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Foundational Principles and Knowledge
How specialist sexual assault services work
There are underpinning principles and concepts that inform the work that specialist sexual assault counsellors do and the language that we use.
> Foundational principles
> Terms used in the specialist sexual assault sector
FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES
Rights, Options and Control
Specialist sexual assault services use a ‘rights advocacy’ model of service.
This means offering a service which aims to:
- provide information about victim survivors’ rights and the services available to them
- give victim survivors control and choice over the processes they engage in
- support victim survivors in making informed decisions
- provide advocacy on behalf of survivors.
A rights-advocacy model considers people’s differences and unique needs. It enables people to make their own choices to support their recovery. It helps people to be empowered and regain control after sexual violence.
Feminist-informed counselling
Feminist-informed sexual assault counselling is an approach that combines specialist therapeutic interventions with an acknowledgement of the gendered nature of sexual assault, and the way commonly held myths about sexual violence (such as victim-blaming) and poor system responses can compound the trauma and harm experienced by survivors.
Specialist sexual assault services adopt this philosophy, connecting individual experiences to the wider context of gender-based inequality.
The REACH research project found that this framing was crucial to recovery after sexual violence. One participant described her counsellor’s help to understand that sexual violence was a ‘symptom of an unequal society’ as ‘transformative’.
Intersectionality and anti-oppressive practice
Specialist sexual assault services work within an intersectional and anti-oppressive framework and understand that sexual violence is both a consequence and a cause of marginalisation and disadvantage.
Intersectionality is a theory originally developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1991 to describe how racism and sexism compound injustice for black women. Since then, it is widely used as a lens to understand how different forms of structural inequality can intersect and exacerbate each other. In the context of sexual violence, the impacts of sexual violence can be compounded by other forms of oppression and inequality. These can include racism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism and ableism, in addition to oppression or discrimination based on one’s refugee or asylum seeker status, having a mental illness, socioeconomic status, gender identity, or faith.
Anti-oppressive practice (AOP) is a social work practice that seeks to address and challenge social inequality and systemic power imbalances affecting clients. AOP recognises that acts of violence and abuse are situated within a broader structural and social context and, by doing so, AOP critiques a traditional view that these problems are the fault or responsibility of an individual client. The specialist sexual violence sector in Australia has long embraced AOP in the provision of support by engaging with person-centred and strengths-based approaches.
Person-centred and strength-based
A person-centred response keeps the survivor at the centre of decision making and planning, and gives them choices about how they’d like the specialist sexual assault service to respond.
A strength-based approach is a way of working with survivors and others impacted by sexual violence that focuses on abilities, knowledge and capacities rather than deficits, or things that are lacking. The approach recognises that people are capable of growth, learning and change. This approach identifies the assets or strengths that can be built upon.
Trauma-informed practice and sexual violence-informed practice
Trauma-informed practice includes approaches that ensure practices, policies and work culture recognise and respond to the effects of trauma on a person’s wellbeing and behaviour. A trauma-informed approach is distinct from trauma-specific interventions or therapeutic treatments. A trauma-informed approach does not require a service to provide therapeutic treatment addressing the symptoms of trauma. Service providers need to work in ways that result in no further harm.
In addition to being trauma-informed, SASVic will often recommend that responses are sexual violence-informed or responsive. This means that service providers understand the unique impacts and stigma associated with sexual violence and can respond appropriately.
Informed consent
Victim survivors must provide ‘informed consent’ relating to any procedure that may be proposed. This means that all information needs to be clear and provided in an appropriate way that is accessible and mindful of language, culture, disability, age, mental health, trauma responses, influence and/or impact of alcohol and/or other drugs, and pressure from family, friends and/or other professionals.
Terms used in the specialist sexual assault sector
As you’ve read, the specialist sexual assault sector has specific approaches and philosophies. There is other specific language that we use in the sector that has been shaped by these approaches and philosophies, including the particular term we use for workers who support people impacted by sexual violence, and how we think about what is possible after sexual violence.
Counsellor Advocates
The specialist sexual assault sector uses the term ‘Counsellor Advocates’ to describe the position held by counsellors who work directly with victim survivors and others affected by sexual assault and sexual violence. This reflects the rights-based approach taken by counsellor advocates and the understanding that survivors’ ability to recover and heal from sexual violence is often hampered by the systems that minimise, excuse or otherwise enable sexual violence.
Recovery
Recovery can be described as an ongoing process of growth and change. Victim survivors are not solely responsible for recovery. The community has a critical role to play in addressing the harm and perpetrators need to be held to account. Findings from our research show that recovery is enabled through personal, relational and social change.
MORE DEFINITIONS AND KEY MESSAGES
SAMANTHA is a sector-wide resource that includes notes about language, definitions, key messages and statistics. This resource is password protected. If you don’t have the password, please email comms@sasvic.org.au or you can also access the document directly through the SASVic Member Update.
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