Resources

February 20, 2024In DASVBy Amanda Warburton

Sexual Assault Risk Assessment Conference – SARAC

SARAC is a multi-agency meeting to consider all the key risks to the survivor, hear current information held by attending partners and agree a safety plan aimed at managing harm and threats.  All agencies are accountable for developing the plan and ensuring actions are completed.

SARAC is managed by Cambridgeshire Constabulary and more information including referral criteria and pathways can be found at Cambridgeshire County Council DASV Partnership – Sexual Assault Risk Assessment Conference (SARAC) (cambsdasv.org.uk)

Support Pathways – Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

Cambridge and Peterborough Rape Crisis Partnership provide support to people who have experienced sexual violence and abuse across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.  They offer support around current and historical abuse and their services include counselling, email support and telephone helplines.  They also offer support to families of survivors and their website has useful self-help guides. Self-referrals are welcome as well as referrals by professionals. www.caprcp.org.uk

The Elms Sexual Assault Referral Centre is based in Huntingdon and supports people from across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.  The Elms can provide telephone support and referrals to specialist services, in-person crisis support and healthcare and forensic medical examinations – including holistic examinations and care for non-recent cases.  The Elms also offer access to specialist counselling and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVA) support. The Elms – SARC (theelmssarc.org)

Cambridgeshire Victims Services, also known as the Victim and Witness Hub, is a free confidential service  providing emotional and practical support to victims or witnesses to a crime in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, to help them cope and recover from the impact of crime.  It offers support to victims from the time of the offence, through any subsequent police investigation or court proceedings and beyond, according to the needs of the individual.  The Victim and Witness Hub supports all victims of crime including those who don’t want to report their crime to the police and accepts self-referrals. Victim Services | Victim and Witness Hub (cambsvictimservices.co.uk)

Cambridgeshire Police offer full support to anyone who wants to report sexual violence or abuse.  More information can be found at How to report rape, sexual assault or other sexual offences | Cambridgeshire Constabulary (cambs.police.uk)

CHOICES offers a confidential trauma-informed counselling service throughout Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for women and men who have experienced sexual abuse in childhood.  Home – Choices Counselling

National Support Services

24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Helpline – This service is provided by Rape Crisis England & Wales and offers a helpline as well as online chat.  The Helpline number is 0808 500 2222, the website is 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line (247sexualabusesupport.org.uk)

Survivors UK support male and non-binary survivors of sexual violence, providing counselling and practical help.  They also offer support for friends and family of survivors and professionals. SurvivorsUK | We challenge the silence to support sexually abused men

Galop support LGBTQ+ people who have experienced abuse of any kind, including sexual violence and domestic abuse Galop – the LGBT+ anti-abuse charity

Hourglass offer support around abuse of older people – including support to friends and family and professionals www.wearehourglass.org


Support for Survivors

February 19, 2024In DASVBy Amanda Warburton

Survivors of sexual assault may not tell anyone for a long time,

They may never tell anyone what happened to them.

If a survivor discloses to you,

  • The most important thing is to reassure them that you believe them.
  • Be aware that speaking about the incident(s) can cause significant trauma and may lead to thoughts and feelings that they are reliving what happened to them.
  • Never push someone to tell you more details if they are uncomfortable doing so.
  • Be aware that not everyone will want to report to the police but, if you are in a role that requires you to report what they have told you, explain to them what you are going to do and why.
  • If safeguarding does not apply, ask them what they would like you to do – it may be to help them find some support, to go with them to report to police, or they might not know what they want to do next – give them time.

Survivors of sexual violence and assault need specialist support.

The impact of events can be long-lasting and often cause significant trauma.

Some survivors may require support with their mental health.  Some mental health diagnoses around trauma use the word ‘disorder’ – ie Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – but it’s important to recognise that trauma is a normal human reaction to a distressing event.

Some survivors seek support around their specific circumstances – this could be from organisations that support survivors of childhood abuse, male survivors or survivors who are LGBTQIA+

If the person is a Child or an Adult at Risk you must follow local safeguarding procedures

Specialist Support

Select each of the following headings to find out what specialist support is available for survivors of sexual violence and abuse.

Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs) provide specialist support to victims and survivors of sexual violence.  This can be emotional support as well as practical support with things like liaising with police or court.  ISVA support is available whether the person chooses to report to the police or not.

ChISVAS are specialist ISVAs who work with children who have experienced sexual violence or abuse.  They can help to liaise and talk to (non-abusing) family members and also with social care and schools.

A Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) provides a safe space and dedicated care for anyone who has been raped, sexually assaulted or abused. They offer a range of services, including crisis care, medical and forensic examinations, emergency contraception and testing for sexually transmitted infections.

Survivors can get support from a SARC whether or not they choose to report to the police.

Counselling and therapeutic support is provided by qualified and experienced counsellors.  It usually has a trauma-focused approach and is led by the survivor and what they wish to talk about.


Introduction

February 19, 2024In DASVBy Amanda Warburton

What is sexual violence?

Sexual violence is any unwanted sexual activity or act (including online) that was unwanted or involved one or more of the following:

  • ● Pressure
  • ● Manipulation
  • ● Bullying
  • ● Intimidation
  • ● Threats
  • ● Deception
  • ● Force

In other words, any kind of sexual activity or act that took place without consent.

(Source: Rape Crisis England & Wales)

Types of sexual violence :

There are many different types of sexual violence.

Some examples include:

  • ● Child sexual abuse
  • ● Rape
  • ● Sexual assault
  • ● Sexual harassment
  • ● Sexual exploitation
  • ● Sex trafficking
  • ● Female genital mutilation (FGM)
  • ● Indecent exposure or ‘flashing’

This list is not exhaustive. it is important to remember that sexual violence doesn’t involve consent.

Around half of domestic abuse cases involve sexual violence but this is hard to evidence as many victims do not disclose sexual violence.

Who does it happen to?

Anyone can experience sexual violence.

Data shows that:

  • 1 in 4 women
  • 1 in 6 children
  • 1 in 18 men

have experienced sexual assault or abuse

Select each of the following headings for more information:

An estimated 3.3% of women (798,000) aged 16 years and over experienced sexual assault (including attempts) in the last year with the highest rate being in the age group 16-19.

Crimes recorded by the police in the year ending March 2022 show the victim was female in 86% of sexual offences.

(Source: ONS 2023)

An estimated 1.2% of men (275,000) aged 16 years and over experienced sexual assault (including attempts) in the last year.

(Source: ONS 2023)

The latest available data shows that 3.7% of people aged 16-59 in England and Wales with a disability experienced sexual assault in the last year.

This is broken down into 5.7% of women with disabilities and 1.1% of men.

These numbers are higher than data for people without disabilities.

(Source: ONS, 2022)

Police forces in England and Wales recorded 105,286 child sexual abuse offences during the year ending March 2023.

Local authority children’s services in England recorded concerns about child sexual abuse in 33,760 assessments of
children in the same period.

(Source: Child Sexual Abuse Centre, 2023)

Sexual assaults against Gay or Lesbian people accounted for 12.8% of all sexual assaults in the year ending March 2022.  for Bisexual people, this figure is 16.4%.

It should be noted that the sexual orientation of the perpetrator is not recorded in these data sets

(Source: ONS, 2022)

Data estimates that 1010 women and 941 men aged 60+ experienced sexual assault in the year ending March 2022.

This equates to approximately 1.5% of sexual assaults being against victims aged 60+ which is higher than the rate for victims aged 35-44 and 45-54.

(Source: ONS, 2022)

Where does it happen?

At Home

The most common location for rape or assault by penetration to occur is in the victim’s home (37%), followed by the perpetrator’s home (26%).

(Source: ONS, 2020)

At Work

There is currently no UK data on sexual violence in the workplace but a US study found 5.6% of women and 2.5% of men reported some type of sexual violence by a workplace-related perpetrator.
(Source: National Library of Medicine, 2020)

Some behaviours defined as Sexual Harassment are also sexual violence - for example unwanted sexual touching and indecent exposure (flashing). in a UK survey, 26.5% of people aged 16 and over reported experiencing at least one of the forms of sexual harassment within the last 12 months.

