This Is Abuse Campaign Brief

This is Abuse Campaign Brief

This campaign brief has been written to provide you with information on the next phase of the Teenage Relationship Abuse and Teenage Rape Prevention campaigns.

The Home Office has been running two national campaigns since 2010, across England and Wales, with the aim of preventing teenagers from becoming victims and perpetrators of abusive relationships. Both campaigns were targeted at 13 to 18 year old boys and girls and aimed to encourage teenagers re-think their views of violence, abuse, controlling behaviour and what consent means within their relationships. The campaigns were supported by the This is Abuse website where teenagers can get further help and advice on these issues.

Since, 2010 there have been over 1 million visits to the ‘This is Abuse’ website and comments left by teenagers on the discussion forums indicate that the campaign is contributing towards changing attitudes and behaviour. There is more background information to these two campaigns in Section Three.

Evaluation of the campaigns has shown that abuse and rape are not viewed as separate entities by teenagers, but rather viewed on a continuum of abuse. We have also seen both campaign adverts being referenced within each others tracking results, indicating that teenagers see these issues as one wider subject. With this in mind, we have taken the decision to bring the two campaigns together under the headline of the ‘This is Abuse’ campaign. Also, by bringing the two campaigns together we will achieve greater value for money by maximising spend across a single campaign.

The next phase of the campaign launched on 5 December and advertising will run until the end of March 2014. Activity will include TV, online, social media and radio advertising across teen-focused channels and programmes which are known to be popular with our target audience. A top line media schedule is included later in this brief.

Further information on the next phase of the campaign, including key messages, target audiences and details on the materials available which you can order now to help you support the campaign in your local areas is detailed in this campaign brief. We have also produced a discussion guide which uses the ‘This is Abuse’ support materials to help you facilitate discussions with teenagers on these issues, more information on this is included later in the brief.

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Contents

Section One: Information on the This is Abuse campaign  Aim of the campaign  Target audiences  Key campaign messages  Evolving the campaign for 2013/14  Boys  Partnerships  Campaign website  Campaign launch  Evaluation

Section Two: Campaign Support materials  How to order hard copy support materials  Information on electronic support materials and how to access them

Section Other useful background information and resources Three:  Violence Against Women and Girls Action Plan  Information on the Teenage Rape Prevention campaign  Information on the Teenage Relationship Abuse campaign  ‘Standing on my own two feet’ – University of Bristol and the NSPCC published September 2011  Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre – first to a million campaign, and Exploited film  Brook – Sexual Behaviours Traffic Light Tool  From Boys to Men project  The Young People’s Programme  PSHE Association

Last updated: 05 December 2013 S ection One: This is Abuse campaign

Aim of the campaign The aim of the campaign is to prevent teenagers from becoming perpetrators and victims of abusive relationships by encouraging teenagers to re-think their views of violence, abuse, controlling behaviour and what consent means within their relationships and directs them to places for help and advice.

Target audiences Primary Audience :  girls and boys aged 13-18: NSPCC report indicates this is a universal problem that transcends socio-economic groups and regions

Secondary Audience :  parents and carers: to overhear messages and be directed to information that helps them address the subject and support their teenagers. Also, teachers and those who work with young people  third sector and partners: the campaign was developed in consultation with third sector partners and other government departments who are very supportive of the approach

Key campaign messages  abuse in relationships is not normal or acceptable – if you are in an abusive relationship it’s not your fault  it’s not just physical violence, like punching or kicking, that makes a relationship abusive – if you are threatened with violence, have no say over what you wear or who you see or speak to, or are constantly criticised it is still abuse  abuse is never OK – blaming abuse on anger, jealousy, alcohol or the other person’s behaviour is not acceptable  pressurising someone to have sex or take part in sexual activity (i.e. groping and sexual touching) who doesn’t want to or hasn’t given their consent is never acceptable for any reason  sex with someone who doesn’t want to or someone who has not given their consent and permission, is rape. It does not make a difference whether the people know each other or not, or what relationship they have  rape does not have to involve physical force – threatening violence, or having sex with someone who is incapable of consenting (for example because they’re drunk or asleep) is rape  consent is someone giving permission and someone feeling comfortable in giving that permission  you should never have to do something sexual that you don’t feel comfortable with, even if many of your friends are comfortable with similar situations  being sexually assaulted or raped is never the victim's fault  help is available – if you need some support getting out of an abusive relationship or just want to talk to someone visit www.thisisabuse.direct.gov.uk

