Dee Nicholas

Stop It Now! Australia is a national early intervention service delivered by a not-for-profit service provider (Jesuit Social Services) in close partnership with the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department. The service model reflects collaboration across law enforcement, victim-survivor organisations, international services, and government agencies. The service delivers evidence-informed, ethically robust support, offering anonymous, action-oriented advice via a helpline and online resources for individuals concerned about their own or others’ sexual thoughts and behaviours towards children.

This presentation outlines the program’s collaborative foundations and its transition from pilot to a government funded national service. It highlights how interagency collaboration—particularly with law enforcement— shaped the program design, service model refinement to suit the Australian population, and pilot implementation. It also offers insights from the Attorney-General's Department on how partnership between the not-for-profit sector and government is imperative in prevention efforts.

We examine how ongoing alliances with law enforcement have enabled co-development of referral pathways, reporting considerations and practical frontline tools to support earlier intervention alongside criminal justice response. Ongoing engagement with specialist units and agencies has ensured the model remains operationally relevant and aligned with policing contexts, strengthening awareness and uptake of prevention pathways and creating earlier opportunities to disrupt harm.

This presentation demonstrates how embedding prevention-focused services alongside criminal justice responses enhances system capability and highlights the critical role of sustained collaboration in enabling safe, effective prevention at scale. It shows that preventing child sexual abuse at scale is possible, but only through the collective efforts of multiple systems working together.