Parents and carers
The conversation at home matters as much as the one in the classroom.
Schools do important work around body safety and online safety. So does the wider system around a child, social workers, police, teachers, safeguarding leads. But there’s a layer underneath all of that, and it’s the one closest to a child: the conversation that happens at home, or doesn’t.
Most parents want to get this right, but most don’t feel confident they know how.
Why this matters
I talk about safety in three parts. Staff and professionals, so they know what they’re looking at and feel confident naming it. Young people, so they understand their own voice and who they can tell. And parents and carers, because keeping the conversation open at home gives a child somewhere to go beyond school, beyond any single trusted adult.
When all three understand their part, they create something I describe as a cocoon of safety around a child. Whoever they choose to go to, they have somewhere to turn.
Parents are often the part of that cocoon that gets the least support. This page is about changing that.
When I was eight years old, I was sexually abused by a thirty-five-year-old man who was known to my family. It continued for around a year. Nobody knew. I showed no signs.
I didn’t speak up until I was twenty-seven. Looking back, I know that confident, informed adults around me could have changed that. Not just professionals. The adults at home too.
That’s the understanding I bring to parents now. Not theory. Lived experience of what it actually takes for a child to feel safe enough to speak, and what gets in the way.
A bit about my story
What's coming
I’m putting together a free online session for parents and carers, designed to do three things: explain why this work matters, show what it actually looks like in practice, and give you something practical to take into a conversation at home.
It will be run over Zoom, which means it’s open to parents anywhere, not just in the UK. Wherever you are, if this matters to you, there’ll be a way to join.
This is still being created. If you’d like to know when it’s ready, register your interest below and you’ll be the first to hear.
Get in touch
In the meantime
If your child’s school is considering booking a session, or already has, you can find out more about what that looks like on the school pages, or get in touch directly with any questions.
GET IN TOUCH
If you want to talk, about a session, about the work, about something that’s come up while reading, get in touch.
