We are delighted to announce that we will be partnering with the National Survivor User Network (NSUN) over the next nine months on year two of their Reimagining Safety project.
The National Survivor User Network (NSUN) is a network of people and groups with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress and trauma. They work to shift power and resource in mental health.
“Because of the Foyer Federation’s Advantaged Thinking approach, Foyers have a real focus on young people’s agency and safety. These are key issues in safeguarding, and so I’m really excited to work with young people and staff from Foyers across the country to hear your reflections on what works in safeguarding and how you’d like to reimagine it. Our aim is to produce guidance based on young people and staff’s insights which Foyers can use alongside their existing safeguarding policies.” Ruairi White from the National Survivor User Network
Year 1 of the Reimaging Safety project
What do we do when safeguarding makes people less safe? What does safety really mean for young people?
NSUN and Act Build Change published The Shape of Safety: a guide to reimagining safety and safeguarding alongside young people with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress and trauma. Created in collaboration with user-led young peoples’ organisations Revoke and Voice Collective, this project is the result of a series of workshops centering young people with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress or trauma, who have been failed and disempowered by safeguarding systems.
Safeguarding processes can often harm rather than protect. This guide offers principles and examples, reflective questions, and a practitioner’s checklist designed to support those working alongside young people who want to move their safeguarding practice and organisational cultures to a more collaborative, trauma-informed and anti-oppressive model.
What will Year 2 of the Reimagining Safety project involve?
Year 2 of the project will build on the work started in Year 1, as the Foyer Federation joins the next cohort of partner organisations working with NSUN. Together we will explore how young people with experience of mental ill-health, distress and/or trauma are impacted by punitive and carceral safeguarding models and seek new, more liberatory approaches to young people’s safety and mental health.
We will design and deliver exploratory workshops with young people and Foyer staff to explore the topic, specifically unpacking how safeguarding practice can reflect our Advantaged Thinking approach. We will ask: how can we focus on young people’s strengths in the context of safeguarding? How can young people have a voice in the process? And how can we reimagine safety?
Insights from these workshops will be used to develop bespoke resources for the Foyer Federation to influence safeguarding processes for us and our network of Foyers.
Co-designing the workshops
The work has already begun! A group of five Foyer Federation young consultants, all current or former residents of Foyers within our network, joined a consultation workshop to help plan and steer the project. It was vital for us that young people lead in shaping the workshops and unpack how the topic of safeguarding could be explored safely for those attending.
The group started by looking at the term ‘safeguarding’, thinking about what feelings this term brought up for them. Young people said that for them safeguarding is about ensuring young people feel safe to speak openly without fear of getting into trouble. It’s about not misusing the power staff hold and making sure that when young people share a concern, they understand what will be done and are given options and choices in the process.
“People make assumptions, some people need to step back and listen to our problems and then when we finish help us come up with a solution” – Young Person
Consent, particularly informed consent, was a key theme, as many said there is often fear amongst young people around what might happen if their information is shared. Trust is often a barrier, with some young people saying they prefer to confide in peers rather than staff, fearing their personal details might be disclosed to parents or professionals without their knowledge.
“There needs to be balance, because sometimes sharing information can increase risk to the person who disclosed – sharing could put them in more danger.”
Young people asked for more knowledge about the process of managing safeguarding, both within the context of improving discussions at the upcoming workshop but also to better equip young people in Foyers to manage their own safety moving forward.
Next steps
Guided by the insights from our young consultants, we're currently planning the Reimagining Safety Workshop, which is set to happen in early 2025.
Thank you to the National Survivor User Network for the opportunity to explore this important topic. We can’t wait to see the insights the project will bring.
If you are interested in being involved in the Reimaging Safety project, perhaps by nominating your Foyer to attend the workshop, please get in touch with [email protected].
