Mental health provision for young people with experiences of sexual violence or abuse: inequalities, effectiveness and acceptability

Childhood sexual violence or abuse (SVA) is a widespread experience that is known to adversely impact many young people’s mental health. However, it is unknown what provision young people with experiences of SVA (YESVA) receive from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and whether such treatments improve their outcomes. It is also unclear whether mental health professionals and young people themselves view CAMHS as accessible, equitable and effective. This survivor-led, intersectional, mixed-method research project will be the first to draw on an unprecedented administrative dataset to quantify types of CAMHS provision for YESVA and the impact it has on their mental health outcomes. I will qualitatively analyse case notes from this dataset to understand whether CAMHS provision differs by type of SVA and other intersectional factors. Finally, I will interview both YESVA receiving support from CAMHS, and mental health professionals to understand the strengths and challenges of CAMHS’ response to SVA. Embedded within a broad coalition of experts-by-experience, academics and practitioners from the sexual violence and mental health sector, these findings will underpin sector-wide discussions of how to improve the delivery of care. I will coauthor reports with leading national organisations, and report my findings to a Parliamentary Roundtable.