Can you tell us a little about your role with Bravehearts and the work you do? What drew you to working in the area of child sexual abuse prevention and response?
As the Director of Research at Bravehearts, my role is focused on ensuring that research and evidence genuinely inform our work: from the services we provide to children, young people and families through to our advocacy, policy work and efforts to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Earlier in my career, I was very much focused on people who perpetrate sexual offences and understanding offending behaviour. That work remains incredibly important, particularly in understanding and preventing perpetration, but a very personal experience shifted the direction I wanted my own work to take.
A close friend of mine, who had experienced child sexual abuse, died by suicide. Losing her had a profound impact on me and made me think differently about where I wanted to focus my research and what I wanted that research to achieve.
That is what drew me to Bravehearts and to my current role as Director of Research. I’m particularly interested in the space between research, practice and policy and how we translate evidence into approaches that make a tangible difference in the real world, while also ensuring that the experiences and knowledge children, young people, victims and survivors have inform the research questions we ask.
From your experience in practice, what are some of the key challenges currently facing those working to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse? Are there particular gaps or emerging issues that you think deserve greater attention?
One of the biggest challenges is fragmentation. We often talk separately about prevention, early intervention, therapeutic support, justice responses and longer-term recovery, but for children, young people, survivors and families these are part of the same experience. We need sustained investment across that whole continuum.
Another challenge is bridging the gap between what we know and what we actually do. There is some excellent research across this sector, but translating evidence into everyday practice isn’t always straightforward. Working within a victim services, I know these operate in complex environments, often with significant demand and limited resources. Evidence needs to be not only rigorous, but also practical, accessible and adaptable to the realities of frontline work.
Technology-facilitated child sexual abuse and exploitation is also an area that requires greater attention. The environments in which children communicate, play and form relationships are changing incredibly quickly, and our prevention approaches need to keep pace.
More broadly, I think we need to shift some of the responsibility for prevention away from children. Prevention also means asking what adults, organisations, communities, governments and technology companies can do to create safer environments and reduce opportunities for abuse.
What have you learned through your work about what effective prevention and response looks like in practice? What would you like researchers, policymakers and others working in this space to better understand about the realities of frontline practice?
One of the most important things I have learned through my work is the value of listening and learning from victims and survivors. Lived experience brings knowledge and insight that research and professional expertise alone cannot provide. If we want prevention initiatives, services and systems to genuinely meet the needs of children, young people and survivors, their voices need to meaningfully inform how we understand problems and develop solutions.
For me, meaningful engagement means moving beyond simply saying we have “consulted” people with lived experience. Where safe and appropriate, victims and survivors should have opportunities to shape the questions we ask, the research we undertake, the services we design, and the policy changes we advocate for.
For researchers and policymakers, I think there is enormous value in bringing together different forms of knowledge: research evidence, practice expertise and lived experience. On their own, none of these are a sufficient lens. When those perspectives are brought together in meaningful and authentic ways, we are much better placed to develop prevention and response systems that reflect the realities of people’s lives and ultimately do a better job of protecting children and young people from sexual harm.
