Background
For children, young people, families and communities affected by child sexual abuse, access to the right therapeutic services at the right time is critical to supporting healing and recovery, preventing further harm and improving long-term life outcomes.
The Strategic Commissioning Plan (SCP) for Child Sexual Abuse Therapeutic Services (CSATS), including Indigenous Healing Services (IHS), will outline what we understand about the needs of children, young people and adults who have experienced child sexual abuse, young people using or at risk of using, harmful sexual behaviours, and their families. It will describe what we are currently doing and will provide direction about how we can further develop our service responses.
The SCP for CSATS will be positioned within the broader context of the State Government’s commitment to create a safer WA for children and young people, and to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which aim to strengthen the support service system for victims and survivors, enhance the capacity of specialist services, and improve therapeutic intervention for children with harmful sexual behaviours.
The Department of Communities has undertaken a series of activities including design labs with sector representatives (summarised below).
Design Lab 1: 19 October 2021
Overview of the session
On Tuesday 19 October 2021, 24 staff from CSATS, IHS, Western Australia Council of Social Service (WACOSS), Department of Communities (Communities) and WA Centre for the Pursuit of Excellence in Responding to Child Abuse and Neglect convened for the first CSATS Design Lab.
Resources
Design Lab 2: January – June 2022
Overview of the session
Design Lab 2 comprised a series of activities to assist with the development of the CSATS Strategic Commissioning Plan. These included:
- A literature review relating to the prevalence of child sexual abuse, demand for services, emerging issues and elements of service models that support improved outcomes was developed and circulated to CSATS stakeholders for feedback.
- A series of workshops mapped key touchpoints in the client journey including before, during and after an interaction with a service. The first client journey mapping workshop took place online on 4 April 2022 with representation from all funded CSATS providers.
- A draft analysis of aggregated CSATS data based on funded services' progress reports between July 2019 to June 2021.
- Further client journey mapping and stakeholder engagement activities were completed and conducted.
Resources
Design Lab 3: 29 September 2022
Overview of Session
On Thursday 29 September 2022, representatives from all Child Sexual Abuse Therapeutic Services, Indigenous Healing Services and Communities staff convened for the third CSATS Design Lab, facilitated by Christina Kadmos (Kalico Consulting).
The aim of Design Lab 3 was to focus on service model design for the future, including core elements/functions for future CSAT services.
Resources
How to contact the Commissioning team
Should you have any queries about the project or for assistance with registering for receiving project updates, please contact the Commissioning team on commissioning@communities.wa.gov.au.