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Evolving the campaign for 2013/14 We know that the previous campaigns are working really well for girls, but evaluation has shown boys are harder to reach with more traditional media channels.

From our evaluation we know that the campaigns resonate with teenagers and the comments left on the discussion boards by teenagers indicate that the campaigns are contributing towards changing their attitudes and behaviour. The comments below are examples of the types of messages left on the discussion boards.

“I’ve broken up with my boyfriend of nearly 6 months. After watching this video, the exact words of ‘you’re pathetic, are you gonna go cry to your friends’ echoed in my mind. He has said those exact words to me on many occasions. He put me down, stopped me from talking to my friends who were boys, checked my inbox, my texts, physically pushed me around.. I don’t see why I didn’t see this before.”

“I used to convince myself that what happened to me wasn't rape and that it was my fault, but after seeing this advertised made realise that what happened to me wasn't my fault and I feel so much better about myself that he was an animal and I was just the victim. Thank yuu for tthis video as I was only 15 and am now 16, has helped alot. :)”

We also know that the campaign adverts are good at prompting teenagers to think about these issues and also start to identify with them, however, the adverts can not continue the conversation alone and this is where we need your help. We have developed a discussion guide which sets out common misconceptions which teenagers hold when it comes to their attitudes towards abuse, controlling behaviour and consent within their relationships and provides guides and tips on how to use the campaign support materials in discussions with teenagers on these issues. The discussion guide is available to download from the GOV.UK website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/this-is-abuse-discussion-guide

Boys We have been working closely with partners and our agencies to develop a campaign that works more effectively for boys. We know that is harder to reach boys through more traditional forms of advertising and that some boys don’t want to visit a website that labels them as an abuser but they still want to find out more information on these issues. As we know that the name ‘This is Abuse’ can be a barrier to boys we have developed a page on the campaign website which is specifically aimed at boys called ‘In the Know’. This new page is now live on the website and you can access it here: http://thisisabuse.direct.gov.uk/in-the-know All of our media activity which is targeted towards boys will sign post this page as the first port of call instead of the main ‘This is Abuse’ website.

We are also working on another strand to the campaign, working with Vloggers (“video bloggers” who are very popular on You Tube), and we will be able to provide you with more detail on this early in the New Year. We will use Vloggers on You Tube to produce videos which convey our key campaign messages in a way which is relevant and credible to teen boys.

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Partnerships  MTV Partnership – We will be working in partnership with MTV again this year, following the success of the last campaign. MTV is a channel which has proven to be very popular with our target audience. We will be using a range of credible and high profile celebrities to act as a counter narrative within the sometimes highly sexualised environment of music TV. In the MTV adverts celebrities, such as Example, Jason Derulo, The Wanted and others will help us call out relationship abuse and encourage teens to make a stand. The adverts will run across all MTV channels and online from 5 December until the end of January 2014 with a call for young people to #callitout. Activity will include TV, digital and social media advertising and will encourage young people to visit a dedicated microsite on the MTV website which will house more information, interactive quizzes and links to get further help and support. The microsite is live at www.mtv.co.uk/callitout

 Hollyoaks – We are working with Hollyoaks to produce two new adverts with two Hollyoaks characters, Patrick Blake (Jeremy Sheffield) and Maxine Minniver (Nikki Sanderson) who have been involved in an abusive storyline which has been running for the last few months. The first advert started running on 5 December and shows that not all abuse is physical. The second advert will be shown in the new year and more information on this advert will be available nearer the time. This will also be supported by the production of some extended scenes to deliver more of our campaign messages (these will be housed on the This is Abuse website), social media posts and a specific timeline tab on the Hollyoaks Facebook page which will allow viewers to go back and track signs of abuse in the relationship: www.facebook.com/hollyoaks (click on the ‘This is Abuse’ logo at the top of the profile page).

