The Impact of Sexual Abuse on Children & Adolescents with Kevin O'Brien

In this educational webinar aimed at counselors, pastoral caregivers, youth workers, and students, particularly those serving rural and regional Australian communities, presenter Kevin O'Brien outlines the critical developmental impacts of trauma and sexual abuse on children and adolescents. The presentation emphasizes that young survivors process traumatic events fundamentally differently than adults due to their ongoing physical, cognitive, and social development. O'Brien details how early abuse impairs healthy attachment bonds, transforming primary caregivers from sources of safety into sources of threat, which can lead to delayed physical growth, disrupted cognitive processing, and chronic emotional dysregulation. Ultimately, the session underscores the necessity of trauma-informed awareness, urging practitioners and community workers to interpret complex childhood behaviors through a developmental lens and pursue specialized professional training to better support survivors