Responding to the challenge of problem sexual behaviour by young people in Queensland: An opinion

There is general agreement that problematic sexual behaviour by young people is more common than was earlier believed and poses significant public health,juvenile justice and mental health difficulties for the community. A growing body of literature around the treatment of young people with inappropriate sexual behaviour has developed in recent decades. However,significant gaps remain as much of the literature is focused at the individual program level. As professionals in our jurisdiction of Queensland working in child and youth forensic mental health services, we have long been frustrated by the lack of a comprehensive, appropriately layered system of assessment and response to these young people that matches risk and need to best practice interventions. In this opinion piece, we propose a comprehensive, systemic and individually focused response to young people with sexual behaviour problems and pose the additional question as to whether such a model might suit other problematic interpersonal behaviour in young people including non-sexual violence.