Preventing childhood emotional abuse: Prioritising action

National Child Protection Week (NCPW) is a big week for the sector and we’re very proud to be partnering with the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) for another important webinar.

This year we’ll be picking up the conversation from the NCPW webinar from 2023 on childhood emotional abuse.

The theme for NCPW 2025 is Shifting Conversations to Action. In line with this theme, our expert panel will be focussing on practical ways we as a sector can improve our response to this harmful form of child maltreatment – particularly through parental support.

According to the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS), approximately 35% of young people aged 16–24 have experienced emotional abuse. Findings from the ACMS also suggest the prevalence of this form of abuse is increasing with higher rates among younger cohorts (16–24 years) than among older cohorts (25–44 years and 45 years and older).

Emotional abuse contributes to a range of social, physical and psychological issues. However, despite its high prevalence and associated poor outcomes, emotional abuse remains poorly understood across much of the child and family sector.

This webinar will explore some of the risk factors of childhood emotional abuse, including parental stress and burnout, and discuss how to recognise, respond to and prevent this form of maltreatment – with a focus of empathising with the parents you work with and understanding why they might be engaging with their children in this way.

This webinar will give you:

insight into the nature and impact of emotional abuse
ways to identify risks and protective factors associated with emotional abuse within the family context
insight into how to prevent emotional abuse with a particular focus on parental support
tactics for how to start conversations about emotional abuse with parents and children.

Target audience

This webinar is intended for all practitioners in health, social and community services who work with children and families.