Building Safer Practice: A regional forum on child sexual abuse and exploitation

About This Training Event

Nau mai, haere mai – we welcome you to a day of in-person connection, upskilling and reflection.

This forum, brought to you by ECPAT NZ, aims to amplify child sexual abuse and exploitation survivor voices, influence policy, and strengthen frontline responses across Aotearoa.

Please register for the forum and indicate which parts of the day you will be attending.

Forum Programme

Throughout the day, you will have the opportunity to advocate for change by helping us contact key officials, highlighting national policy recommendations that have been put forward by ECPAT NZ on the basis of our 2025 research which draws on the narratives published in Speaking for Ourselves, alongside the specific requests and priorities identified by survivors. You are encouraged to share your participation on social media.

10:30-11:30am – Te Whāriki Whakaaro o ngā Kaimahi Taiohi hui

This is an in-person hui for the Social Workers’ National CSEC Community of Practice, focusing on the abuse in state care report. If you are a social worker who would like to join, please sign up here.

11:30-12:30pm – Disclosure training facilitated by Rape Prevention Education (RPE)

Specialists in consent and working with young people, RPE will facilitate a workshop focused on responding to disclosures in ways that are in line with the needs of victims, as voiced by the Abuse in State Care report and ECPAT NZ’s own research. Following best practice, you will develop practical steps for what to do and not do if someone discloses to you that they’ve been abused.

12:30-1pm – Lunch will begin with a moment of silence

1-2pm – Talking to survivors workshop with Gloria Masters from Handing the Shame Back

There are myths around how survivors like to be spoken to and what works best for them. Gloria Masters, a lived survivor of both child sexual abuse and trafficking, will provide strategy and ideas for navigating the difficult and often unwalked domain of communication with survivors. Learn how to listen with clarity and confidence so that your interactions are both meaningful and respectful.

2-4pm – Speaking for Ourselves book mail-out

Join ECPAT NZ in sending out free copies of our new book, Speaking for Ourselves, which contains the stories of survivors of sexual exploitation in their own words. We will be posting Speaking for Ourselves to key organisations nationwide to help ensure that survivors’ experiences reach those working most closely with children at risk, amplifying their voices where they can make the greatest difference. The book is a valuable new long-term resource that helps frontline workers to remember and acknowledge the experiences of sexual exploitation surviviors as well as the need to prevent such abuse from happening today and in future.

The forum is completely free to attend. Except for our Community of Practice, all sessions are open to the public.

We are honoured to be hosting this event on the National Day of Reflection for Survivors of Abuse in Care, and acknowledge the government funding that has made this possible.