Learning from the experts: young people’s views on their mental health and emotional wellbeing needs following sexual abuse in adolescence: briefing paper, March 2021

There is a recognised gap in knowledge and understanding about how the mental health and emotional wellbeing of young people are affected by experiences of sexual abuse during adolescence. By sexual abuse we mean contact- and noncontact activities, online-facilitated abuse, abuse inside and outside the family, and abuse by adults and other young people. The unique nature of adolescence means that young people experiencing sexual abuse in this phase of life may have different needs to younger children or adults. We need to know better – from them – about what these are and find ways of helping that are sensitive to the impacts of sexual abuse in this life stage and the demands of their everyday lives. This briefing shares some of the key messages that young people who took part in our participatory research told us about their mental health and emotional wellbeing needs following sexual abuse in adolescence.