Sexual Abuse & Organizational Conduct Expert Article

In this article, supervised care expert, Lisa A. Thorsen, Ed.D., C.R.C., C.P.S.I., introduces the framework by which organizations establish the policies and procedures to stem sexual abuse.

The Impact of Sexual Misconduct/Assault/Abuse to an Organization in General Affects Three Categories:

Sexual misconduct/assault or abuse can be devastating to both the individuals involved and the organizations in which they participate. In an organization serving children, individuals with disabilities or elder care, the incidents can involve adult to adult, adult to child or child to child interactions.

Determining if an organization had effective preventive methods in place to protect vulnerable populations of individuals is done by analyzing the practices within the organization prior to, concurrent with, and following the incident.

The Center for Disease Control and Protection defines sexual violence as:

Sexual violence (SV) is any sexual act that is perpetrated against someone’s will. SV encompasses a range of offenses, including a completed nonconsensual sex act (i.e., rape), an attempted nonconsensual sex act, abusive sexual contact (i.e., unwanted touching), and non-contact sexual abuse (e.g., threatened sexual violence, exhibitionism, verbal sexual harassment).

Sexual assault is characterized by intention, force, physical threat or abuse of one’s authority or presumed authority.

The common thread in all of these acts is that sexual violence affects victims who do not consent, who are unable to consent or refuse to allow the act.

Featured Expert

Lisa A. Thorsen, Ed.D., C.R.C., C.P.S.I.

Supervised Care & Rehabilitation Counseling Expert

Dr. Lisa Thorsen is a care expert who evaluates the adequacy of administrative and procedural policies, and investigates safety issues related to injuries at organizationally based facilities. She has… read more.