(Source: ONS, 2023)

At School

Between September 2019 and March 2021, Ofsted received 291 complaints about schools that referred to child-on-child sexual harassment or violence, including online sexual abuse.

More recently, there have been calls for data on sexual violence in schools to be robustly and routinely collected.

(Source: Ofsted, 2021)

Guidance for schools on Keeping Children Safe in Education (2023) includes sexual violence and harassment in schools (Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023.pdf

In Public Places

The latest data on location of offences of rape and assault by penetration show that the assault had taken place in a park, other open public space, car park or on the street for 9% of victims.

(Source: ONS, 2020)

Technology Facilitated Sexual Violence and Abuse

TFSVA refers to any form of sexual violence, exploitation, or harassment enacted through the misuse of digital technologies. This includes, but is not limited to, image-based sexual abuse, online sexual exploitation and harassment, sextortion, and the non-consensual sharing of sexual images.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) facilitated sexual abuse is emerging as a new threat.  A report from the Internet Watch Foundation in 2023 found that a total of 20,254 AI-generated images were found to have been posted to one dark web CSAM forum in a one-month period.

The most convincing AI images are visually indistinguishable from real images, even for trained analysts. There is now reasonable evidence that AI has increased the potential for the re-victimisation of sexual abuse victims.  AI has also been used to create videos seeming to show victims retracting allegations.

The next section on The Law has information about criminal legislation in regards to technology facilitated abuse.

 

Who are the perpetrators?

No one particular community or group perpetrate
sexual violence more than any other.

90% of people who are raped know the perpetrator.

The latest available data shows that the majority of victims who have experienced rape or assault by penetration since they were 16 years old reported that the perpetrator(s) were male (98%). Almost two-thirds (65%) reported that the perpetrator was a male aged between 20 and 39 years

In addition, most were victimised by their partner or ex-partner (44%). This was closely followed by someone who was known to them other than a partner or family member (37%), which includes friends (12%) and dates (10%)

More than one in seven women (15%) reported being assaulted by a stranger, whereas this was true for almost half of male victims (43%)

Those who perpetrate sexual violence do so to gain
power and control over another person and use a forced sex act to achieve this.


Cambridgeshire data

2705 sexual offences against adults were reported to
Cambridgeshire police in the year ending March 2023

● Cambridgeshire police recorded 1475 crimes of sexual abuse in the year ending March 2023

Rape Crisis England and Wales say that 5 in 6 women and 4 in 5 men who are raped  don’t report to the police.  We will look at some of the potential reasons for this in the section titled ‘The Law’.



An Introduction | Everyone can create

Everyone Can Create

This program aims to

  • Introduces students to, or hones their skills to express themselves through Music, Photography, Video and Drawing.
  • Support you as educators, with ways to bring these skills and techniques into every subject, at every level.
  • Offers opportunities for you to compile your journal to complete your Apple Teacher accreditation

The workshop objectives aim to

  • Explore the Everyone Can Create resources
  • Enrich your creative skills with iPad in the context of teaching and learning
  • Establish a plan for integrating creativity into your curriculum using the Everyone Can Create Guides

“Everyone should have the opportunity to learn skills across different creative mediums to become the next generation​ of innovators, artists, and creators.”

Throughout the activities, you are encouraged to consider how technology can play a major role in bringing creativity, creative expression and empower users to apply personalisation to support their learning and growth.

In 2018 the World Economic Forum released a report called ‘The Future of Jobs’

This highlighted the most important and in-demand skills for employees in the future, with Creativity high on that list.

Why does it matter?

In 2019 Gallup published the Creativity in Learning review: there was strong evidence of students developing critical thinking, problem solving skills and connecting learning to the real world, through transformative use of technology.
The report also found that Teachers’ use of education technology is strongly related to support from school leaders and parents — when TEACHERS feel free to be creative, students see the creative process modelled, and they are more likely to embrace challenges that require creativity of their own.

