Addressing the impact of non-recent child sexual abuse (NRCSA)

This page is a resource hub to support survivors and victims of NRCSA and mental health professionals.

Non-recent child sexual abuse (NRCSA) can have a profound and lifelong impact on adults and their mental health. Although rarely acknowledged, it affects millions of people across the UK. This equates to approximately one in five girls and one in ten boys in England and Wales.

Survivors can go on to live fulfilling, positive lives if they are provided with the right support. People seeking help from mental and physical health services should receive compassionate, holistic, trauma-informed and person-centred care that facilitates disclosure and provides follow-up support.

We acknowledge that health systems and structures are not designed or commissioned in a way that consistently allows survivors to access this level of care.

We have co-produced a position statement with survivors of NRCSA which highlights the challenges they experience when seeking help from mental health services and sets out what needs to change.

In this NRCSA hub, you can also access related resources and materials (see below). We hope in producing this hub, we can help to drive the change needed to better support victims and survivors. A resource hub to support survivors and victims of NRCSA and mental health professionals

Resources

• Breaking Silences: Survivors, researchers and practitioners speak about Child Sexual Abuse - this resource, from the University of Bristol, explores survivors' challenges in speaking and being listened to.
• Understanding the Impact of Child Sexual Abuse with consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy Dr Jo Stubley - in this podcast, Annalisa Barbieri talks to consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy Dr Jo Stubley who leads the adult section of the trauma service at the NHS Tavistock Centre.
• Danny Taggart and Jo Stubley: Q and A on their new Open Access volume - a blog post from the University of Essex where they speak to Dr Danny Taggart (Reader in the School of Health and Social Care) and Dr Jo Stubley (Consultant Psychotherapist and Clinical Lead of the Tavistock Trauma Service), about their new volume, Talking about Non-Recent Child Sexual Abuse: Survivor, Clinician and Researcher Perspectives. 
• Child sexual abuse disclosure: how to support adult survivors (DAA019) - an interactive, online course produced by Tavistock Education and Training, part of North London NHS Foundation Trust.