Building Confidence and Online Safety Skills

A 17-year-old young person was referred to Young Gloucestershire (YG) by her college due to concerns around her ability to form and maintain healthy friendships and relationships, as well as her behaviour online.

Sophia had additional learning needs and was identified as being vulnerable to unhealthy relationships and risky behaviours. Concerns were raised about her online safety, particularly after she shared an indecent image of herself with an older peer and disclosed private information about others online.

At the start of her journey with YG, the youth worker focused on building trust and forming a positive, consistent relationship with Sophia. Establishing this foundation of trust was key to encouraging engagement and creating a safe space for open conversations.

By the third session, Sophia felt comfortable enough to identify several personal goals she wanted to work towards:

• Staying safe online and understanding privacy and data protection.

• Recognising appropriate and inappropriate behaviours when experiencing strong emotions.

• Identifying positive and negative traits within friendships and relationships.

Sophia took an active role in her sessions, engaging in practical, hands-on learning. Sessions included:

• Completing worksheets and guided discussions around safe online behaviour.

• Creating a “social media paper” to explore what personal information should and shouldn’t be shared.

• Learning how to block, report, and ignore others online.

• Exploring the legal and emotional consequences of sexting, data sharing, and online privacy.

All activities were carefully adapted to meet Sophia’s developmental level and learning needs, ensuring she could fully understand and apply what she was learning to real-life situations.

Over the course of 12 weeks, Sophia showed consistent engagement and a growing sense of confidence. By the end of the support, she was able to clearly reflect on what she had learned and how it had helped her.

Sophia shared that she now felt more:

• Aware of boundaries in both friendships and relationships.

• Confident in staying safe online and making positive choices.

• In control of her actions, understanding the potential impact of online behaviour.

“The support really helped me understand what’s okay and not okay online. I know how to protect myself better and think before I post.” — YP