Time to Listen: Engaging Young People with Lived Experience of Harm

Time to Listen: Engaging Young People with Lived Experience of Harm

This event explores how we can create meaningful, safe and empowering opportunities for participation for children and young people who have already experienced harm and trauma through violence and exploitation.

While many programmes include young people from affected communities, they don’t always reach who have been directly impacted - young people who often feel excluded from traditional engagement spaces or who carry the weight of direct experiences of harm. This event focuses the conversation on the importance of centering the voices of young people who have already experienced harm, making sure they are not just included, but actively shaping the conversation.

What to expect:

• Insights from organisations running participation programmes that successfully engage young people with direct lived experience of violence and exploitation.
• A closing session led by young people themselves, shaped from concept to delivery, where they will share their perspectives, experiences and ideas.

Key questions we’ll explore:

• How do we engage young people with lived experience in ways that are genuinely meaningful?
• How do we listen in ways that feel safe, empowering and non-tokenistic?
• What does effective participation look like for those who have been directly impacted by violence and exploitation?

Confirmed speakers:

• Carly Adams Elias, Director of Practice Safer London
• Nabeela Yousaf, Service Delivery Lead Safer London
• Members of the Safer London VIP participation group