In 2016, Jane Lloyd Griffiths wrote a blog for Research in Practice about the journey she had started in the Gwynedd area around problematic and harmful sexualised behaviour and her hopes and aspirations for the future.
Her blog ended:
We still have a long way to go, but I feel in this corner of North West Wales a number of key agencies see the importance of this work and the benefits it can have for the future of children and young people. I am passionate about encouraging development of multi-agency services to assist children and young people to deal with their problematic and harmful sexual behaviour…I have deeply valued the insight and vision of both the Gwynedd and Ynys Mon YJS and Gwynedd SSD in wanting to ensure that this work remains on the agenda and colleagues are fully supported.
This work certainly did remain firmly on the agenda with service mangers in Children’s Services and the Youth Justice Service recognising and keenly promoting the importance of a multi-agency approach across Gwynedd. In March 2019, senior managers were successful in securing two years funding from the Integrated Care Fund and the development of Tim Emrallt, the first problematic and harmful sexualised behaviour team in Wales began. Gwynedd and Ynys Mon Youth Justice Service kindly agreed to host the team, which is based in Y Felinheli, providing oversight from a senior practitioner and subsequently three workers were appointed as the lead person for each targeted agency, social services, health and education.
Work began in earnest in September 2019, the first quarter was spent carrying out research on current practice, identifying what has been working well, good practice and gaps in service and potential barriers to this sensitive area of work. This process was greatly aided with a strategic plan being commissioned and the continued support and guidance from Jane. There are already a high number of staff who have completed the AIM 3 training and AIM Education Guideline training, however as our research showed a key role and purpose of the Emrallt team is to promote early identification and preventative work where the multi-agency approach with health and education professionals is imperative.
Despite the impact that coronavirus (COVID-19) has had on all agencies, Emrallt has continued on its journey during these strange months and we are thankfully still where we hoped to be! Links have been made across all agencies, partnership group established and focused work on specific areas such as sibling abuse, additional learning needs, fostering/residential placements and transitions is ongoing. We are offering advice and consultations to professionals ranging from social workers, teachers, school nurses, support workers parents and foster carers.
Our focus over the last quarter has been to identify and put in place a training package to promote the importance of establishing a ‘common language’ between professionals and equip them with the necessary tools to feel confident in assessing healthy, problematic and harmful sexual behaviours. This will also aid them in adopting a consistent and appropriate response to each child and young person. Gwynedd are working in partnership with Brook and the NSPCC, and the team have been trained in rolling out training such as the Brook Traffic Light Tool across all sectors. By the end of October there will have been over 80 participants with future training dates in place for the next 12 months. The team is currently working on our own HSB Basic Awareness Training and look forward to sharing this in the New Year.
The journey continues, but we are further along in the right direction to ensure that the children of Gwynedd who present with problematic and harmful sexualised behaviour remain a high-priority. Our work is two-fold, firstly ensuring that young people’s intervention goals and outcomes already identified are met and secondly, for Gwynedd staff across all agencies to feel confident and skilled in assessment and use of early intervention tools. Our continued focus on the importance of this work will ensure that the young people and their families in Gwynedd receive the support and intervention they deserve and need in order to develop healthy and appropriate relationships into adulthood.
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a type of child abuse. Sexual abuse can include contact and non-contact actions by a person or child that causes significant harm. The impacts of abuse are wide-ranging and can be apparent across the life course.