 Kiss FM – We will be working in partnership with youth radio station Kiss from early December to the end of February. This partnership will include 3 campaign bursts: o Standalone ads (with no Hollyoaks association) which will raise awareness of what constitutes abuse in relationships and encourage listeners to visit the This Is Abuse website to find out more. There will be 5 different adverts which will offer both the victim and perpetrator’s perspective o Hollyoaks ads which will amplify the TV campaign. These will be created from excerpts of interviews with the two main characters and will encourage listeners to visit a campaign page on the Kiss website o Standalone ads (with no Hollyoaks association) will tackle physical abuse in relationships and deliver teen rape prevention messages. These will drive to the This Is Abuse website and as with phase 1, and will offer perspectives from both the victim and perpetrator o All radio ads will be supported by Kiss-produced adverts across their digital platforms.

Media schedule The next phase of the campaign launched on 5 December and advertising will run until the end of March 2014. A media schedule is included at the end of this section. Across all media channels over the campaign period, we will be reaching over 90% of teens aged 13 – 18 years across England and Wales approx 15 times with opportunity to see/hear our messages.

Last updated: 05 December 2013  TV o We will be running the Hollyoaks TV adverts across channels we know are popular with our target audience, including Channel 4, Sky and popular music channels such as Kiss, Clubland, Planet Pop, Channel AKA and Greatest Hits. Our adverts will be focused around TV programmes which we know teens watch at key times after school and in the evening. o Our MTV TV adverts will be running across MTV channels from 5 Dec to the end of January.

 Digital o We’ll be supporting our TV advertising with a strong digital presence across three strands which will include digital adaptations of the Hollyoaks TV adverts, MTV TV adverts and new banner creatives to widen the reach of the campaign. o These banners will aim to both educate teens on the signs of abuse in relationships and rape prevention, and sign post the audience to the This is Abuse website for help, support and advice. o The digital adverts will run across sites which we know work well for teens, such as MTV, The Student Room, Yahoo, Spotify and MSN. (Within this, we will be using Boys-specific digital advertising across sites we know Boys use.) o We will be using social media to extend the reach and conversation around the campaign, including Facebook sponsored advertising and Twitter promoted tweets, especially tying in with the Hollyoaks and MTV partnerships as both these have really strong social followings. Hollyoaks, for example, has 1.6 M social media followers and the show receives approximately 7.5K tweets per episode.

Last updated: 05 December 2013 This is Abuse Media Schedule 2013/14

December January February March 5 December

Hollyoaks storyline: Abuse and rape TV adverts, social media, facebook timeline and online ads

TV adverts online, Video on Demand (VoD) (Catch up TV ie. 4OD)

Radio adverts and partnership on Kiss FM

Vloggers

MTV partnership: Celeb TV adverts and Online adverts on MTV network

Online and Mobile adverts on popular teen sites and on Google search directing teens to advice and support

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Campaign website The campaign is supported by a dedicated website www.thisisabuse.direct.gov.uk where teenagers can go to get further information and advice on these issues. The website provides information for teenagers in heterosexual and same sex relationships, as well as male victims. The previous campaigns have established the ‘This is Abuse’ website amongst teenagers as a credible safe place to discuss abusive behaviour.

The website also contain polls, interactive games and the online discussion forums, where young people can comment on the adverts, and share their thoughts and experiences are moderated by trained specialists from Young People’s organisations Respect and AVA.

The campaign website has been designed specifically for teenagers; further information for practitioners is available on the GOV.UK website. (see Section Two of this Campaign Brief).

