Cultural and Psychological Implications of Sexual Assault and Rape for Refugee Women: Working with Disclosure, Shame and Guilt

Certificate of Completion

To be issued with a Certificate of Completion you need to view the recordings by clicking on the modules listed under ‘Course Content’ below. You will need to watch the recordings in full to be issued with a certificate. If you prefer to watch individual recordings only, then click on the links for the individual recordings in the ‘Course Description’ below.

Course Description

This essential Clinical Master Class will give you practical tips for working with disclosure of sexual assault and rape, a commonly used weapon of war. It will highlight the associated stigma, shame and guilt which can make it difficult for women to disclose their horrific experiences. This may be due to traumatic amnesia, dissociation, not having the language to speak, being too traumatised to speak, cultural taboos or a combination of these factors.

Recording 1: From Associate Professor Lata Satyen, a registered psychologist, you will learn about the cultural and psychological implications of sexual assault and rape for women and gain practical tips on how to support women when there is such a disclosure. She will describe the impacts of shame, stigma, and guilt and outline how a whole-of-community approach can be adopted to support affected women. Recording link: https://youtu.be/oSS5EuupQPA

Recording 2: Pearl Fernandes, a STARTTS Psychologist, and Veena O’Sullivan, a STARTTS Physiotherapist, will present a real-life complex case study of a refugee woman who slowly and with difficulty disclosed a gang rape, whom they were able to assist on a healing journey utilising an integrated body-mind approach. Recording link: https://youtu.be/zi7F1bRMEus

Recording 3: The Q&A panel discussion is facilitated by STARTTS’ STARTTS’ Deputy CEO, Lachlan Murdoch. You will come away with many tools to assist your female clients who have disclosed rape and sexual assault work with their shame and guilt and ultimately heal. Recording link: https://youtu.be/zi7F1bRMEus

This webinar was recorded on 22 May 2024. © STARTTS

Duration: 80 minutes.