Abuse in Young People’s Relationships

Young people spend their lives on their phones; social media, sport, fashion and music often define the behaviours and set expectations as to how young people should act in relationships. What is healthy and what’s not becomes hard to identify and more and more young people are now identifying with and experiencing  coercive and controlling behaviours than they do domestic abuse.  Research shows that young people aged 13-17 are experiencing high levels of abuse in their own relationships and professionals could be better placed to recognise and respond to the signs of coercive, unhealthy and abusive relationships.   This session will seek to explore and equip participants with the skills and knowledge to spot the signs and sign post to support as appropriate.

Aims:

• Understand the definition of coercive control in young people’s relationships
• Develop an understanding of current legislation which protects children and young people
• Gain an introduction to the link between coercive control, trauma and the teenage brain
• Be able to identify signs of coercive control in young people’s relationships and respond to it appropriately
• Increase your knowledge about how to implement a trauma informed response

Facilitator: Judy Ferguson, SWA National Training Coordinator.

Judy Ferguson worked as the Trainer with East Ayrshire Women’s Aid for nearly 10 years, leading on all Domestic Abuse and Gender Based Violence multi agency training within the local Violence Against Women Partnership,  including securing the establishment and roll out of Safe & Together across Children & Families Social Work and the local Health & Social Care Partnership.  As a SafeLives Subject Matter Expert Judy also delivered the Domestic Abuse Matters training programme to Police Scotland supporting the roll out of the ground breaking Domestic Abuse Scotland Act (2018).  After working with SWA in various capacities over the years Judy joined the team at SWA full time as National Training Coordinator in July 2021. Judy has a wealth of experience informing her practice and a burning passion for working to end domestic abuse and violence against women in all its forms.