Campaign launch The campaign launched on 5 December and advertising will run until the end of March 2014. You can help support the campaign by ordering the support materials (see Section Two) and by helping to support the campaign via twitter #thisisabuse #callitout

Evaluation of this campaign We will be evaluating the campaign and will share results once the campaign has completed. Once the campaign advertising has finished we will also be evaluating the campaign materials and asking you for your feedback, the results will be used to inform development of future campaign materials.

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Section Two

Campaign support materials Support materials are available to order now, free of charge, from the Home Office central storage and distribution centre; Prolog.

You can either place your order by telephone or email.

Order line: 0870 241 4680 (press ‘0’ on your keypad to speak to the Home Office publications team) Order email: [email protected]

You just need to give them the product codes (see next page), quantity you would like to order along with your name and delivery address.

Unfortunately we only have a limited budget to print support materials. We know from previous campaigns that some partners have requested large bulk orders to distribute across their local areas. We want to ensure that as many partners, across England and Wales, get access to hard copy materials, which is why we have to set a maximum order limit.

However, if you do need more than the maximum order limit please email [email protected] stating how many you need, where and when they will be used and how many teenagers you estimate will come into contact with the materials. We will consider each application for materials over the order limits on a case by case basis.

Also, to ensure that the support materials reach our target audience of girls and boys aged 13-18 years old we would be very grateful if you could only order the hard copy materials if they will be used directly with this target audience. If you would like to use any of the support materials in training sessions for your colleagues, or for any other reason other than directly with teenagers, we would be very grateful if you could download PDF copies from the GOV.UK website. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teenage-relationship-abuse-campaign-posters https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teenage-rape-prevention-support-materials

You can also view the campaign adverts at www.thisisabuse.direct.gov.uk.

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Product code Item description Maximum order limit Teenage Relationship Abuse materials TVA1 A3 poster – Weak at the knees 50

TVA1W A3 poster – Weak at the knees (Welsh) 50

TVA2 A3 poster – Dream Boyfriend 50

TVA3 A3 poster – Princess 50

TVA4 A3 poster – Pretty 50

TVA4W A3 poster – Pretty (Welsh) 50

TVALEF Teenage Relationship Abuse: A parent and 250 carer’s guide to violence and abuse in teenage relationships

TVALEF1W Welsh language version: Teenage Relationship 250 Abuse: A parent and carer’s guide to violence and abuse in teenage relationships

TVAPC5 Postcard Boy 500

TVAPC6 Postcard Girl 500

Teenage Rape Prevention TRPPARENTS Leaflet: Do you know if your child is in an abusive 50 relationship?

TRPPARENTSWELSH Welsh language leaflet: Do you know if your child 50 is in an abusive relationship? TRPDIDNTCARD Business Card: I didn’t think she meant it 100

TRPHITCARD Business Card: I didn’t hit her or anything 100

TRPDONECARD Business Card: I’ve done it with her before 100

TRPHITCARDWELSH Welsh language Business Card: I didn’t hit her or 100 anything TRPDVD DVD of rape prevention campaign adverts 20 (includes adverts from Teenage Relationship Abuse campaign)

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Other support materials There is also information available for teachers on the GOV.UK website. Unfortunately, there are no hard copies of these documents available but you can download PDFs from GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teenage-relationship-abuse

The documents are:  Expect Respect: a toolkit for addressing teenage relationship abuse in key stages 3, 4 and 5;  Teenage relationship abuse: a teachers guide to violence and abuse in teenage relationships; and  Abuse in relationships: a leaflet for teenagers

You can also download the This is Abuse discussion guide from the GOV.UK website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/this-is-abuse-discussion-guide

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Section Three - Other useful background information and resources

Violence Against Women and Girls Action Plan The Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Action Plan1 approaches tackling VAWG around four key themes:

 preventing VAWG happening in the first place;  providing adequate levels of support where violence occurs;  working in partnership to obtain the best outcomes for victims and their families; and  taking action to reduce the risk to women and girls who are victims of these crimes and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

