Working Creatively with Denied Child Abuse

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED. If you have registered and haven't heard from us please contact Jeremy deVries-Turnell jeremy.dvt@signsofsafety.net

Situations where parents dispute child abuse allegations made against them are often judged to be impossible or untreatable by statutory and treatment professionals.

These cases can consume enormous amounts of professional time and energy and they frequently become bogged down by ongoing mistrust and disputes between professionals and the family. Often the decision to close such cases comes about not because the children are safe, but rather because the professionals run out of ideas, time and energy to make any positive difference.

The Resolutions approach, initially developed by English family therapist, Susie Essex offers an innovative approach to working with ‘denied’ child abuse that focuses on building future safety rather than arguing with families about the allegations or trying to force an admission. The Resolutions approach incorporates:

• Specific methods for building engagement with families in situations of ‘denial’ without minimising the seriousness of the concerns
• A ‘words and pictures’ method for explaining the concerns to children
• A‘similar but different’ role-play method enabling the parents to explore how such abuse could happen without arguing about their circumstances
• Methods for building everyday safety plans that show everyone the children will be safe in the future.

This practical workshop will teach all of these elements of the Resolutions approach to enable professionals to begin using the approach immediately. All aspects of the model will be demonstrated using specific case examples including video of parents describing their experience of the approach.