"If they show up, we show up." Reflections from Safer London's CEO
Every young person deserves to feel safe, heard and supported, and yet for many, that is far from their daily reality. In a context shaped by inequality, reduced youth provision and growing uncertainty about the future, the role of organisations that work alongside young people has never been more important.
In this blog, our CEO reflects on what it takes to truly support young people: from the power of listening and the importance of trust, to the role of hope, safety and systemic change. Together, these insights challenge us to think differently about how we create environments where young people can not only survive, but thrive.
How can services create environments where young people feel seen, listened to and supported?
Listening is absolutely fundamental. Truly listening to someone is a real gift and it’s something many of us don’t do enough. It’s about giving young people the space to speak without interrupting or simply waiting for your turn to respond.
That’s why having trusted adults is so important. Trust is built in many ways, but one of the most powerful is through active, genuine listening. Services should invest in training staff in these skills, ensuring young people feel heard, not just told what to do. Asking thoughtful questions, rather than directing, helps build that sense of being understood.
This matters from the very first interaction. When a young person feels listened to straight away, trust can develop quickly and forms the foundation for meaningful support.
Alongside this, youth participation and leadership programmes are crucial. Organisations working with young people should embed these into their structure, not treat them as optional extras. They need to be well resourced and genuinely influence decision making. In the same way organisations have boards, young people’s voices should be built into governance, ensuring they shape the services designed for them.
Rosemary Watt-Wyness
There are also reasons for hope. Young people are powerful, and when they are supported to have their voices heard, they can shape their own futures in meaningful ways.
Why is hope such an important part of helping young people move forward?
At a basic level, we all need hope to keep going, to keep trying, and to believe that things can change.
Right now, there are many reasons why young people might feel discouraged. Youth unemployment remains high, and for young Londoners in particular, even strong educational outcomes don’t always translate into better job opportunities. At the same time, youth services and spaces have significantly reduced over the past decade, only recently beginning to see renewed investment. All of this can make it harder for young people to feel optimistic about their future.
But there are also reasons for hope. Young people are powerful, and when they are supported to have their voices heard, they can shape their own futures in meaningful ways. Organisations like ours play an important role in helping to create that support and opportunity.
Hope is what helps people put one foot in front of the other. It allows young people to see that there is a future they can build towards, and they don’t have to do it alone. Support from trusted organisations can be a vital part of that journey.
That’s why we talk about helping young people move from harm to hope. We’ve chosen that word deliberately. It can be hard to define, but people know when they feel it and they certainly know when they don’t. Hope is the thing that keeps you going.
For many of the young people we work with, particularly those affected by violence or exploitation, it would be completely understandable to feel hopeless. And yet, time and again, we see young people choosing to engage, to show up, and to keep trying. Often, what they are really looking for is someone to help build that sense of hope with them and that’s exactly what we’re there to do.
Where do you think the sector needs to challenge old ways of thinking?
I think we need to think carefully about our underlying approach, particularly in the context of wider social and economic change. Many of the issues charities are responding to including violence, are rooted in poverty and inequality. We know, for example, that areas with higher levels of poverty and unemployment are more likely to experience higher levels of violence, and that more unequal societies tend to see more of these challenges.
Looking ahead, we may be at the beginning of a significant shift. Advances in technology, particularly AI and automation, could lead to higher levels of unemployment, especially for younger people. If that results in greater inequality, it will have major implications for the young people we support.
That means the sector needs to start thinking more boldly about the future. It’s not just about responding to immediate needs, but about engaging with bigger structural questions around poverty, opportunity and economic security. For example, how do we ensure young people have a voice in debates about things like a minimum income guarantee, if that becomes part of the future landscape?
Ultimately, this could require a much bigger shift in thinking than we’ve seen before – moving beyond service delivery alone to engaging more deeply with the wider systems that shape young people’s lives.
What does "safety" mean to you when it comes to young people and how is that reflected in Safer London's work?
For me, safety has two key dimensions: physical safety and emotional safety.
Physical safety is reflected directly in our work with young people, particularly those in crisis situations. We support them to stabilise what’s happening in their lives and to think practically about their safety including identifying safe people, safe places, and ways to reduce immediate risk. That’s at the core of what we do.
Emotional safety is just as important. This is built through trusted relationships with consistent, reliable adults. A big part of our role is showing up and continuing to show up. Our caseworkers are incredibly committed to that consistency, because it’s vital that young people know that if they turn up, we’ll be there. That reliability helps build trust over time.
Creating emotional safety also means holding a young person’s story with care. It’s about responding without judgement, and with empathy, compassion and a trauma-informed approach. We think about the wider context of a young person’s life, including the environments around them, through a contextual safeguarding lens.
We also recognise that safety looks different for different young people. For example, our work around sexual violence and exploitation supports young people, particularly girls and young women, who have experienced a profound lack of safety. Their needs will have continuities but also differences to the needs of a young person who is criminally exploited.
At a wider level, we can’t ignore that some young people don’t always feel or always experience safety in the systems that are meant to protect them. Young people from Black communities are disproportionately affected by practices like stop and search for example, and recent reviews highlighting disproportionality and discriminatory approaches have reinforced that a lack of safety is a reality. That lack of trust and safety has to be addressed.
That’s why it’s so important that young people have a direct voice with institutions like the police. Us helping in our participation work to create those opportunities for dialogue is essential if we are serious about building environments where all young people feel safe.
I would change economic inequality without hesitation.
If you could change one thing for young people in London tomorrow, what would that be and why?
I would change economic inequality without hesitation.
So many of the challenges young people face stem from it. Access to opportunities, health outcomes, quality housing, and overall life chances are all deeply shaped by levels of poverty and inequality. When those gaps are wider, the barriers young people face become much harder to overcome.
If we could create greater economic equality, it would have a ripple effect across so many areas of young people’s lives. It would open up more opportunities, improve wellbeing, and give young people a stronger sense of stability and control over their futures.
Ultimately, reducing inequality isn’t just about finances it’s about freedom, independence and the ability for young people to make choices about their lives without being limited by their circumstances.
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