This workshop will examine the evolution of how professionals have understood young people who engage in sexually harmful behavior. It will also explore the treatment we provide for sexually abusive behavior by adolescents. Current practices (including those reflected in ATSA’s 2017 adolescent practice guidelines) are substantially different now than the assessment and treatment methods that first guided treatment. We’ve seen a realignment of the ideas and beliefs that drive assessment, treatment, and case management, and the way we think about the young people with whom we work. We’ve not only seen clear and distinct shifts away from the model of adult treatment, but have recognized that many of the most important aspects of assessment and treatment involve our awareness of and sensitivity to the developmental and contextual issues that surround juvenile sexually abusive behavior. Assessment and treatment have become far more nuanced than was formerly the case, recognizing the complexity and wholeness of our clients and their behavior, and the factors, many of which lie in the social environment rather than “within” the child or adolescent, that contribute to, trigger, and maintain or reinforce behavioral problems, including sexually abusive behavior.
Topics to be covered include:
1) Treatment of the whole individual
2) Person-first language in treatment
3) Elements of treatment for sexually abusive behavior
4) The practice of evidence-based/ best practices sexual-behavior specific treatment
5) The therapeutic relationship and collaboration in treatment
6) Treatment in the ecological environment
7) Approaches to sexual-behavior-specific treatment with adolescents 8) Therapeutic process and content in the treatment of sexually abusive behavior
9) Adolescent sexual risk assessment