The VAWG Action Plan specifically addresses the objective to prevent VAWG happening in the first place by:

 changing the attitudes, behaviours and practices which contribute to VAWG by means of appropriate and targeted challenge; and  increase public understanding of VAWG by putting in place focussed awareness- raising initiatives which include looking at its root causes, hidden nature and economic cost to society;

The VAWG Action Plan in particular commits to:

 developing education and awareness-raising campaigns on rape and sexual assault. Building on recommendations in the Stern review2, we will explore campaign options to spread awareness of the law amongst the public - and in particular young people - to ensure basic elements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 are understood.

1 Violence Against Women and Girls Action Plan http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/violence-against- women-girls/strategic-vision 2 Baroness Stern Review – an independent review into how rape complaints are handled by public authorities in England and Wales http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110608160754/http://www.equalities.gov.uk/PDF/Stern_Review_a cc_FINAL.pdf Government response to the Stern Review http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/call-end-violence- women-girls/government-stern-review

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Information on the Teenage Relationship Abuse campaign The Teenage Relationship Abuse campaign was launched in February 2010 and advertising ran until the end of April 2010. The campaign was re-run from September 2011 to December 2011 and again from February to April 2013. This campaign is no longer running but the campaign adverts are still available for young people to view on the ‘This is Abuse’ website, also the adverts are also available on the DVD which can be ordered from Prolog (details on how to order materials are given in Section 2).

The campaign was targeted at 13 – 18 year old boys and girls with the aim of preventing teenagers from becoming victims and perpetrators of abusive relationships. It encouraged teenagers to re-think their views of violence, abuse or controlling behaviour in relationships and directed them to places for help and advice.

All the advertising directed teenagers to the campaign website www.direct.gov.uk/thisisabuse which has since been updated to include message on the Teenage Rape Prevention campaign. During the first burst of advertising from March to April 2010 there were over 170,000 visits to the website and over 1,200 comments left on the discussion boards.

Evaluation research was conducted to understand the impact of the campaign amongst the target audience3. Of those surveyed who stated they had experience of relationships, one- third admitted to experiencing some kind of relationship abuse.

Eight in ten of all respondents agreed with a statement that the adverts made them more likely to do something about an abusive relationship if they or a friend were in one. Over two- thirds of all respondents agreed with a statement that abuse in relationships was a serious issue. This figure increased to eight in ten among those who were spontaneously aware of the advertising.

We also received comments on the discussion board on the campaign website from teenagers who said that the campaign had helped them directly.

“I’ve broken up with my boyfriend of “just finished with my boyfriend nearly 6 months. After watching this of two years after seeing these video, the exact words of ‘you’re videos and I can relate to each pathetic, are you gonna go cry to your one, the word ‘your pathetic’ friends’ echoed in my mind. He has said ‘little tart’ and ‘you don’t do those exact words to me on many anything without my say so’ just occasions. He put me down, stopped shocked me back to reality I me from talking to my friends who were know I deserve better that what I boys, checked my inbox, my texts, was getting put through:’)” physically pushed me around.. I don’t see why I didn’t see this before.

3 Sample: 800 13-18 year olds, England and Wales. Online survey, October – November 2011. Data weighted by gender, age and social grade. Please note that this research is not part of the Home Office National Statistics programme but is communications evaluation research only. Results should only be seen as indicative and directional rather than absolute. Figures relate to polled sample and should not be applied to the general population.

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Information on the Teenage Rape Prevention campaign The Teenage Rape Prevention campaign was launched on 5 March 2012 and campaign advertising ran until the end of April 2012. The campaign was re-run during December 2012 through to January 2013. This campaign is no longer running but the campaign adverts are still available for young people to view on the ‘This is Abuse’ website, also the adverts are also available on the DVD which can be ordered from Prolog (details on how to order materials are given in Section 2).

