Getting help to overcome abuse

A quick guide for young people receiving support

February 2018

The NICE guideline on child abuse and neglect aims to help anyone whose work brings them into contact with children and young people to spot signs of abuse and neglect and to know how to respond. This quick guide, which is written from the perspective of young people who have experienced abuse and neglect, is based on the guideline and explains to young people what they should expect from services.

The guide covers:

• Recognising abuse and neglect
• Changes in feelings and behaviour:
• Key recommendations from the guideline
• A young person’s account of abuse
• Advice on getting help

Written by young people for young people

This guide has been written by young people who have all experienced abuse or neglect. 15 young people from around the country were supported by AVA to help develop the NlCE guideline on child abuse and neglect. They did this by talking about their experiences of seeking help and support, including sharing the challenges they faced as well as what worked well.

When the guideline was finished, they wanted to write a quick guide to help other young people find out what support they are entitled to. Two groups of young people worked with AVA again to design this guide, including agreeing which messages from the NICE guideline were most important to highlight.

They hope it will help others in similar situations get the help and support they need and deserve, and urge practitioners to share it with the young people they meet.

Download the A5 booklet

The downloadable version of the guide is designed to fold into an A5 booklet. To print and create the booklet:

1. Select ‘double-sided - flip on the long edge’ on your printer’s settings menu.
    
2. Print off both A4 pages and fold them in half so that:
   • pages 2 and 7 are on the inside and pages 1 and 8 are on the outside
   • pages 4 and 5 are on the inside and 3 and 6 are on the outside.
3. Put pages 3, 4, 5 and 6 inside pages 1, 2, 7 and 8 so that the page numbers are in the right order.