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SafeLives, the UK-wide charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse, is another one of the truly impressive organisations that I spent time with recently as part of my Churchill Fellowship.
SafeLives recognises children and young people as victims in their own right, highlighting that those aged 13-17 experience some of the highest rates of domestic abuse. (Interestingly, the Domestic Abuse Act in the UK only recognises domestic violence at 16.) Despite this, there continues to be significant gaps in the provision and accessibility of domestic abuse support for young people. Young people say that not enough is being done to engage them meaningfully in sharing their expertise and experience to deepen understanding and drive change. That led SafeLives to establish a stream of work that they call Safe Young Lives.
While they don’t work on the frontline (i.e. not in crisis response), SafeLives provides significant training to support those who do, and undertake research that investigates types of abuse and help seeking behaviour. Importantly, they create practical tools and campaigns that make an impact.
The SafeLives way of working is grounded in data, practice and guided by the voice of those with lived experience. Safe Young Lives uses SafeLives’ Insights national datasets and national MARAC data to help demonstrate the extent of domestic abuse that young people suffer. (Check out their research on young people and domestic abuse here.) To inform their work, SafeLives also draws on Sounds of Silence, a panel of young changemakers who bring their experiences to the table to help guide projects.
Evidence-informed solutions
As there was little evidence or research, to better understand the needs of those experiencing abuse in teenage romantic relationships, SafeLives undertook the My Story Matters project. It used digital tools to understand and address abusive behaviour in teenage relationships.
The #TalkAboutToxic survey was the underpinning element of the project. It aimed to validate what young people had already told SafeLives about their views of domestic abuse, behaviours in relationships and where they might go for help and support.
There were a range of other findings, including that tools and services have not kept pace with the definition of relationships, and that the language used by the sector didn’t resonate.
In the survey, only a few used the term ‘domestic violence’ and most thought it referred to physical abuse. Other words that we use in the sector – coercive control; intimate partner violence – were also not used by young people. Instead, the most common terms young people used were toxic or harmful.
Developing practical tools for young people
The study also revealed that young people wanted a tool to help understand what differentiates a healthy and unhealthy relationship. When it came to working out the best approach to do that, SafeLives asked young people for their input. They heard that they didn’t want another app, as their screens were cluttered enough already. They also didn’t want to give away personal or mobile data. But they did still want to be able to access support on their phones rather than via a laptop. That suggested a website was the best solution.
Young people also expressed that they didn’t want to hear adult voices – they wanted to hear from peers, in language that was familiar to them. In terms of content, their priority was understanding if what was happening in their relationships was ‘normal’, just bad behaviour or actually controlling.
Through focus groups, the concept of the ‘line’ emerged; that it’s not blurred and it needs to be documented and shared. Exploring this further, through a codesign approach, led to ‘Draw the Line’. It’s an interactive mobile platform (though not an app) that asks for nothing but your age. It invites the user to explore anonymous but real-life relationship case studies, some of which are stories from the co-production process and others have been submitted online by young people.
Innovative and engaging solutions
What’s really clever and innovative is that users can draw a line with their fingertips on the parts of the story that are abusive and can toggle these and see where others have drawn the lines. They can also see where SafeLives has drawn the line and why. There are links to get support if the user relates to something in the stories, and they can also share their story.
This is a fantastic resource for young people, but it also serves as an invaluable learning tool for the sector with young peoples’ input continuously updating. It gives first-hand insights into what is happening for young people and what is relatable.
In the first six weeks after the site was live, it attracted 2,000 young people and now has more than 10,000 unique visits. What I also found really interesting was how this tool was positioned. They said to young people, we need you and your experience, come in as a valuable companion – users responded to that well.
Your Best Friend
The initial My Story Matters project also highlighted that young people weren’t sure what a trusted friend looked like and who they could turn to.
A coalition of 10 organisations came together on a project called Your Best Friend to work out a way forward. It aimed to equip girls, young women and non-binary people aged 13-24 with the knowledge to spot red flags in intimate relationships, plus give them the confidence to get support and offer support to their friends.
The approach built on the earlier My Story Matters research, which showed that young people primarily talk to their friends about their relationships. Girls seek help online and from each other, not through traditional services.
To build knowledge and confidence to keep girls safe, the coalition realised they needed to put what young people need, where they are already going. This led to #FriendsCanTell, an integrated campaign that reached five million young people, and included a £300,000 grant programme that provided funding to grassroots projects supporting the overall aim of the project.
Co-designed solutions
My Story Matters, Draw the Line and the subsequent work on the My Best Friends project are great examples of research being put into action by authentically engaging young people in co-production. This method leads to creating an innovative, self-fulfilling mechanism for young people to understand what is and isn’t ok – and where and how to get support.
As an aside, it was interesting to see how the sector works in Scotland, a country with a similar population to Australia and that mix of local laws and national approaches. There seemed to be a lot of collaboration and a high level of awareness of who was working on what. There is also a great willingness to share – take a look at this page on SafeLives’ website as an example: https://safelives.org.uk/resources-for-professionals/safelives-scotland/.
I too, am so happy to be sharing what I have learnt on this incredible tour, from inspiring organisations like SafeLives. I look forward to sharing more about how the Scottish system works in coming months.