The campaign was targeted at 13 to 18 year old boys and girls with the aim of preventing teenagers from becoming victims and perpetrators of sexual violence and abuse. It encouraged teenagers to re-think their views of rape, sexual assault, violence and abuse and directed them to places where they could get help and advice. The campaign also built on the government’s previous campaign, which tackled Teenage Relationship Abuse.

Campaign advertising and support materials raised awareness of rape and sexual assault and signposted the campaign website www.direct.gov.uk/thisisabuse where teenagers could go for further advice, help and support.

While the advertising was running from March to April 2012 the website received over 370,000 visits and 1,314 comments were posted on the moderated discussion boards. Nearly half of all comments came from victims telling their story and out of that approximately 15% wanted advice or confirmation on whether what they had experienced was rape or sexual assault.

Overall most of the comments were positive about the campaign and showed that we reached our target audience and through the campaign helped them to realise the commonly held myths around rape and understand what consent means.

“this website is so good and helpful! I never spoke to anyone about my experience because i was worried no one would understand but on here people who actually know what you have been through can reply to you, its helped me so much and now i am seeking the right help to get my life back to normal and to deal with my feelings. I'm so relieved i found this website, I'm now having councilling but i could have never done it without getting advice from this website, i hope everyone else on this website who has been hurt can now feel more confident and now feel as though they aren't alone :) xxx”

“I used to convince myself that what happened to me wasn't rape and that it was my fault, but after seeing this advertised made realise that what happened to me wasn't my fault and I feel so much better about myself that he was an animal and I was just the victim. Thank yuu for tthis video as I was only 15 and am now 16, has helped alot. :)”

Last updated: 05 December 2013 “i've been silent for all this time and this advert made me realise that you can't stay silent. I saw this advert and i told my boyfriend now about what happened to me and i was terrified, like literally shaking wiht fear he'd be disgusted or angry but he's supportive about it. he's helped me through it and i can talk about it now. i can talk about the rape an di can talk about my baby. I want peopel to know it's okay to tell people. No one's ever disapproving of what's happened.

If no one stands up and says something then no one will realise how many people it's happening to.

I just hope that someone sees this before it's too late. I hope this advert helps someone before they have to go through what I did.

thnak you” However, we did receive some criticisms on the website from people who thought that the campaign was sexist and portrayed all men as rapists. We also received criticism that we were not addressing male victims or victims in same sex relationships.

Most teenage boys have normal and healthy relationships. However, in abusive relationships the statistics show that it is usually the male in the relationship that is the abuser and the female the victim and therefore it is important for the campaign to reflect this. Although we depict a female victim in the advert, the messages are relevant for both boys and girls, whether they are victims or abusers. We provided advice and information on the campaign’s website which points all victims to the help that they need, including specific help for male victims of violence and abuse through Respect, Survivors UK and Survivors Trust and victims in same sex relationships through Broken Rainbow and Rape Crisis.

Last updated: 05 December 2013 14 September 2011 – publication of ‘Standing on my own two feet’ This research report from the University of Bristol and the NSPCC looks at intimate partner violence in the relationships of disadvantaged young people.

It focuses on the experiences of young people outside mainstream education, young mothers, young offenders, young people living in residential care and young people at risk of sexual exploitation.

The findings are compared with a larger study of young people in mainstream schools which provided a picture of the incidence and impact of teenage partner violence in Great Britain (Barter et al 2009).

You can access the report on the NSPCC website. http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/findings/standing_own_two_feet_wda84543.html

Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre – first to a million and Exploited The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre has created an interactive film, First to a Million which focuses on young people who post video content to sites like YouTube, highlighting how quickly things can spiral out of control and where they can get help if it does.

This interactive film, aimed at 13-18 year olds, follows a group of teens in their battle to reach a million views online through their increasingly outrageous films. At each step the viewer gets to choose what the characters do next, teaching teenagers how easy it is to make the wrong choices.

