Youth voice influencing change
At Safer London, we create opportunities for young Londoners to have real influence over the decisions, services and systems that shape their lives.
We connect young people directly with the people who hold power - from local councils and regional forums to national decision‑makers, researchers and professionals who work with children and young people.
Many of the young people involved have lived through harm, including exploitation, violence or other traumatic experiences. These are not the young people who usually put themselves forward for panels or advisory groups - many feel that participation spaces aren’t “for them”, that their voices don’t belong in rooms where decisions are made.
We remove barriers, build trust and create supported pathways into these spaces. Young people can share their insights in ways that feel safe and right for them, whether that’s speaking at a meeting or conference, contributing to a project, or influencing a discussion.
How young people have shared their voices directly with decision‑makers, professionals and services across London and beyond.
London Assembly Policing Neighbourhoods Report
The voices of the Safer London VIPs directly shaped a London Assembly report exploring young Londoners’ experiences of neighbourhood policing.
Their ideas, reflections and lived experiences were shared with Assembly members during an evidence gathering session, informing the report’s findings and recommendations.
Alongside the VIPs, our Director of Practice Carly Adams Elias, who leads our youth voice, participation and influence work, contributed insight drawn from our work with young Londoners. Her input helped make sure the realities faced by the children and young people we support were accurately represented in the report.
Together, Carly and the VIPs brought young people’s experiences directly into conversations with decision makers - demonstrating the important role young people’s insights experiences and opinions play in strengthening policy and shaping system change across London.
Children’s Commissioner's Research to inform the Child Poverty Strategy
The voices of the Safer London VIPs directly shaped national work on child poverty, contributing to research undertaken by the Children’s Commissioner’s office to inform the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy.
They shared their experiences and opinions during a research session, helping to inform the recommendations that will guide government action to tackle child poverty across the UK.
They were invited to Parliament for the launch of the report’s findings, where they met the Children’s Commissioner and connected with other young people who contributed to the project
Contexts of Contextual Safeguarding conference
At the Contexts of Contextual Safeguarding conference - co‑hosted by Durham University and the Association of Child Protection Professionals - Chanelle, one of our Young Researcherss, delivered a workshop alongside Carly Adams Elias, who leads our youth voice, participation and influence work.
Together, they presented early findings from a project the wider group of Young Researchers. Their session introduced practitioners to emerging ideas around applying a love ethic in work involving with young people who have experienced harm. The workshop encouraged attendees to reflect on how care, connection and relational warmth can shape more meaningful engagement with young people.
Interest in the session far exceeded expectations, with around 80 professionals attending - a clear indication that the sector is ready to rethink traditional approaches and explore new ways of working. By sharing the research findings, Chanelle and the young researchers influenced how professionals can consider their relationships with young people, offering concepts they could take away and develop within their own work.
Joint Targeted Area Inspections (JTAI) on serious youth violence
Who Cares? was a consultation carried out by Safer London in which children and parents affected by serious youth violence shared their experiences of multi‑agency support and what they needed from services.
Their participation informed findings and recommendations used by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission, HMICFRS and HM Inspectorate of Probation as part of the Joint Targeted Area Inspections (JTAI) on serious youth violence.
The Young Researchers designed the research approach, developing how we would listen to and work with those who participated. This participatory design helped keep the focus on what mattered most to children and parents.
Families who took part lived in areas across England and spoke about their experiences of social care, policing, education, health and wider multi‑agency responses. Their contributions fed directly into the inspectorates’ analysis and shaped the recommendations published alongside the JTAI report.
By taking part in the consultation, children and parents influenced national understanding and practice, helping services better respond to those affected by serious youth violence.
Engaging young people who've already experienced harm event
We create spaces where the children and young people we work with can play a central role in shaping how professionals think about, design and deliver meaningful participation.
Young people’s lived experience, perspectives and leadership formed the heart of Engaging Young People with Lived Experience of Harm in Participation - an event that explored what meaningful, safe and accessible participation truly looks like in practice. Many traditional participation models unintentionally exclude the young people most affected by harm. Our aim through this event was to reframe participation as something built with young people, not for them.
The Safer London VIPs were central to the planning and delivery of this event. They facilitated table activities with professionals and took part in a powerful panel conversation about what safe and meaningful participation feels like from their perspective.
The event brought together professionals from the third sector, heath, youth work and statutory services, alongside the London Violence Reduction Unit’s participation team and Young People’s Action Group, as well as colleagues from across Safer London.
Together, we explored how to create safe, non‑tokenistic and accessible participation spaces - especially for children and young people who have experienced harm through violence or exploitation.
The VIPs honesty, confidence and energy encouraged deep reflection in the room - challenging participants to think differently about how participation often works and how it needs to change. With over 50 professionals in the room, the VIPs held the space with maturity, warmth and authority. By sharing their experiences, they showed how participation can become a platform for healing, agency and influence rather than an add‑on or a token gesture.
Time to Listen campaign
Our Time to Listen campaign was shaped in direct collaboration with a group of young Londoners who access our services. Their perspectives, experiences and contributions guided the direction of the work from the very beginning, making sure the campaign reflected how young people see themselves - not how they are often portrayed.
During a development workshop, young people spoke about how they feel they are perceived compared to how they understand their own identities, strengths and experiences. Together, they developed the themes and ideas at the heart of Time to Listen - challenging negative narratives and encouraging adults, professionals and wider society to truly hear what young people are saying.
Young people were also closely involved in the creation of the campaign film. They informed the script, supported the filming days, recorded lines and appeared at the end of the film, helping bring the messaging to life in a way that was authentic.
Beyond the film, young people took part in other elements of the campaign - including an event. Their involvement across different stages made sure that the campaign wasn't only inspired by young people - but built with them.
At its core, Time to Listen is about creating the space for young people to speak for themselves and inviting others to pause, reflect and understand their experiences with greater openness and respect. It challenges narratives rooted in assumption or stereotype and centres the reality of young people’s lives, -in their own words.
By bringing lived experience into conversations young people help shift how professionals, services and systems understand harm and respond to it. Their insight doesn’t just make our work better - it helps drive change that reaches young people across London, including those we may never meet directly.
Youth influence at Safer London is about opening doors that were never built with these young people in mind - and making sure they’re heard when it matters most.