Increased knowledge
All participants reported greater understanding of childhood sexual violence.
Solutions
Safe(r) Adults
Safe(r) Adults emerged from years of practice-based insights: many adults recognise risk but hesitate to act due to emotional and social barriers. The 12-week programme builds adult readiness by helping participants practise intervention skills in real-world, relational contexts.
This program is implemented by Hidden Water
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Quick facts
Innovation in childhood sexual violence prevention often begins with frontline discomfort when practitioners realise that existing tools, training, or theories do not fully prepare them for what is actually needed to prevent harm.
Practice-based knowledge allows this discomfort to become productive: it captures early insight and helps test new ideas before formal evaluation and evidence exist.
Guidance |
General note for practice-based knowledge case studies |
Facilitators who have lived expertise of childhood sexual violence in their family system, as well as parents, caregivers, and family members who have supported a child after the disclosure of childhood sexual violence carry unique knowledge about what helps, what hinders, and what support is missing.
When shared and applied, these insights can guide the creation of more compassionate, prevention and responsive services that better meet the needs of other families in similar situations.
Guidance |
General note for practice-based knowledge case studies |
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Context
Hidden Water supports those impacted by childhood sexual violence: adult survivors, those who have caused harm and are seeking accountability, individuals with dual experiences of harm and causing harm, non-offending parents and other loved ones. It does this by focusing on a) individual healing, b) collective healing and conflict resolution, and c) active prevention.
The organisation operates virtually with participants across 43 U.S. states and 22 countries, including 15 high-income and seven low- and middle-income regions across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific.
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From insight to action
What was learned from practice-based knowledge
With over 11 years of experience in facilitation and having worked with more than 1,500 individuals impacted by childhood sexual violence, Hidden Water identified a readiness gap in prevention: knowledge alone doesn’t lead to action.
- Knowledge ≠ responding: Many adults could identify warning signs but felt unprepared to intervene.
- Everyday stuck points: The hesitation to act was most noticeable in everyday situations, not rare emergencies. This included talking to a child’s nanny about safe behaviours and house rules or asking a relative to not post photographs of their child.
- Skills matter as much as awareness: Simply knowing isn’t enough to prompt action without the right support and relational skills to overcome emotional challenges.
Drawing on these practice-based knowledge insights, Hidden Water designed a 12-week program that moves beyond awareness-raising to build real-world readiness.
Program foundations
- PbK insights: Identified the gap between recognising harm and acting on it.
- Literature review: An intern-led review confirmed the value of active learning, skills training, and peer support.
- Experiential insights: Real-world feedback from community members in other prevention programs informed design.
- Collaborations: Learning from models like Stop It Now! reinforced the importance of adult responsibility and systemic change.
- Lived expertise: Facilitators, all of whom had lived expertise through personal experience with childhood sexual violence in their family system, played a key role in shaping and adapting the program.
What do participants learn?
- Knowledge of core childhood sexual violence concepts.
- Inner world awareness: Understanding how personal emotional reactions can affect the ability to recognise risk, hold complexity, intervene when harm occurs, and respond with care to disclosures.
- Outer world awareness: Strengthening attention to environments, relationships, and contexts where boundaries may be crossed or sexual harm could occur.
- Skill development and use through “Safer Adult Actions”: Practising prevention and response skills, including setting boundaries, arranging safer contexts, interrupting risky behaviour, and responding with care when harm occurs, both in training and real-life situations.
- Reinforced support through collective reflection: Applying skills in everyday life and returning to a trusted group to reflect, test interpretations, and learn from real-world experience.
Sessions involved dyad practice, group reflection, and learning from real-world dilemmas shared by participants.
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Real world impact
Early insights from two pilot cohorts in 2025 (17 participants) based on an early internal assessment showed:
Deeper emotional understanding
All participants felt more emotionally ready to intervene.
Enhanced communication skills
All participants self-reported that they improved their ability to respond to sensitive situations.
Real-world application
About 60% of participants had already used their new skills in everyday situations, a strong indicator of the program's potential impact, especially given that some may not have encountered the opportunity to intervene yet.
Why this matters: The value of practice-based knowledge
By learning from those with lived expertise, Hidden Water identified the emotional and relational challenges that stop people from acting and turned those insights into a practical, skills-based program. Safe(r) Adults demonstrates how PbK can uncover overlooked dynamics and translate them into practical strategies that strengthen prevention.
During programme development, Hidden Water surfaced important tensions in how “prevention” is understood. Non-offending parents shared that, despite taking protective steps, grooming and harm still occurred. For them, the language of prevention felt limited or even misleading, as they were not in a position to fully prevent harm. In response, Hidden Water expanded its framing to include not only prevention, but also interruption and healing responses to childhood sexual violence.
This broader understanding informed both programme content and the name Safe(r) Adults, reflecting a realistic, responsibility-based approach rather than a promise of absolute prevention.
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If you're working in a similar context
PbK is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but it helps us ask better questions to refine our approach. As you reflect on your own work, consider:
- Barriers: What emotional, cultural, political or social pressures may stop adults in your context from intervening?
- Preparation vs. knowledge: Are your approaches equipping people with the relational skills to act, or only to know?
- Practising intervention: How can adults practice intervention skills in safe, supportive spaces before they are needed?
- Local insights: What questions does this case raise for your own prevention strategies?
Use these questions to consider how PbK can inform your own practice, helping you explore challenges you might not have considered and develop strategies tailored to your context.
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Sources
For more information on Hidden Water and their work, visit https://www.hiddenwatercircle.org.
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Tags
Last updated: 21 January 2026