Project Bridge offers professional services to individuals who are concerned about their thoughts or behaviors involving children. We meet them where they are online (both on clearnet and darknet) and we guide them to take the next steps to treatment. This is done by supporting and encouraging their motivation for change by providing psychoeducation, resources, and motivational interviewing to help them move forward in the treatment process.

When users search for CSAM using known codes on specific dark and clear web search engines, they are instead directed to the ReDirection Self-Help Program. After being directed to the Self-Help Program they can choose to receive further help through the Project Bridge i-terapi platform where they first complete an autogenerated self-assessment asking inclusion criteria, current mental health status, and the frequency and current impact of the thoughts or behaviors. Participants are also recruited from social media platforms as well as adult content websites.

The next step is signing up for an online meeting with a professional for personalised psychoeducation and Motivational Interviewing. Motivational Interviewing is conducted live in four to six sessions over voice call or online chat, which will help encourage the participants to seek face to face therapy. The final step is referring to in-person therapy at a clinic in the participant’s country and having them attend the first session. If Project Bridge is successful, the clinical implications are far reaching including for children at risk of being exploited online.

The lesser the demand for the CSAM material, the fewer children are exploited. Because this project’s goal is to increase the number of at-risk individuals going to treatment, the main objectives for this study include the percentage of patients that attend the in-person appointment, as well as the percentage of high-risk patients that attend the in-person appointment.