See Beyond
A Professional’s Toolkit supporting Young Women in Custody
The way someone presents in custody doesn't tell the full story.
Across the UK, hundreds of young women are being exploited into situations that lead to their arrests. They need empathy, understanding and support, not judgement and punishment
Many of these girls and young women, often seen as offenders, are victims of deeper injustices, including exploitation and abuse. It's time to see beyond the surface and understand their true experiences.
That’s why we’ve created See Beyond - a toolkit designed to help criminal justice professionals and practitioners look deeper.
By exercising your professional curiosity and asking the right questions, you can protect a young woman from further harm. With the right support they can break free from the cycles of exploitation and victimisation.
The See Beyond toolkit includes with guidance, resources and real-life insights to help you ask the right questions, exercise professional curiosity, and ultimately protect young women from future harm.
Custody suite resources for girls and young women
As part of See Beyond, a number of resources were developed for young women in custody suites. You can find these below or linked within the toolkit.
It is up to professionals to identify whether young women may need these resources and to provide them as appropriate.
Healthy Relationships and Exploitation
Factsheets
- Factsheet: English
- Factsheet: Polish
- Factsheet: Romanian
- Factsheet: Albanian
- Factsheet: French
- Factsheet: Bengali
Comic Stips
- Comic Strip: Polish
- Comic Strip: Romanian
- Comic Strip: Bengali
- Comic Strip: French
- Comic Strip: Albanian
- Comic Strip: English
Animations
You can find alternative language version of this video on our YouTube
Understanding Rights
Factsheets
- Factsheet: English
- Factsheet: Polish
- Factsheet: Romanian
- Factsheet: Albanian
- Factsheet: French
- Factsheet: Bengali
Comic Stips
- Comic Strip: Polish
- Comic Strip: Romanian
- Comic Strip: Bengali
- Comic Strip: French
- Comic Strip: Albanian
- Comic Strip: English
Animations
How we can help
We advise you take the time to read and digest the full guide. If you feel you need additional support and guidance we can offer training and consultancy for a fee. Please contact bd@saferlondon.org.uk if you want to discuss in further detail.
About this guide
See Beyond is a free open resource which we encourage you to use. However, we ask that you please respectfully credit Safer London when using this material.
This guide was made possible with support from the Barrow Cadbury Trust.