Your Best Friend website
Young people often seek help from each other and online, rather than from traditional services.
Your Best Friend will reach young people from every walk of life, empowering them with the knowledge and confidence to spot abuse in relationships and support their friends.
Young people’s voices and experiences are shaping the solution at every step. Eleven organisations are working with them to solve this problem, from different angles: young people, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, culture and religion and digital impact.
Research shows young people from all walks of life are disproportionately affected by domestic abuse. They see it at home and in their own relationships. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, 14% of women aged 16 to 19 reported experiencing some form of domestic abuse in the last year. This is 40% higher than the next age group (20-24)1.
In a recent project in partnership with On Our Radar, My Story Matters, children and young people don’t identify with the term ‘domestic abuse’, do not always know what is and isn’t acceptable in their relationships, and do want help but do not always feel that services are designed with their needs in mind. The Your Best Friend project aims to address these gaps.
Your Best Friend will:
- Unite young people and experts to combine experiences with know-how
- Use the online world to reach young people wherever they are
- Provide existing support groups and networks with accessible and practical support
By doing this, Your Best Friend aims to give 10,000, and ultimately over 1 million other young people the knowledge, confidence and tools to keep themselves and their friends safe in their intimate relationships. The project also aims to give at least 40 young people’s organisations, groups and networks across England and Wales grants, resources and tools to empower girls and young women, as well as supporting young people who want to step up to peer leadership to do this.
Interesting in learning more about this project?
Visit the Your Best Friend website and sign up for updates.
Contact [email protected].
