Exploitation is a form of child abuse and a major child protection issue across the UK; it robs children of their childhood and their future. Together, we can give it back to them.
Exploitation occurs when an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to control, manipulate or deceive a young person into taking part in sexual activity. Find out more about sexual abuse and exploitation here.
Trauma Informed Growth and Empowered Recovery (TIGER)
TIGER focuses on improving mental health by supporting children to recover from their trauma. Children who have experienced exploitation and abuse are often made to feel powerless, or like it's their fault.
We want to do more to empower children, teach them skills to aid their own recovery and coach them to create their own long-term change.
The TIGER approach has been designed to support children and young people to understand and express their experiences. Our Key Workers are specially trained in working with young people who have experienced trauma and helping the young person to find their own solutions. Sessions are based around individual goals the young person wants to achieve and uses a combination of the following to ensure each child has the support they need to meet their unique needs:
- Highly intensive one-to-one sessions that focus on trauma recovery - we work therapeutically with young people to help them resolve the trauma they have experienced.
- Supporting victims in court, so that they can stand strong and prosecute their abusers.
- Coaching - Children who have been sexually exploited or abused feel powerless. We want to do more to empower children, by coaching them to create their own long-term change.
- Delivering harm prevention workshops aimed specifically at children around 'protecting self' and 'respecting self'.
- Training professionals who have frontline contact with young people to better identify and support children at risk of sexual exploitation.
Key Workers help young people cope with the often traumatic experiences they have gone through, and stay safe. Here Key Worker Michaela recalls the impact child abuse is having on the children and families she works with:
The children I work with are already vulnerable, where for a lot of them they feel unsafe and/or unhappy. I have already seen an increase in safeguarding incidents and this situation is having a huge impact on emotional health and wellbeing for these children who are already traumatised.
Michaela
TIGER Key Worker
To find out more about our TIGER service, read about Katie's average day working to support children and young people who have experienced exploitation and abuse.
Your generosity can ensure that children and young people across the country who need it most are supported during a traumatic period of their lives.