In order to understand where your problematic sexual behaviours began, it is helpful to identify what was happening in your life at that time. This exercise gets you to look back over your life and reflect upon how your sexual thoughts of children began and developed over time.

In each box write a brief description of a key event in your life, marking a progression in your sexual thoughts and behaviour, eventually leading to your recognition that this was a problem. Have a look at the example below to help you get started. We recommend completing your timeline in the following order:

• Your current situation (at the far right)
• The first time that you were aware of having sexual thoughts of children (be sure to highlight this point on the timeline)
• Your first memory of being sexually aroused, be it with pornography or another stimuli (will likely be near the far left)
• In between each of the above, identify other significant key events that you believe can be seen as ‘signposts’ in your life for where you broke down a barrier (in your head or in your actions) and progressed to more problematic sexual behaviour. Remember that this is your timeline – if you feel that you need more boxes to tell your story, feel free to add more.