Child Sexual Abuse Conference: Traumatic Impact, Prevention, and Intervention

Penn State's Child Sexual Abuse Conference

Organized and hosted by: The Penn State Justice Center for Research, College of the Liberal Arts, and Penn State Outreach

The darkness left in a child after the trauma of sexual abuse often leaves parents and practitioners with their own sense of darkness as they struggle with the best ways to help. Moving out of that darkness is possible. It happens through increased understanding of how abuse impacts children and their families. It happens through gaining knowledge about interventions that are effective in helping children and families heal and recover. It happens through believing we can build communities that place protecting children as our most important value. It happens by working together to raise awareness and educate each other about these issues. It takes hope and inspiration that all this is possible. Please join us as we move forward toward these goals.

The Child Sexual Abuse Conference: Traumatic Impact, Prevention, and Intervention brings together an impressive lineup of nationally recognized experts who are gifted in translating the results of research into the language of the layperson. Featured speakers include Elizabeth Smart and Sugar Ray Leonard, whose testimonies will address abuse, recovery, and resiliency.

The goals of the conference are to raise awareness, educate, energize, and empower all of us to move forward to better protect children.

A Message from Penn State President Rodney Erickson

Over the last nine months, Penn State has made a commitment to becoming a leader in the research, prevention, and treatment of child sexual abuse, and we have taken a number of steps to ensure that our communities are safer. To that end, I am very pleased that Penn State is hosting the upcoming Child Sexual Abuse Conference: Traumatic Impact, Prevention, and Intervention.

This conference provides a unique opportunity to hear from nationally recognized experts in child sexual abuse and maltreatment. It promises to address challenging issues while sharing what is known about effective research-based interventions that have been shown to help children and their families recover from the trauma of abuse and move forward with hope in their lives.

Child sexual abuse has a traumatic impact on all of society, especially our children. We hope that this conference will be a catalyst for raising awareness and furthering the knowledge that can lead to a safer environment for children in our nation and around the world.

Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to seeing you at Penn State University Park in October.

Sincerely,

Rodney EricksonPresidentThe Pennsylvania State University