Having Our Say3  builds upon our learnings from the success of the Having Our Say Too project, and offers young people the opportunity to make sense of their experiences for future safeguarding, and equip practitioners and parents to better support them.  

The young people have participated in a 3-month photography project, exploring different themes that offer a context to sexual exploitation, including gender, power and relationships. They have also developed their creative skills and understanding of visual literacy, photography and storytelling techniques.

The work created on the project represents their thoughts, responses and experiences through photography and text. Through developing their own digital stories, this process has enabled them to both make sense of their experiences and share their perspectives on the issues.

All the young people have had the opportunity to achieve a SEPE (Supporting Employability and Personal Effectiveness) BTEC certificate as part of each project.

Project Managers – Kate Watson, Becky Warnock, Helen Cammock

I want to talk a little bit about what the course is and why it’s so brilliant; it is about telling your story of sexual exploitation and I feel part of getting over something is by expressing the way you feel in many different ways and not just talking because this is difficult sometimes and this is why PhotoVoice is such a brilliant experience.”

– Project participant, Avlon 

Read Avlon’s full blog here

This website is a resource for service providers and professionals to deliver services and workshops that are directly informed by the experiences and perspectives of young people themselves. The activities have been created in response to their work, ensuring that the input from the participants directly supports other young people across the UK to understand the issues and context of sexual exploitation, furthering their capacity to safeguard themselves.

The resource draws upon up to date policy from government recommendations for the sector, and provides practitioners with a range of activities to ensure they can provide the best possible provision. This includes awareness raising preventative activities focusing on future safe guarding with young people, intervention based work to support practitioners working directly with affected young people at various stages of their provision, information about best practice for reporting concerns about victims or offenders, as well as ideas for wider public awareness campaigns. This is based on Local Safeguarding Children’s Board mandatory provision, as well as drawing upon research of best practice from Youth, Education and Violence Against Women and Girls services.

The NWG is a charitable organisation formed as a UK network of over 13 000 practitioners who disseminate information down through their services, to professionals working on the issue of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and trafficking within the UK.

Barnado’s is working  to transform the lives of the UK’s most vulnerable children.Their mission is to reach and help those children whose voices are unheard and whose needs are unmet and defend, safeguard and support them at key moments to change their lives for the better.

The Men’s Room mission is to empower young men in Manchester through creative engagement an support them to make positive life change.Their vision is for a future where marginalised young men are given the support they need.

The NSPCC is a children’s charity fighting to end child abuse in the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. They help children who have been abused to rebuild their lives, protect those at risk, and find the best ways of preventing abuse from ever happening.

PhotoVoice is extremely grateful to the following for supporting the project and this resource:

• Evan Cornish Foundation
• Persula Foundation
• Mercers’ Company
• Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust
• Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust

Having Our Say3 is a photographic and digital storytelling project that offers young people the opportunity to explore and reflect on their experiences of, and perspectives on, the impact of sexual exploitation and trafficking.

PhotoVoice partnered with the National Working Group network for Sexually Exploited Children and Young People, to run participatory photography projects across the UK. All contributing projects ran in partnership with specialist support providers who work directly with young people who have experienced sexual exploitation or who have been identified to be at risk.

Below are the young people’s digital stories. Their images and text reflect their thoughts, perspectives and experiences of sexual exploitation.

If you would like more information or would like to book the Having Our Say 3 training please email info@photovoice.org

To download the digital stories please visit our Vimeo Page and click the digital story you want to download. You will see a download button beneath the video.

This is a resource for service providers and professionals to deliver services and workshops that are directly informed by the experiences and perspectives of young people themselves. 

The activities have been created in response to the work made by the young people during the workshops, ensuring that input from the participants directly supports other young people across the UK to understand the issues and context of sexual exploitation, furthering their capacity to safeguard themselves. 

