Learn more
Want to learn more about child abuse, trauma, and how you can support someone you care about? Here are some fact sheets, booklets, and webinars about that you might find helpful.
Check out our Activities section below for interactive online resources.
If you are looking for help for yourself or someone you care about, visit our Need Help Now? and Local Resources pages.
Trauma
Webinars and workshops
This e-learning program is for anyone in a child serving organization or who interacts in a formal role with children and youth who may have been exposed to maltreatment. Developed by the Luna Child and Youth Advocacy Centre. Free, registration required.
Visit: Being Trauma Aware
This webinar helps participants learn how to use a trauma-informed perspective to better understand the relational, neurobiological and developmental impact of trauma on children and youth. It includes information on understanding the patterns of children’s behaviour, and some practical tools to begin helping children to manage those behaviours. Created by New Directions in association with the Manitoba Trauma Information and Education Centre. Free, registration required.
(French closed captioning and ASL translation available)
Visit: Making Sense of Trauma
These video modules from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection explore how our brains and bodies respond to experiences of trauma.
The video series aims to provide a source of accurate and helpful information for victim-survivors of child sexual abuse (whether it happened online or in person), as well as supportive friends and family, in their healing process.
Free.
This webinar series for parents, families and caregivers of school children is a partnership between IWK Mental Health and Addictions Program and the Nova Scotia’s Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD). Topics focus on mental wellness strategies to prepare for the school year, recognizing the stresses and uncertainty that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges that many students may be facing this year.
Topics include:
- Resilience & Wellness
- Coping with Change & Uncertainty
- Preparing for School through Relationships
Reading
This patient/family guide from IWK Community Mental Health and Addictions offers information about parenting a child who has experienced trauma.
Visit: Parenting A Child Who Has Experienced Trauma: Information for Parents and Caregivers
This guide provides an overview of trauma, common reactions, healing, and practical ways that parents and caregivers can help their child. Designed to complement the book Healing Days: A Guide for Kids Who Have Experienced Trauma, but also useful as a resource on its own.
Fact sheet from the Child Welfare Information Gateway about the nature of trauma, its effects on children and youth, and ways to help your child.
English: Parenting a Child Who Has Experienced Trauma
Espanol: La crianza de un niño que ha experimentado trauma
Information from ementalhealth.ca (an initiative of CHEO) about trauma, the many things that their caregivers can do, and how to find help.
English: Trauma in Children and Youth
Français: Traumatismes chez les enfants et les adolescents
Fact sheet from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Offers tips to parents on how to help young children, toddlers, and preschoolers heal after a traumatic event.
Free, multilingual resources from Child Mind Institute on helping children cope after a traumatic event.
Resource guide from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, for youth who have experienced, or know someone who has experienced, complex trauma.
Visit: What is Complex Trauma?
Fact sheet from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network on the signs and symptoms of complex trauma in children, and recommendations on what you can do to help your child heal.
Abuse and neglect
This fact sheet from the Child Welfare Information Gateway is intended to help parents (birth, foster, and adoptive) and other caregivers better understand the challenges of caring for a child or youth who has experienced maltreatment and learn about available resources for support.
English: Parenting Children and Youth Who Have Experienced Abuse or Neglect
Espanol: La crianza de niños y jóvenes que han experimentado abuso o negligencia
Sexual assault and abuse
Online training about sexual violence and how to support someone who has survived it. Designed for service providers, friends, family members, neighbours, teachers, first responders, counselors, and anyone who is acting as a support person, or is concerned about sexual violence.
This set of booklets from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection are designed to help parents/guardians of children and youth who have experienced sexual abuse.
Understanding Child Sexual Abuse: A guide for protective parents/guardians
This booklet outlines the scope of the child sexual abuse, what child sexual abuse is, how the grooming process works, impacts of the abuse, and tips for parents/guardians on how to handle disclosure.
English: Understanding Child Sexual Abuse: A guide for protective parents/guardians
Français: Comprendre l’abus pédosexuel: Guide pour les parents et tuteurs protecteurs
Child Sexual Abuse: Picking Up the Pieces. A guide for parents/guardians after abuse is discovered
This booklet addresses how parents/guardians may feel after abuse is discovered and what their child may be experiencing emotionally, as well as practical and tangible steps parents/guardians can take to support their child and get support for themselves as a parent/guardian. It includes common questions and concerns, and information about the added layer of complexity when sexual abuse has been recorded and potentially shared online.
English: Child Sexual Abuse: Picking up the pieces
Français: Abus pédosexuels: réparer les dégâts
Safeguarding Your Child: A guide for parents/guardians whose child was or may have been sexually abused
This booklet builds on Child Sexual Abuse: Picking up the Pieces and helps parents/guardians continue on the healing journey, addressing issues that may present as their child gets older. This includes rebuilding personal boundaries, addressing concerns surrounding supervision, considering their child’s digital presence as they grow up, and providing a basic understanding of child development to help parents/guardians determine if sexualized behaviours are problematic or age appropriate.
English: Safeguarding your child
Français: Protéger mon enfant
Information from Cybertip.ca on child sexual abuse, grooming, and resources for families.
