It’s estimated that one in 20 children in the UK have been sexually abused. All too often the child doesn’t understand what is happening to them, or even that the abuse is wrong. In this video, practitioners from the NSPCC’s Letting the Future In service talk about the creative therapy approaches they use, such as painting, drawing and storytelling, when working with children who have been sexually abused.
Letting the Future In was designed by the NSPCC and informed by a mix of adult and child survivors’ views of therapy, practice experience and an evidence review. In individual sessions, children have a chance to talk about their abuse experiences and to express themselves through creative therapies.
These sessions enable the children to safely work through past experiences and come to understand and move on from what has happened. The child’s parent or safe carer is also offered individual sessions as well as joint sessions with their child.
The Letting the Future In randomised controlled trial has shown promising evidence about what works to help children move on from the trauma of being sexually abused.
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