Content warning: this conversation deals with child sexual abuse. If you or someone you know has been affected, or these issues bring you distress, support is available through 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Dylan Bird is joined by award-winning writer Sonia Orchard to discuss her new essay for Monash University’s National Interest series Before the Harm: Preventing Abuse, Protecting Children.

Sonia unpacks the alarming rates of child sexual abuse and exploitation in Australia, the rise in adolescent perpetrated harm, and the proactive and rehabilitative interventions that are necessary to address the issue.

“We do tend to really focus on the victim-perpetrator dyad of those two people and that one event. It’s actually an ecosystem … that preparator’s got a history that has brought them to that place and we can actually step in and do something about that”

Photo credit: supplied.