Bravehearts and Engine Expose the Hidden Face of Grooming in New Behaviour Change Campaign

Few issues are more confronting than child sexual abuse, not just for what it involves, but for how often it occurs within the walls we trust.

79% of child sexual abuse survivors knew their abuser.

When Bravehearts and UnLtd brought us that statistic, our hearts sunk.

These weren’t strangers in white panel vans. They were neighbours. Family friends. Grandparents. Siblings. Even parents. People who could build trust, then exploit it.

That’s grooming.

And if we can’t recognise grooming, abusers appear as harmless as the children they’re targeting. So, we worked with Bravehearts to arm the public with the knowledge they need to recognise it by showing them what grooming can look like, and how it hides.

The campaign marks the first step in a long-term behaviour change strategy, designed to shift how the nation understands and responds to this insidious act. It follows more than a year of collaboration between Bravehearts and Engine Group. The process was grounded in research, lived experience from victim-survivors, trauma-informed consultation, community insights, and deep creative exploration.

We brought the campaign to life through a powerful and haunting film, directed by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Leah Purcell, secured via Engine’s long-standing relationship with TAXI Film Production.

This creative launch is being supported by the largest coordinated pro bono media campaign ever to come out of the Queensland market. Generous media partners across TV, OOH, press, radio and digital, led by the team at Wavemaker, came together to deliver this message at scale.