This resource from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network provides parents and caregivers with tools to help them support children who have been victims of sexual abuse, information on the importance of talking to children and youth about body safety, and guidance on how to respond when children disclose sexual abuse.
Visit: Caring for Kids: What Parents Need to Know about Sexual Abuse
Online exploitation, child abuse images
Operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, Cybertip.ca’s mandate is to protect children from online sexual exploitation by:
- Receiving and processing tips from the public about potentially illegal material, as well as activities regarding the online sexual exploitation of children, and referring any relevant leads to the appropriate law enforcement agency and/or child welfare agency; and
- Providing the public with information and other resources, as well as support and referral services, to help Canadians keep themselves and their families safe while using the Internet.
Visit: Cybertip.ca
Report a concern: Cybertip.ca Report Form
Learning that your child was harmed by abusive images can be overwhelming. This guide for caregivers from the National Children’s Alliance offers information and resources to help caregivers restore their child’s sense of safety and find hope for the future.
Visit: When Images Hurt: How to understand, respond, and find hope for your child
This resource from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection is for parents/guardians whose tween/teenage child has experienced online victimization. It offers practical considerations for how they can support their child, take appropriate action to protect them, and help them to move forward and heal.
Visit: Online Child Sexual Victimization: Picking up the Pieces
Sexual behaviours
This booklet from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection is intended to help adults who work with children to understand the range of sexualized behaviours in children. It includes information on the differences between normal versus concerning behaviour, with a focus on children 12 years and younger. This information can help adults to support children and respond appropriately to situations.
This fact sheet from the National Children’s Alliance is intended for caregivers of children and youth with problematic sexual behaviors, with guidance on the how caregivers can help their children and answers to pressing questions caregivers and family members may have.
Visit: What happens now: Facing Sexual Behavior Problems With Your Child
Family violence
This series of fact sheets from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network offers support to parents whose children have been affected by domestic violence, providing education to support their resilience and recovery.
Visit: Children and domestic violence: Fact sheet series for parents
Activities
Online activities, books, and games with helpful information for kids, youth, and families.
Information & interactive activities for kids and caregivers on topics like exploring emotions, traumatic experiences, self-care, and more.
Visit: Sesame Street in Communities
Created by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and New Directions, this storybook for young children is about how our bodies respond when they are stressed, worried, or have experienced a trauma. Includes kid-friendly strategies for self-regulation. Free PDF available for download, printed copies available for order.
English: Big Feelings Come and Go
Français: Les émotions fortes sont passagères
Free colouring pages from the Mama Bear Effect to help start conversations about body autonomy, privacy and private parts, surprises versus secrets, and telling a safe adult.
Visit: Colouring Pages
Created by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, this booklet includes age-appropriate activities to help build children’s safety competence.
English: My First Safety Book
Français: Mon premier livre sur la sécurité
Created by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, this activity book for children in grades 3 and 4 to help them learn about boundaries, ‘keep’ and ‘speak’ secrets, and what to do when something makes them feel uncomfortable.
English: Safety Rocks
Français: Livret d’activités Sécuripierres
Interactive online games for kids in Grade 3 and 4 about Internet safety, from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.
Visit: Zoe & Molly Online
Tools and resources for kids age 11 and up, from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. Information and activities help kids to identify inappropriate behaviour, learn how to set boundaries and how to talk to a safe adult when something makes them feel uncomfortable.
Visit: Be Smart, Strong & Safe!
English Activity Book: Be Smart, Strong & Safe!
Livret d’activités français: Agir avec intelligence, assurance et prudence
From the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, this cyberbullying prevention booklet includes activities on identifying the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships, how to set personal boundaries, and how to get out of uncomfortable situations when those boundaries have been broken.
English: What’s the Deal?
Français: C’est quoi l’affaire?
From the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, this booklet includes information and activities on healthy and unhealthy dating relationships, sexual consent, self-peer exploitation (“sexting”), and how to get help if they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation.
English: It is a Big Deal
Français: C’est une grosse affaire
Interactive games and resources about Internet safety, from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Visit: NetSmartz
Activities: NetSmartzKids
Booklet for youth from MindYourMind includes coping strategies, wellness tips, and colouring pages. Use the booklet for keeping track of your goals, things that inspire you, or take a break with a colouring page.
Developed by youth in Halifax, in partnership with Laing House and HeartWood Centre for Community Youth Development.
Interactive tools and innovative resources from MindYourMind for youth aged 14 to 29 about building capacity and resilience.
Visit: Mind Your Mind: Tools
A Colouring Book for Survivors and Supporters, with reminders for self-care. Created by Ryerson University and distributed by the Nova Scotia Sexual Violence Strategy.
A Mi’kmaq colouring book for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and their supporters. Created by Break the Silence: Be the Change.
We Heal Together: a Colouring Book for Black Survivors is an initiative of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Consent Comes First, Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education Office and Carleton University’s Sexual Assault Support Centre.
“We Heal Together acknowledges the systemic barriers and erasure of Black folks in survivor-led spaces. As Black people, our experiences with sexual trauma and hypersexualization are influenced by colonialism and anti-Black racism. We deserve time to heal, rest and be loved in community.”
— Casandra Fullwood