ACA Webinar | Working with Male Survivors
About
Working with Male Survivors of Childhood Sexual AbusePresented by SAMSN
Date: 15 July 2026
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM AEST (Brisbane)
This webinar is held in AEST, check your time zone below:
AEST (QLD, NSW, VIC, TAS, ACT): 10:00 AM
ACST (SA, NT): 9:30 AM
AWST (WA): 8:00 AM
Introducing the SAMSN Model: Integrating Lived Experience and Clinical Practice
This presentation offers an introduction to the unique, trauma-informed model developed by the Survivors & Mates Support Network (SAMSN), a specialist service supporting male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Grounded in over 15 years of practice, the SAMSN model brings together the power of lived experience with the expertise of allied health professionals to create a holistic, accessible, and survivor-centred suite of services.
At the core of this approach is SAMSN’s commitment to professionally facilitated peer support—a model that recognises the healing potential of connection, alongside the safety, structure, and clinical insight provided by trained practitioners.
This session will explore SAMSN’s integrated service model, including:
The Eight-week Support Group:
A structured, professionally facilitated peer support program (119 groups delivered so far), providing a safe space for men to connect, reduce isolation, and build recovery skills through shared experience and guided discussion.
Peer Support Phone Line:
“Talk with a mate who can relate”. A free, confidential service staffed by trained alumni of the Eight-week Support Group, offering connection with someone who “gets it” through lived experience, often supporting men in their first disclosure and a gateway to other SAMSN services.
Planned Support Team:
A client-led, trauma-informed case management service providing practical, emotional, and advocacy-based support, tailored to each person’s goals and readiness.
Trauma Counselling:
Delivered by registered counsellors, offering short-term therapeutic support for both survivors and their supporters, and complementing the broader peer and planned support model.
Education & Training:
SAMSN also delivers training and professional development for practitioners and services, supporting trauma-informed, culturally safe, and gender-responsive approaches to working with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Through this presentation, participants will gain insight into how SAMSN’s model fosters safety, choice, collaboration, and empowerment, while responding to the unique needs of male survivors—many of whom may face barriers to help-seeking.
This session is ideal for counsellors, social workers, and allied health practitioners seeking to deepen their understanding of trauma-informed, gender-responsive approaches, the integration of lived experience, and the role of peer-led support in recovery.
The Presenters:
Craig Hughes – Cashmore | Chief Executive Officer
Craig is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and one of SAMSN’s co-founders. He is a member of several advisory groups, panels and committees including the National Memorial Advisory Group (Commonwealth Govt); the NSW Victims Advisory Board; the Victorian Department of Education’s Board of Inquiry Reference Group; Suicide Prevention Australia’s Lived Experience Panel and Transforming Justice Australia’s Expert Advisory Panel. Craig is also the inaugural Chair of the Australian Centre for Child Protection’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel.
Previously, Craig has been a board member of Knowmore Legal Service and was appointed to the Prime Minister’s Reference Group for the National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (delivered October 2018). Craig has also been a member of the NSW Sentencing Council; NSW Sexual Assault Expert Group (NSW Health); Safeguarding Council (Diocese of Parramatta); the Survivor & Faith Group Child Safe Standing Committee (NSW Ombudsman) and the Expert Advisory Group for the Prevention and Response to Violence, Abuse and Neglect (NSW Health).
Rachel Hart | Senior Practitioner
Rachel is an experienced clinical counsellor/social worker with nearly twenty years’ experience in the community, government, and private sectors. She specialises in working with complex PTSD, adult survivors of child abuse, refugee survivors of trauma and torture, and family and domestic violence. She is highly experienced working with male survivors of sexual assault, and managed SAMSSA (Service Assisting Male Survivors of Sexual Assault) in Canberra from 2009 to 2016. Rachel returned to work with male survivors with SAMSN in 2022 as our Peer Support Line Team Leader and is now our Senior Practitioner.
Rachel holds a Master of Social Work (Q) from Monash University, Bachelor of Counselling from Edith Cowan University, and Diploma of Professional Counselling. She is trained in trauma-informed therapy, EMDR, ACT, and DBT, and has a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
Rachel is a clinical member of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA), an accredited member of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), and a registered clinical supervisor.
**Please note this webinar will not be recorded
Date
Wednesday 15 July 2026 10:00 AM AESTLocation
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ACA Webinar | Working with Male Survivors
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