Thursday 2nd June 2016
1.00pm - 4.30pm (Registration 12.30-1.00 pm)
Venue: Trinity House, 4 Chapel Court, Borough High Street,
London SE1 1HW
Cost: Members £55
Non-members £70
Females who Sexually Abuse Children:
A Gender Responsive Approach to Therapeutic Engagement
Course Objectives: To enable practitioners to identify the skills and knowledge required to support a gender
responsive approach to engagement and supervision of female sexual abusers.
Rationale: Females who sexually abuse children present a range of challenges for professionals. Female sexual
abusers report that ‘professionals don’t listen’ while practitioners report a lack of confident and knowledge when
seeking to engage effectively with this discrete group of females. Training regarding sexual abuse is often
focused on theories and models developed in relation to male abusers with little or no reference to their
appropriateness for use with females.
This event is designed to enable practitioners to explore the challenges and rewards that exist for staff in seeking
to provide services for female sex offenders informed by an acknowledgement of the significance of gender and
to consider what we might need to do differently in order to ensure that the treatment needs of this population are
not overlooked.
This event will be of interest to anyone in a professional role that requires them to engage effectively with
women who may have demonstrated sexually harmful behaviours, including cases which have not resulted in
prosecution. This might include Social Workers, Offender Managers and those providing more generic community
services for women. Although a previous knowledge of female sex offender theory and models will be helpful a
basic overview will be provided to provide context to the rest of the programme. However please not that this
event is not designed to provide a comparison of male/female sex offenders and will build on the starting premise
that gender matters for all forms of engagement and interventions with females who display sexually harmful
behaviours. This event will focus largely on issues relating to adult females.
Programme Content:
In order to maximise opportunities for learning the session will be structured around three key elements:
1 The social and personal contexts in which female sexual harm occurs
The challenges identification of sexual abuse by females presents for professionals
2. The challenge female sexual abuse presents for assessment and intervention
Identified typologies and their limitations
Motivations, cognitions, offence patterns and reconviction
Protective factors
3. Therapeutic engagement – what we might need to do differently
Core elements of a gender responsive approach
Therapeutic engagement from a gender responsive perspective.
How will we know when we’ve got there- outcome measures?
The Trainer: Sherry Ashfield. BA (Hons) Dip SW, CQSW, PG Dip (Personality Disorder) works as an
Independent Consultant and Trainer across the UK. She has extensive experience working therapeutically with
women and adolescent girls who engage in sexually abusive behaviours and has provided assessments,
interventions and case management support across criminal justice, mental health and social care settings in the
UK. She has worked for the Probation Service, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and independent providers. Sherry
has published widely in relation to women and sexual harm as a co-author and has received national and
international recognition for her work, presenting at conferences for NOTA, Community Care, RMA, and ACPO.
She also provided oral evidence to the House Of Commons Justice Committee 2013/14 regarding female
offenders and safeguarding. Sherry has a particular interest in gender responsiveness models and mental health
and is currently a guest lecturer on the Women and Personality Disorder module of the NOMS and Dept of
Health supported MSc Personality Disorder.
For further information contact:
Training: Adrian Norman, Tel: 07971 293542 Email: adrian.norman@probation.gsi.gov.uk
Bookings: Anne Ellerington—Tel: 0845 3096446 Email: notaoffice@nota.co.uk
Females who Sexually Abuse Children
Thursday 2nd June 2016
BOOK ONLINE at http://www.nota.co.uk/training/list-ofevents/
OR Complete the application form below and return it to:
Fax: 0845 3096447
email: notaoffice@nota.co.uk
Post: Anne Ellerington, Administrator, NOTA, PO Box 21, Skirlaugh, Hull HU11 5WD
Further booking information - Tel: 0845 3096446
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Cancellations: A refund will be available if more than 14 days prior to the event. Less than 14 days
there will be NO REFUND, however the registration can be transferred to a colleague by notifying
notaoffice@nota.co.uk
Registered Charity Number: 1086050 Company Registration No: 4194904