Read it for yourself

There was strong evidence of students developing critical thinking, problem solving skills and connecting learning to the real world, through transformative use of technology.

The report also found that Teachers’ use of education technology is strongly related to support from school leaders and parents — when TEACHERS feel free to be creative, students see the creative process modelled, and they are more likely to embrace challenges that require creativity of their own.

The Creative Process

Working through to form ideas, to make, to communicate

Engagement

Encouraging engagement: to deepen the learning and better the outcomes

The Arts

Allowing teachers and schools to bring the arts in to learning across the full curriculum.

Which leads to a questions: “What is creativity?”

Before continuing with the next modules, take a moment to reflect on

  • What “Creativity” means to you.
  • What does it look like in your classroom?
  • How does your thinking match or contrast with your colleagues in school? 


Introduction | DA

March 14, 2022In DASVBy Amanda Warburton

Review the short video of common statements regarding domestic abuse.  The video has no sound

Key facts:

  • The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that 2.1 million people aged 16 years and over (1.4 million women and 751,000 men) experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2023.
  • There were 51,288 domestic abuse-related prosecutions in England and Wales for the year ending March 2023, compared with 53,207 in the year ending March 2022.
  • Domestic Abuse is about an abuser (or abusers) having power and control over another person (or people)
  • Domestic abuse occurs in every racial, socioeconomic, ethnic and religious group.
  • Domestic Abuse is often referred to as a ‘gendered crime’ – this is because data shows that the majority of victims are female, and the majority of abusers are male.  However, men and people of all gender identities can experience domestic abuse.

Cambridgeshire Data for 2022-23 highlights that:

  • The Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Independent Domestic Violence Advisory Service received over 3000 referrals, a 26% increase on the previous year.
  • Over 13,000 domestic abuse incidents were reported to Cambridgeshire Constabulary, this is a slight decrease on the previous year.
  • Specialist Outreach services received over 800 referrals.
  • Women’s Refuges across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough supported 73 women and their children.

Domestic Abuse Act 2021 Definitions

Select each of the headings to expand the definitions

Behaviour of a person “A” towards another person “B” is domestic abuse if

  • A and B are each aged 16 or over and are personally connected to each other
  • And the behaviour is abusive.

Behaviour is abusive if it consists of any of the following:

  • Physical or Sexual Abuse
  • Violent or Threatening Behaviour
  • Controlling or Coercive Behaviour
  • Economic Abuse
  • Psychological, Emotional or Other Abuse

It does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct.

1)For the purposes of this Act, two people are “personally connected” to each other if any of the following applies—

(a)they are, or have been, married to each other;

(b)they are, or have been, civil partners of each other;

(c)they have agreed to marry one another (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);

(d)they have entered into a civil partnership agreement (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);

(e)they are, or have been, in an intimate personal relationship with each other;

(f)they each have, or there has been a time when they each have had, a parental relationship in relation to the same child (see subsection (2));

(g)they are relatives.

For the purposes of subsection (1)(f) a person has a parental relationship in relation to a child if:

  • the person is a parent of the child, or the person has parental responsibility for the child
  • “child” means a person under the age of 18 years
  • “civil partnership agreement” has the meaning given by section 73 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004
  • “parental responsibility” has the same meaning as in the Children Act 1989
  • “relative” has the meaning given by section 63(1) of the Family Law Act 1996

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/17/contents


Controlling Behaviour is:

A range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.

Coercive Behaviour is:

An act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim. This definition includes so called ‘honour’ based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage, and is clear that victims are not confined to one gender or ethnic group.


The Duluth Power and Control Wheel

In 1984, staff at the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) in Duluth, America, US began developing curricula for groups for men who batter and victims of domestic violence. They wanted a way to describe battering for victims, offenders, practitioners in the criminal justice system and the general public. Over several months, they convened focus groups of women who had been battered.  The outcome of the project was the Duluth Power and Control Wheel.

Find Out More: https://www.theduluthmodel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PowerandControl.pdf

Since the development of the Power and Control Wheel, several other versions have been developed to reflect risks to specific groups of victim/survivors – other versions will appear throughout the module.