The New Street Illawarra Shoalhaven service has worked with 29 kids, some as young as 10, since it was established in January 2017 - but it’s had to refer many more on to other services.

Many of the incidents involve penetration, most involve male perpetrators and the vast majority occur within a family context but they’re also occurring in schools and other settings.

New Street Illawarra Shoalhaven clinical coordinator Melissa Brown said it was a challenge for the service to keep up with demand.

“It is a challenge as it’s a very small specialised service that covers a large area from Helensburgh down to Ulladulla,” she said.

“And because it’s intensive, longer-term work that we do with our clients and their families, we quite quickly have no capacity to pick up new referrals.

“For those we can’t pick up we do try and provide consultation and support and help them find another agency to support them.”

The service is one of four NSW Health New Street services across the state – and rising demand means two more will be established in 2019, in Wagga Wagga and Lismore.

The government has invested around $800,000 in the Illawarra service, which employs five clinical staff.

“By far the majority of referrals are for incidents that have occurred within a family context - harmful sexual behaviour against a sibling or member of extended family,” Ms Brown said.

“Incidents against peers at school are much less common, but they do happen. We have met with all school counsellors across the region, and have worked closely with around 10 schools where’s there’s been an incident.

“We deal with the whole range of incidents – everything from a child touching another child on their genitals to penetration.”

Ms Brown, who has worked in the area of sexual assault for 25 years, said many of the young perpetrators had been sexually abused themselves or exposed to violent pornography.

“There’s not one single causal factor, rather a range of factors we think place children more at risk of engaging in sexually harmful behaviour,” she said.

“Often it’s the case that the young person has experienced a range of adverse life experiences - sometimes an experience of sexual abuse, or it could be domestic violence, neglect or disruptions in their living arrangements such as a period of time living in care.

“Today’s young people have access to the internet and internet pornography, which can portray unrealistic and sometimes harmful views of what relationships and sexuality are.”

Central to New Street’s model is the principle of safety, both for any children that have been sexually harmed and for the young person engaged in the harmful behaviour.

It’s not set up as an alternative to the criminal justice system – if police charge a young person their counselling needs are met through juvenile justice.

“Our aim is to get the young person to cease the harmful behaviour and to grow and develop and to live a harm-free life,” Ms Brown said.

As well as counselling and supporting young people and their families, New Start also provides consultation and education to agencies, schools and community groups.

“There’s simply not the information out there to help parents and professionals work out what’s normal and appropriate sexual behaviour in children, and what is harmful,” she said.

“So there’s a tendency to either minimise the harm, or to overreact.

“Normal behaviour in early adolescence is having an interest in peers and sex in general; when it becomes problematic is when interest in sex becomes obsessional.

“Sexually harmful behaviour includes inappropriate touching and penetration, and behaviour that might include secrecy, coercion and intimidation.”

The service conducted a 12-month review and found that young people and their families felt understood, and supported.

Vitally, there have been no further reports of harmful sexual behaviours for any of the young people engaged in counselling with the service.

“Early intervention has been found to offer the best opportunity to prevent escalation of problematic or harmful sexual behaviour, negative impacts on social and emotional development and possible psychological and physical harm to other children,” Ms Brown said.

For more information about New Street or to make a referral, call 4274 0671 for a confidential discussion.