PIER and VSCP webinar 3: CSA/E language and victim blaming: how the use of language in different contexts can help or hinder your work

Join ARU's Policing Institute for the Eastern Region and Victim and Survivor Consultancy Panel (VSCP) for a webinar about the importance of using the correct language when referring to child sexual abuse and exploitation.

PIER in collaboration with the VSCP have developed a language glossary to standardise the use of CSA/E related language across the institute and its outputs.

We will take a closer look at why this was addressed, how it was achieved, and why some terminology/language increases the risk of victim blaming.

Speakers

Chris Tuck, VSCP member

Chris is a powerful and authentic public speaker, an author of three books, a media commentator, and an activist in the field of child abuse (especially child sexual abuse), bullying, and domestic violence.

She has extensive experience as a motivational keynote speaker, and is a professional trainer on topics such as trauma, abuse, and recovery, for both professionals and those impacted through lived experience.

Chris has experience of lobbying on child sexual abuse at senior government and corporate levels, and on social media platforms. She has lived experience of all forms of child abuse and neglect, having grown up in three domestic violent households.

For the last eight years, Chris has been an advisor to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse as a member of the VSCP.

After a 20-year career as a Chartered Management Accountant at a senior level, Chris retrained as a trauma informed health and wellness practitioner, establishing both her own community business and founding and directing the charity Survivors of aBuse (SOB) (Registered Charity No. 116712).

Using her lived experiences, insight, and professional skill set, she created the psycho-educational Breaking The Cycle™ C.L.E.A.N.E.R™ Living Therapy Programme that empowers individuals to recover from trauma and reach their full potential.

Chris has hosted her own radio show and is a resident member on The Silenced radio show. She co-hosts her own weekly podcast and creates her own social media awareness campaigns around child sexual abuse and exploitation such as 'the myths and realities around child sexual abuse'. All can be accessed online.

In all the work she does and in her everyday life, Chris uses her voice, her lived experiences, and her insight to connect, communicate, and create positive, long-lasting change.

Sheila Coates MBE, VSCP member

In 1984, Sheila established SERICC – Rape and Sexual Abuse Specialist Services – based in Essex. SERICC is the lead partner of the Synergy Essex Rape Crisis Partnership, providing 33,890 one-to-one counselling sessions from April 2021-March 2022.

Sheila was a SERICC Counsellor for ten years, providing support to survivors of sexual violence and abuse in the community and women's prisons. She also represented the victim's perspective to convicted sex offenders while working alongside Essex Probation.

As the SERICC Director and External Relations Advisor for Rape Crisis England and Wales, Sheila has played a significant role in regularly collaborating with government departments and ministers. She has served on the VSCP for over seven years.

Throughout her 30+ year career, she has been a passionate advocate for survivors' rights. She continues to campaign for the increase in specialist support services and appropriate responses to, and understanding of, the impact of child sexual abuse on victims and survivors and their needs.

This event is free to attend, but you need to register to receive the joining link.

This event is part of the PIER and VSCP webinar series.