the child or young person, or for more information about District Child Wellbeing and Protection services visit the Community Health Services website.