Sample Practice Scenarios
These scenarios are taken from real emails received by the Stop It Now! Helpline. They demonstrate the types of concerns and questions specific to perpetration prevention, presented both by individuals concerned about their own interests and behaviors, and by individuals concerned about the behaviors and interests of a person in their life, often someone they care about.
They can be used in training for both discussion and to practice Helpline responses - both in writing and orally.
Types of Helpline Calls
Green Prevention Level Scenarios (primary prevention)
- Email #1
- Email #2
- Email #3
Yellow Prevention Level Scenarios (secondary prevention)
Red Prevention Level Scenarios (tertiary prevention)
Green Prevention Level Scenarios
Yellow Prevention Level Scenarios
Email #1
"Hello, I'm 22 years old and a few years ago I've been noticing a huge sexual
attraction towards little girls. Anyway no matter where I am if it's at work
in my local supermarket, walking past a school, walking into town or
somewhere that's public or has a lot of children around. Wherever I go I
always seem to get sexually aroused to almost every little girl that I see,
my guess is the age is between 5-13 years old, I sometimes get erections but
it's mostly sexual arousal and I sometimes go back home and masturbate to
these memories and have sexual thoughts in my head about this, I obviously
feel very bad for doing this afterwards and I know that is wrong.
I know the law and I know that it's wrong to sexually abuse a child and I've
not anything bad or illegal yet and this is the thing I'm very worried if
I'll do something horrible in the future to a child which I know I'll never
do but I'm just very worried about myself, I can't stop getting these sexual
thoughts and it's really stressing me out and don't even know where to start.
Is there any advice you guys could give me or which type of help I should go
see as I have huge trust issues with therapists about these things, it's
bring me to a dark place and I just want the help as I'm worried about doing
something horrible in the future that I'll regret, any help and advice would
be much appreciated, thanks."
Email #2
"Hi,my husband 52 has started to act strangely over the last few months.He always puts his phone away and has it on silent. A couple of months ago i got access to it and briefly seen some history through you tube.The searches were 8 year old with breast implants, teens breast implants,teens sex, breast feeding older children( i forget the name of it but it was like 7 year olds getting breast fed).
Our 11 year old daughter has told me she does not feel comfortable around him and will not go anywhere with him.He has started to sneak up on her in her bedroom when she is sitting at the desk and just stands there watching her,she is getting really creeped out by it,he has been asked not to do it but continues to do so.
He is also a swimming teacher and some of the kids from my daughters school have had lessons with him,a couple of them said to her that he is a creep and do not want to do lessons with him again.
There was also one occasion that he was going to take our son to the park and i said wait up and we will all go,he asked our daughter to get ready and she said she didn't want to go as she felt sick. He said to our son who was only 8 years old at the time. That's good we can go and look at all the girls boobs without them two being in the way! I was not in the room at the time but both the kids told me the same thing. Also my son is not interested in girls in any way, he is rather shy and will not even go swimming without wearing a shirt.
I have recently also just found out that my husband is leaving work an hour earlier in the morning and an hour earlier in the afternoons,he does split shifts. I managed to get hold of the ipad,i had actually purchased it but he has set it up and locked me out of it,to find that he has been visiting shopping centres and connecting to their free wifi service and watching any sex,nudity porn he can get his hands on.We have actually drove by and seen him there as well. I am totally dumbfounded and i do not know if this is a sign that he should not be trusted around the kids. Just due to his lying of his whereabouts and the point that i did need him home to help as i have medical issues and have been told to stay off my feet as much as possible,is enough for me to be seeking out a divorce at this point,but if this behavior is something that could be harmful to the kids i want to make sure they stay safe.I have also asked them how they feel about him , as they have been avoiding him a lot and they say they want him to leave and think he has been acting creepy lately.
Any advice appreciated"
Email #3
"I have suspected for a long time now that my child's father has an inappropriate attraction to
children. There's been a few instances of him having an erection after
wrestling with our daughter (7 years old) or cuddling with her. I've brought
this up and he starts yelling and getting extremely defensive. Tonight he
woke up from a nap and was walking around with a visible erection through his
thin pajama pants, while my daughter was also up and walking around. I'm
afraid to bring anything up to him out of fear of him starting a fight, but
my fears of him acting like this around my daughter aren't going away and I'm
terrified of what to do."
Red Prevention Level Scenarios
Email #1
"Hi, I am a victim of childhood sexual abuse, and have recently recovered memories of abusing children myself. I am taking actions with a therapist, but waswondering if there are any groups or resources in my area for people who have harmed that are trying to get well. I am not currently abusing. Thanks."
Email #2
"I get sexually aroused by bare bottom spanking children. And went to prison for it. Im out
now. And the oppurtunity to give children bare bottom spankings happens
alarmingly often because of my environment. And have a constant desire to
find pictures of it happening to other children. How can i manage the urge.
Stop myself. I dont have a lot of money for fancy therapy but i dont want to
do anything to anyone that hurts them or leads me back into trouble"
Email #3
"I feel i have crossed a line and made someone feel uncomfortable without knowing what i did
wrong....i couldn't see the signs and i want to make it right by those ive
offended"