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Bringing Our Voices - 2026 National Sexual Violence Conference

Bringing Our Voices - 2026 National Sexual Violence Conference

Dear Em
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7 young people stand in front of the national sexual violence conference banner

On August 31 - September 1, 2026, over 500 people from across the country came together in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington for the TOAH-NNEST National Sexual Violence Conference. 5 of our Dear Em Leadership team went along to learn, connect, and share their voices. We asked them about their experience, and what they wanted to share with other young people - check out what they had to say below!

Over the 2-day conference there were around 50 different sessions covering a huge range of topics related to the prevention and response to sexual violence in Aotearoa. The talks and workshops that stood out to us were:

“Violence and Wellbeing in the Digital Age presented by Nikki Denholm and Taaniko Norstrom. It’s really important that people know that deepfakes have been around for a long time and that anyone is susceptible; and how technology is advancing faster, creating more accessible ways of causing harm.”

“Tusha Penny's, the assistant police commissioner, talk stood out to me the most because it felt refreshing. I am used to feeling frustrated and cynical of people in power as they often perpetrate harmful cycles, however, her speech gave me hope. It can feel hard to feel hopeful when the world is filled with so much doom and despair. She highlighted that there was much work to be done in her sector, and that people should be held responsible while giving authentic accounts of her career. She deeply connected with the audience and acknowledged our shared goal, and how we must bring each other up to succeed.”

a conference stage with panel of speakers

“My favourite workshop was one on Music Therapy and how it can be healing for sexual violence survivors. There are many things people do to rest or to be creative and one of them is music and dance, which can bring us comfort and safety. Thus, the way this workshop was presented and the ideas on the integration between the two was so inspiring as it shows how far the sexual violence space has come, as we have moved past the boundaries of talk therapy and found ways to heal past our own trauma by connecting with creative outlets and the strength of our ancestors.”

We had the opportunity to lead our own session alongside other young people working in sexual violence response and prevention. Our presentation was titled ‘A Seat at the Table’, and shared practical methods for meaningful youth engagement, brought to life through our own experiences and stories. Some of the key messages our team aimed to highlight were:

“It’s important to have systems in place to support young people starting out in the SV sector. Hart's Ladder of Youth Participation is an important tool, and tokenism needs to be stopped. Young people are a large portion of those who are victims/survivors, we deserve to be a part of the systems that seek to support us and shape the language and society we are a part of.”

a room of people listening to a workshop presented by young people

“Meaningful youth engagement makes services/organisations/projects/etc more beneficial and accessible for everyone. So by giving young people a seat at the table, the experiences of everyone will be improved.”

“I believe the biggest takeaway is to remember the worth you have as a young person involved in the sexual violence space. It can be hard to advocate for yourself when you are met with older peers who see you as lesser and thus, do not offer the same compensation as they believe they are owed, simply because of your age and lack of ‘experience’. However, the idea of experience is outdated as it does not measure worth, especially as a way to compare with others.”

Young people aren’t often prioritised in spaces like this, which is why we think it’s so important to bring our voices and advocate for more inclusive conferences. The impact we saw from having young people included at the TOAH-NNEST conference was:

“That young people are capable of learning from workshops and there exist young people who actively want to be a part of the sector.”

a group of young people pose for a selfie

“Young people being at the conference is vital in ensuring that the sexual violence prevention space has a future. We are the people who are able to speak for our generation and bring in a current perspective, especially on the issues facing youth presently. Our voice and presence at the conference is vital as we have the correct mindset and experience to be working in this sector as we are passionate and want to end sexual violence. Thus, our voices should be more than a small group of voices that are doing lengthy applications to get in.”

Coming together for conferences like this inspires us to look to the future, for ourselves and our own journeys, and for New Zealand as a whole. Our hopes after attending this conference are: 

“I want to see more young people invited to these spaces, but not labelled just as “young people” - more of an 'early beginner' and introduction to the sector would be nice.”

“This conference made me realise the true value of community, and the importance of community centred approaches. I want my work to be centred around community because community has helped me a lot and I think that community is really important in healing. It also made me realise how big the sexual violence prevention community is, which made me feel quite hopeful, that so many people care about the same things that I care about." 

a group of young people posing beneath a power point thaat says 'a sat at the table: practical models for meaningful youth engagement'

“My hope is that the youth presence increases! This is not only in numbers attending the conference, but on collaboration, giving youth voices to speak, actually having conversations with youth at these events to allow them to bring their thoughts into the conversation.

I also hope there are youth involved that are not directly involved with an organisation. There are passionate people who are trying to be heard who do not have a backing from organisations, yet they still deserve to be heard.”

Want to learn more about the work of TOAH-NNEST?

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