SASSC (Sexual Assault Support Service Canterbury) is a service run by Aviva in partnership with START. The service provides support to individuals and their family/whānau to navigate the aftermath of sexual harm.

SASSC was started in 2014 to support the growing numbers of individuals and their family/whānau who were disclosing both historic and recent sexual harm and address the need for a 24/7 crisis support service.

SASSC as a service is contracted to deliver this support to individuals who are 18 years and above. However, over the years the service has received referrals from various sources to support youth aged 13-17 years.

It was identified that this age group did not have a specific support service that is developmentally flexible to cater to their individual needs. The result has been Aviva recognising that resources specifically catering to this age group are limited in Ōtautahi Christchurch.

To help it better understand and respond to the needs of young people who have experienced sexual assault and family violence, Aviva developed two strategic questions to help it respond to this challenging situation:
1. What does good practice look like in supporting young people?
2.What gaps exist in service provision for this age group in Ōtautahi/Christchurch?

To answer these questions Aviva commissioned two pieces of work: an academic research project including a literature review and primary research to establish what constitutes international best practice, and a co-design project to engage Aviva staff and clients to capture and better understand the present and past experiences of youth engaged in sexual harm support services. The latter being aspirational in nature in
terms of what a future service specifically catering to youth could look like.

For the purpose of this report, the age group considered is 13-25 years old and they will be referred as “young people” and “youth”. (From the Executive summary). This is a condensed summary of the two reports. See also related project documents. Record #7422