The resource draws upon current policy and government recommendations for the sector, and provides practitioners with a range of activities to ensure that they can establish support and the best possible provision. This includes: 

– awareness-raising preventative activities focusing on future safe guarding with young people 
– intervention based work to support practitioners working directly with affected young people at various stages in their provision 
– information about best practice for reporting concerns about victims or offenders 
– ideas for wider public awareness campaigns. 

This is based on Local Safeguarding Children’s Board mandatory provision, as well as drawing upon research of best practice from Youth, Education and Violence Against Women and Girls services.

To get a copy of the resource please fill out the form at the bottom of the page. 

Some of the activities require the use of images drawn from a variety of sources. These can be magazines, books, or downloaded from the internet.

Each participant created their own digital story. Their images and text reflect their thoughts, perspectives and experiences of sexual exploitation.

The Having Our Say 3 resource is free. However, please make a small donation to PhotoVoice to help with the costs of postage and packing. You can do so here.

Thank you for your interest in the HOS3 Resource. Please complete the form below. It will be posted as soon as possible to the address provided.

ADULTS | What to Do If You Are Concerned

If you see behaviour that is of concern, or if a child or young person tells you something, you need to take them seriously, do something about it and speak to someone.

In the first instances you should follow your organisation’s child protection procedures and contact the appropriate person in your organisation:

• As parent you can also contact Parents Against Child Exploitation
• If you work in a school you should have a designated child protection teacher, who you should approach in the first instance.
• If you work in a health organisation there should be a designated nurse/doctor who deals with child protection issues. In the case of an emergency contact the police directly. For more information about child protection you can contact the NSPCC Child Protection helpline on 0808 800 5000

You may also be able to make a referral to a specialist project in your area, to find out what specialist projects might be working with young people affected by sexual exploitation in your area go to www.nwgnetwork.org or contact your Local Safeguarding Children’s Board. 

How CSE Is Defined:
www.nwgnetwork.org/definition-types-of-cse/

Discover the Visible Signs of Sexual Exploitation:
www.nwgnetwork.org/discover-visible-signs-sexual-exploitation/ 

• NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line (CTAIL) 0800 107 7057
• Childline: www.childline.org.uk / 0800 1111
• Brook: www.brook.org.uk / Young People’s Information Service 0800 018 5023

• Barnardo’s
• Blast (working specifically to support boys and young men)
• NWG Network
• NSPCC
• Nia project
• Women’s Aid
• NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line (CTAIL) 0800 107 7057
• Childline / 0800 1111
• Brook / Young People’s Information Service 0800 018 5023

• ThinkUKnow – Guide to internet safety and safe surfing for young people
• The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)
• Parents Against Child Exploitation
• Missing People
• The Children’s Society
• ECPAT UK
• International Centre for the study of Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Young People
• Crimestoppers
• Internet Watch Foundation

PhotoVoice and the National Working Group network for Sexually Exploited Children have developed a new resource for professionals and service providers working with young people affected by, or at risk of, sexual exploitation. 

As part of PhotoVoice’s ‘Having Our Say 3’ project, training opportunities are available for staff across the UK on how to best use this resource. 

The resource has been developed through direct engagement with young people, and draws upon up-to-date policy from government recommendations for the sector. It provides practitioners with a range of activities to ensure they can provide the best possible provision, which includes:

• Awareness-raising preventative activities focusing on future safe-guarding with young people
• Intervention-based work to support practitioners working directly with affected young people at various stages of their provision
• Information about best practice for reporting concerns about victims or offenders
• Ideas for wider public awareness campaigns.

It incorporates Local Safeguarding Children’s Board mandatory provision, as well as drawing upon research of best practice from Youth, Education and Violence Against Women and Girls services.

The training includes practical activities, support for running group sessions with young people and tips for using creativity within your practice. It is open to all practitioners of all experiences.  

Training can also be provided at your location for the same rate, plus travel costs. Minimum 8 people, maximum 18 people.