Child sex assault counsellors brace for wave as consent education begins

Counsellors have warned they won’t have the capacity to deal with an influx of child sexual assault claims once consent education begins. This is why.

Counsellors say they are expecting a wave of children to come forward with sexual assault claims once consent education becomes mandatory in schools.

But specialist counselling services are warning they do not have the capacity for the expected surge, with wait lists already blowing out to 18 months in some parts of the country.

Hayley Foster, chief executive of Full Stop Australia, a charity which advocates for sexual and domestic violence survivors, said they welcomed consent education, but services were already chronically underfunded.

“We are a system in crisis,” Ms Foster said.

“The reality is we won’t be able to cope with extra numbers, as we can’t cope now.

“We will be in uncharted territory.”

Hayley Foster, chief executive of Full Stop Australia. Picture: Supplied

News Corp recently revealed there were long wait list for counsellors and huge black spots across Australia where there were little to no sexual assault services.

Starting next year the new curriculum, which is being rolled out in every state and territory, will look at topics such as age-appropriate consent and respectful relationships.

It will also cover information around gendered stereotypes, coercion and power imbalances.

The consent education program came about in part because of a 43,000-strong petition started by former Australian schoolgirl Chanel Contos, 24, who was sexually assaulted when she was 13.

Her post on Instagram asking whether anyone else had been assaulted by a pupil from an all-boys school went global and saw more than 6700 people respond, some with harrowing stories.

She used the publicity surrounding her story to launch a petition calling for consent education to begin earlier in schools and met with politicians including the former prime minister Scott Morrison.

Chanel Contos. Picture: Hollie Adams

Ms Contos, speaking from London where she has been studying a Masters in education, gender and international development, said in the short term the new curriculum would see kids coming forward for help, as they realised what had happened to them was wrong.

But she said she hoped as consent education started to get through to children at a younger age, the number of sexual assaults would decrease.

“I hope it will reduce some of the teen-on-teen sexual violence brought about by watching pornography,” Ms Contos said.

“The boys think porn is a ‘how to manual’, but it makes girls very vulnerable.”

Ms Foster said services were also bracing themselves for a spike in calls in NSW this week due to a new government “Make no Doubt” social media campaign in the run up to historic law reforms taking effect on June 1.

From Wednesday it will be against the law in NSW to engage in any kind of sexual activity without consent, through words or actions, between partners.

Queensland Sexual Assault Network Secretariat Angela Lynch said whenever sexual assault is in the news they get a flood of new cases.

“People think, ‘Holy hell I never did anything about this, but this is my experience’ and will reach out to services,” Ms Lynch said.

News Corp has asked for comment from Tanya Plibersek, who was the shadow minister for women.

If you need support go to 1800 RESPECT.