Ask The Question

Ask the Question’s aim is to embed asking service users aged 18 and above about experiences of sexual harm

One of the key factors we hear repeatedly from victims and survivors is how improved their overall wellbeing is once they have “Broken the Silence” about an experience of Sexual Harm. This experience or experiences might have occurred recently or many years ago. Some individuals will have experienced repeated incidents of harm whilst others may be reporting one or two incidents.

Survivors repeatedly tell us they find it difficult to speak about what happened to them. They describe being supported in a range of services but say they are rarely asked directly and often struggle to disclose what happened to them, or hope frontline practitioners will pick up on signs.

Nationally there has been significant impetus to improve responses to Sexual Harm along with a recognition of how failing to respond adequately has increased negative outcomes for individuals and for Society.

What to expect from Ask the Question

We anticipate frontline practitioners supported by Managers and others will ask newly referred service users about sexual harm. This may occur in referral and assessment processes or in the early stages of service input. We know that services routinely ask about a range of other challenging experiences including Domestic Abuse, early trauma, previous use of drugs and alcohol, self-harm and suicide. We believe asking about sexual harm can become as common place as asking about any other significantly impactful issue. BSARCS training will support how to do so with compassion and empathy and will provide examples which will fit service delivery.

In support of this BSARCS will work in partnership with services, providing a training package of support that will facilitate staff teams feeling prepared and confident to ask the question about sexual harm.

Download your Barnsley is asking the question poster here

Ask the Question training

BSARCS will facilitate 3 training sessions to frontline organisations to support the roll out across Barnsley:

Session 1 – Asking the Question: Compassionate Enquiry

Understand why individuals find it difficult to talk about sexual harm
Best practice – how to respond effectively to disclosures
Understand why compassionate enquiry is appropriate to support earlier disclosure of current or previous sexual harm
Understand what we mean by first disclosure and legalities around disclosure
Develop confidence when responding to someone disclosing sexual harm
Appreciate the significance of self-care to alleviate the impact of working with trauma

Session 2 – Trauma informed responses and the impact of sexual harm

Describe what sexual violence is
Understand trauma informed responses to sexual harm
Consider sexual harm and societal responses
Recognise the short and long term impacts of sexual harm
Appreciate how self-care supports us to carry our challenging work

Session 3 – Understanding and working with the impact of vicarious and secondary trauma

Understanding how working with trauma can impact your practice and motivation in your role
Define secondary trauma and the best way to manage it
Link your understanding of secondary trauma to your own practice
Appreciate the importance of self-care in alleviating the impact of secondary trauma

Our Partners

We have been working closely with frontline organisations across Barnsley on Ask the Question for over one year. These partners have embedded asking the question

Ask the Question is funded by Barnsley Council Domestic Abuse Partnership. Our training is free of charge for organisations across Barnsley. To speak to us about our Ask the Question project in your organisation contact us here.

Why you should consider asking the question

The independent enquiry into childhood sexual abuse shared that survivors repeatedly told them they find it difficult to speak about what happened to them. They describe being supported in a range of services but say they are rarely asked directly. Often struggling to disclose what happened to them, or hoping frontline practitioners will pick up on signs. One of the key factors we have heard repeatedly is how much improved victims and survivors wellbeing is, once they have “Broken the Silence” about an experience of Sexual Harm.

Ask the Question will:

Enable frontline practitioners get to the root cause of the presenting issues, through providing an opportunity for service users to speak up about their experiences. This allows practitioners to provide a package of tailored support, signpost and referral if necessary, reducing repeat referrals in to services.
Help people stay in your service for less time, enabling faster service for others and quicker healing for this service user.
Offer practitioners the provision of expert advice, to support with decision making, and gain useful insight in to how to effectively support service users who disclose sexual harm.

If you are outside of Barnsley and want to discuss our Ask the Question pilot in your area, please contact us here