You can view the film and get more information on the CEOP website.

CEOP has also launched Exploited, a new educational resource to help young people learn how to stay safe from sexual exploitation. The resource is based around an 18-minute film which educates young people to identify features of an exploitative friendship or relationship in contrast with the development of a healthy relationship, and gives them clear information about how to report abuse and access support. It also offers many opportunities to discuss peer influence and healthy and unhealthy relationships in a wider sense. The supporting Resource Pack provides adaptable session plans, photocopiable resources, and advice on delivery. The Exploited Resource Pack is available for free to professionals working with children. Download Exploited now from CEOP’s Thinkuknow site www.thinkuknow.co.uk/teachers

Zipit ChildLine have launched their first ever app designed to provide tools to defuse the pressures on young people to send an explicit image or video. Called ‘Zipit’, the free app offers witty images to send instead of explicit ones, advice for how to engage in safe chat, what to do if you feel threatened or if an image becomes public, and a direct link to call ChildLine. You can see more information on the app on the website www. childline.org.uk/zipit

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Sexual Behaviours Traffic Light Tool – Brook The Sexual Behaviours Traffic Light Tool is an innovative resource, developed by Brook and funded by the Department for Education.

The resource helps professionals who work with children and young people to identify, assess and respond appropriately to sexual behaviours. Based on a well tested model developed in Australia, it uses a ‘traffic light tool’ to categorise sexual behaviours, to increase professional understanding of healthy sexual development and harmful behaviour, and consider whether further action need to be taken to safeguard young people.

The online resource is free to access and consists of a guidance section, the tool itself and an interactive scenarios section. PDF versions of the tool, the scenarios and the accompanying guidance can be downloaded from the Brook website.

If you would like to find out more about Brook’s Traffic Light Tool or would like any more information about Brook’s work please contact Sian Brady email: [email protected] or tel: 020 7284 6049.

From Boys to Men The From Boys to Men Project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to explore why some boys become domestic abuse perpetrators when others do not. The aim of the research is to establish what more can be done to reduce the number of young men who become perpetrators. The project was undertaken by David Gadd, Claire L.Fox, Mary-Louise Corr and Ian Butler and you can read more about this on the website www.boystomenproject.com

The Young People’s Programme What is the Young People’s Programme? The Young People’s Programme is a new project run in England by a national domestic abuse charity, CAADA, and partners: Barnardo’s, the Marie Collins Foundation, Leap Confronting Conflict and the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation. The two year programme started in May 2013 and is funded by the Department for Education. The programme was launched to help local areas develop and strengthen responses to young people aged 13 – 18 experiencing a range of intimate partner abuse. This could include domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, gangs / young people who harm others, ‘honour’-based violence and cyber stalking.

How does it work? Specialist practitioners participate in a comprehensive domestic abuse training programme to equip them with further skills and expertise. These Young People’s Violence Advisors (YPVAs) are in post in the majority of local authority areas. Their role is to assist in developing a recognised local referral pathway for young people, which will bridge the gap between children's safeguarding and high risk domestic abuse services.

Support for professionals working with young people Establishing who your local YPVA is will enable you to offer help and guide young people identified at risk of serious harm. The YPVA will know what specialist domestic abuse support services are locally available and they will have a clear understanding of safeguarding procedures.

Last updated: 05 December 2013 Get in touch As the Young People’s Violence Advisor is a relatively new role, some local areas will not yet have an Advisor in place. To make contact with the YPVA in your local authority area, please get in touch with CAADA’s Regional Development Officers, who help to embed the programme locally and who will be able to direct you to the right person.

Please contact the Regional Development Officer for your region by visiting this web page: www.caada.org.uk/YoungPeople or by calling 0117 3178750. Alternatively you can contact the team via [email protected].

PSHE Association Further information and resources are available for teachers on the PSHE Association website www.pshe-association.org.uk.

Last updated: 05 December 2013