From Hysteria to Hope: Bringing Reason to Sexual Abuse in Childhood

About This Webinar:

Approaching the topic of problematic sexual behavior in children and youth is often difficult and challenging. Exploring ways of prevention is vital in preparing families and professionals with ways to keep youth safe and thriving.

In this webinar, Dr. Letourneau informs participants of how problematic and/or illegal sexual behavior in childhood can be framed as a preventable public health problem. She describes the importance of understanding the developmental differences between older and younger children.

Service providers, educators, and parents/caregivers learn:

• The significance of perspective-taking and responding to younger children with empathy,
• How to distinguish healthy versus unhealthy relationships,
• Explore why problematic and/or illegal sexual behavior happens, and
• Strategies for prevention

On-Demand Recording:

Presenter

Dr. Elizabeth Letourneau is a Professor at the Department of Mental Health and Director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH).

She has focused her career on developing and evaluating child sexual abuse prevention policies and practices.

Continuing Education (CE) Credit

Click the button below for CE credit
You will be prompted to complete an evaluation after which a link will be provided.

Continuing Education

• Social Work, Licensed Professional Counselors, and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists: Programming approval for 1.0 CE credits has been obtained from the UT Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Check with your state licensing agency for reciprocity and/or credit approval if licensed for other professions or in one of the following states: CO, FL, HI, IA, KS, KY, MI, NY, ND, OH, OK.
  • **Note: Eligibility for CE credit expires on November 21, 2025.
• Case Manager: Case Management Continuing Education Credits from the Commission for Case Manager Certification are no longer available for this webinar. However, please click the button above to complete an evaluation to give us your feedback.
• Certificates of completion are available for providers interested in documenting their professional development activities.

Event Materials

• PowerPoint Slides| PDF
• Dr. Letourneau’s TEDMED Talk: Child sexual abuse is preventable, not inevitable| Video
• Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse| Website
• CDC Violence Prevention| Website
• Towards A Violence-Free Generation: Violence Against Children Surveys (VACS)| PDF
• National Center on the Sexual Behavior of Youth| Website
• American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) Center for Child Policy| Website
• Webinar Flyer| PDF

This webinar is part of the Sexual Behavior in Children & Youth (SBCY) Series. For more information on other professional development opportunities on this topic, visit the series homepage! 

SBCY Series – Homepage