National Tool-Kit Supporting Specialist and Community Organisations Responding to Child Sexual Abuse

Victims and survivors of child sexual abuse face significant challenges when seeking help, including navigating a complex system of support across jurisdictions, gaps in services and inconsistent responses. Although the newly introduced Minimum Practice Standards set clear national benchmarks, providers needed practical tools to bring those standards to life, especially for smaller, remote and culturally specific providers. By rallying peak bodies, ACCOs, specialist agencies and frontline teams through targeted workshops and usability tests, this project co-designed a suite of trauma-informed, human-centred resources. These scalable tools translate the principles into practice and empower every organisation to deliver consistent, high-quality support nationwide.

Over three phases, Nous and the National Office delivered 17 tools. Phase one mapped sector needs through interviews and workshops with 59 representatives, representing 52 diverse services. Phase two comprised four virtual design sprints using Miro for rapid ideation, prioritisation, and prototyping. Phase three involved one-on-one usability tests with ten service providers, iterating each tool for accessibility, trauma-informed language, and contextual fit. To overcome varied digital capacity and geographic dispersion, Nous designed tools that included clear facilitation guides, editable templates, and ongoing virtual collaboration. The resulting toolkit equips organisations with practical, scalable resources to implement the Standards across diverse contexts.

The toolkit will transform how Australia’s specialist and community support services implement the Minimum Practice Standards. Organisations have access to ready-to-use policy templates, reflective-practice guides and comprehensive communications kit, reducing administrative burden and enabling more effective, trauma-informed care. Government benefits from improved insights into sector needs and performance, while the co-design process amplified service-provider voices, fostering ownership and capacity-building. National rollout, supported by an implementation and communication plan, enables organisations Australia-wide to deliver safer, more effective support. Feedback channels enable organisations to demonstrate alignment with the Standards and drive continuous improvement of the toolkit.

Key design features include: Highly adaptable: Editable formats allow organisations to tailor language, branding, and workflows to local contexts - from organisations in remote communities to metropolitan legal clinics. Active monitoring and improvement: The Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit embeds performance indicators and feedback loops, enabling continuous tracking of outcomes and iterative refinements. Trauma-informed design: Templates, guides, and communications resources employ survivor-centred language, accessibility considerations, and culturally safe prompts. Scalable communications: A unified visual identity across posters, pamphlets, an animated explainer video, and facilitator scripts, enable rapid awareness campaigns and training rollouts. Digital-first and offline-ready: All tools function in virtual environments and as print-friendly PDFs for a variety of user settings. Broad engagement: The process involved 59 representatives from 52 specialist and community services, six peak bodies, and six Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. Iterative co-design: Structured workshops guided participants through self-assessment, opportunity mapping, rapid ideation, prioritisation, and concept development, aligning solutions with real-world challenges.