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Nice to meet you!

Dr. Paige Blankenship, Licensed Psychologist

Clinical Director of the Audra Walsh Psychology Group in Florida
PhD in Combined Counseling and School Psychology from Florida State University
Completed internship and residency at the UC Davis CAARE Center in Sacramento
Experience in various settings: private practice, hospitals, academic health centers, schools, juvenile detention facilities, and community mental health
Specialization in posttraumatic stress and trauma-informed care

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Disclaimers

This presentation is for educational purposes only. Dr. Blankenship will not be providing mental health services, and this presentation does not constitute a therapist-client relationship of any kind.

This presentation will focus on themes including sexual education, sexual development, and sexual abuse. Please feel free to take care of yourself as needed. You are welcome to step outside to take a break or mentally disengage if you need to.

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Objectives

Discuss the importance of safety enhancement skills
Review important components of safety skills training
Learn skills to teach to children and adolescents of varying age ranges and developmental levels
Review ways to respond to children’s disclosures as well as next steps

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Safety Enhancement

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Abuse Statistics

65,000+ children are sexually abused in the US each year
91% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known and trusted
CSA can increase risk for:

Physical injury
Metal health concerns
Chronic health conditions
Victimization in adulthood
Suicidality

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Risk Factors

Protective Factors

Appropriate Independence for Age

Positive Relationship with Parents

Positive Self-Esteem

Isolation from Community

Cognitive and Physical Vulnerabilities

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Enhancing Safety-Skills

Leads to increases in safety-skill knowledge in children (Brenick et al., 2014)
Children who learn specific safety skills are more likely to engage in safe behaviors (Miltenberger, Sanchez, & Valbuena, 2020)

Important Components:

Active learning approaches (Miltenberger, Sanchez, & Valbuena, 2020)
Promotion of generalization (Baruni & Miltenberger, 2022)
Assessment of skills (Baruni & Miltenberger, 2022)

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Personal Safety-Skills for Sexual Abuse Prevention

Components of Personal Safety Skills Training (Cohen, Mannarino, & Deblinger, 2017)

Communicating feelings and desires and openly
Paying attention to “gut feelings”
Identifying people and places that provide safety
Learning body ownership
Learning the differences between secrets and surprises
Asking for help until someone provides help

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Personal Safety Skills for Children and Adolescents

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Personal Safety Skills

Consent and Body Autonomy
Private Parts and Rules
Assertiveness and Safety Planning
Tricky Behaviors and Problem-Solving
Internet Safety
How to Support Safety Skills as Parents

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Developmental Considerations

Use strategies appropriate to developmental level for all children
More advanced knowledge is appropriate for children who have been exposed to adult content or interactions
Children with developmental disabilities are at greater risk for harm (Lee et al., 2008) due to factors related to their disability as well as parental overprotection (Wiseman et al., 2017)

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Teaching Consent and Body Autonomy

Build social responsiveness to others
Teach consent for hugging, cuddling, tickling

Discuss consent for other developmentally-appropriate behaviors
Encourage independence and autonomy over body

Discuss consent in dating relationships
Discuss healthy vs. unhealthy relationships
Allow independence

Young Children

School Aged Children

Adolescents/Teens

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Talking About Private Parts and Rules

Teach body part names and functions
Teach “private parts rules”

Provide developmentally appropriate sex education
Talk about bodies and development
Normalize anatomical terms

Discuss the importance of using anatomical names when appropriate
Help teens determine their own boundaries

Young Children

School Aged Children

Adolescents/Teens

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Teaching Assertiveness and Safety Planning

Encourage phrases such as “I don’t like that”
Practice “No, Go, Tell”
Teach about helping professions

Discuss ways to stand up to peers or bullies
Teach and practice refusal skills
Create code words and safety plans
Identify safe adults

Teach more sophisticated ways to voice concerns/get their needs met
Continue safety planning together
Discuss bystander intervention skills

Young Children

School Aged Children

Adolescents/Teens

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Tricky Behaviors and Problem-Solving

Encourage critical thinking about why people engage in various behaviors
Teach about more sophisticated “tricky behaviors”

Apply these concepts to peer relationships, online relationships, and dating relationships
Encourage critical thinking about others’ motivations

School Aged Children

Adolescents/Teens

Teach about “tricky behaviors” in addition to stranger danger
Talk about secrets vs. surprises

Young Children

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Internet Safety

Provide supervision
Set limits and routines
Teach respect for the internet

Utilize parental controls
Use rules-focused strategies
Respond to content your child has been exposed to

Talk about risks with same-aged peers
Discuss body safety with pictures
Discuss lack of privacy in written communications

Young Children

School Aged Children

Adolescents/Teens

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How to Support These Skills as Parents

Start young
Normalize conversations and questions about bodies and safety
Respect your child’s boundaries

Praise their questions and curiosity
Answer questions honestly
Be proactive

Counteract messaging in the media and society
Ongoing conversations and open-door policy

Young Children

School Aged Children

Adolescents/Teens

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How to Navigate Tough Conversations

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Assessing and Discussing Safety Skills

How to discuss safety without promoting fear

Regular, routine conversations
Cover all safety topics regularly

Sexual and body safety
Internet safety
Fire and weather safety

How to assess safety

Approach with curiosity
Pay attention to your own reaction
Follow their lead�

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Responding to Disclosures

Initial response to a disclosure can impact long-term outcomes including depression, anxiety, and self-esteem (Hogue, 1992)

Stay calm
Avoid assumptions
Open-ended questions
Reflect what your child is saying
Praise them for sharing

Next steps

Document what you remember
Report to CPS
Seek mental health treatment for your child/family

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References

Baruni, R. R. & Miltenberger, R. G. (2022). Teaching Safety Skills to Children: A Discussion of Critical Features and Practice Recommendations. Behavioral Analysis Practice, 15(3), 938-950.

Brenick, A., Shattuck, J., Donlan, A., Duh, S. & Zurbriggen, E.L. (2014). Empowering children with safety-skills: An evaluation of the Kidpower Everyday Safety-Skills Program. Children and Youth Services Review (44), 152-162.

Centers for Disease Control (CDC; 2022). Fast Facts: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childsexualabuse/fastfact.html

Cohen, J. A, Mannarino, A. P., & Deblinger, E. (2017). Treating Trauma and Traumatic Grief in Children and Adolescents. The Guilford Press.

Hogue, F.L. (1992). An analysis of the effects of adjunctive assertiveness/support group work with mothers of incest victims. (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Mississippi, 1992). Dissertation Abstracts International, 53, 2690

A.Lee, L., Harrington, R. A., Chang, J. J., & Connors, S. L., (2008) Increased risk of injury in children with developmental disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 29(3), 247–255.

Miltenberger, R., Sanchez, S., & Valbuena, D. (2020). Pediatric prevention: Teaching safety skills. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 67(3), 573–584.

The Massachusetts Legislative Task Force on Child Sexual Abuse Prevention (2017). Guidelines and Tools for the Development of Child Sexual Abuse Prevention and Intervention Plans by Youth-Serving Organizations in Massachusetts. https://safekidsthrive.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Child-Sexual-Abuse-Task-Force-Report-Updated-Links-2020-.pdf

Wiseman, K. V., McArdell, L. E., Bottini, S. B., Gillis, J. M. (2017). A meta-analysis of safety skill interventions for children, adolescents, and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 4(1), 39–49.