Grooming Hides Behind Harmless

Helping safe adults stop child sexual abuse before it starts

CSA (child sexual abuse) is one of those societal issues that are overwhelmingly difficult to address - we all know it exists, we all know it’s reprehensible, but knowing this doesn’t help stop it.

The only way to prevent it is to help safe adults recognise unsafe adults, and empower them to step in before abuse can start.

But we are all looking for unsafe adults in the wrong places. ‘Stranger danger’ myths have us all looking outside our social and familial circles, when the real threat is much closer to home.

The children aren’t the only ones who are groomed by predators. They groom the adults around their target in order to gain unsupervised access. They build trust, in order to abuse it.

But if those adults can recognise the signs of grooming, they will know when to step in.

This campaign for Bravehearts, Australia’s foremost CSA prevention charity, is designed to dispel the ‘stranger danger’ myths, and direct safe adults to resources for recognising grooming, and safely intervening to prevent abuse.

This campaign relied entirely on donated media, worth over $3.4 million Aussie dollars, generously given by a huge cohort of media companies who also believed in the mission and power of this work, including: Paramount, ARN, Seven, Nine, SBS, Foxtel, Pedestrian Group, Val Morgan Outdoor (VMO), QMS, oOh! Media, Cartology, JCDecaux, YStop, GOA, Bishopp, Go Transit, Torch Media, Nova, SCA, ATN, News Australia, Are Media, and Yahoo.