WA Government to fund specialised support for children impacted by trauma

The Western Australian Government will provide $100,000 over 12 months to drive 450 scholarship opportunities and a specialist child trauma training program which will be delivered by the Australian Centre for Child Protection WA (ACCP-WA).

The training programs will help child protection practitioners and other professionals, such as police and healthcare workers, who work with children affected by trauma to understand, respond, assess and treat harmful impacts for young people affected by abuse and trauma. 

The ACCP – a nationally focussed centre – conducts research and professional training that helps enhance policy and practice to safeguard children. Based at the University of South Australia since 2004, the ACCP officially launched a new leading ACCP-WA branch, helping deliver local outcomes while raising the profile of WA research experts on the national stage.

The State Government previously provided $2.3 million to support the establishment of the ACCP-WA branch, operating under the leadership of Director Professor Leah Bromfield and Deputy Directors Amanda Paton and Associate Professor Melissa O’Donnell.

The funding boost for child trauma training further supports the State Government’s commitment to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. In particular, the need for high-quality workforce to provide evidence-based therapeutic services for abuse-related trauma.

“Working with children impacted by trauma is some of the most difficult work imaginable, and it’s sadly something professionals in a range of industries (sic.) encounter on a daily basis,” said WA Child Protection Minister Simone McGurk. 

“It’s important we continue to build the skills of frontline child protection workers, police, healthcare workers and other professionals so they can strengthen their ability to help victims of child abuse.”