Young Survivors

A service for young people who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence or abuse

What is it?
Confidential, young person-focussed one-to-one counselling and group work

Where?
At Relate centres in York, Harrogate and Selby

For who?
Young people aged 11-25 who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence or abuse

How much?
The service is free

When?
Appointments are available Monday to Thursday 10am - 8:30pm and Saturday 9:30am -12:30pm


Who is the service appropriate for?
The young person must be ready to talk about their situation for the service to be helpful to them.

Contact with the perpetrator of the abuse or violence:
The young person may or may not have contact or be living with the perpetrator of the abuse experienced or witnessed. However, it is important that some change has occurred in the young person’s family or situation so that the young person is no longer exposed to violence.

Young people who are violent themselves:
The service is not appropriate for supporting young people who are perpetrators of violence in their familial or intimate relationships. Please see the list of other services below for alternative services that may be able to help.


Practical issues:

How to make a referral:
To refer a young person to the service, please discuss the referral with the young person. If they agree to being referred, please work with them to complete a Young Survivors Service referral form. This form can be submitted by post or email. When the form is received the young person will be added to the waiting list for a first meeting with a counsellor. As soon as an appointment for a first meeting with a counsellor is available, a Relate appointment secretary will make contact with the young person by the means given on the referral form.

How long will the young person have to wait for a first meeting appointment?
We will work hard to offer young people an appointment as soon as possible. As this is a new service as we do not know what the demand for the service will be, how long young people will want to see a counsellor for, and therefore how long the waiting time will be.

What happens at the first meeting?
At the first meeting, the counsellor will explore with the young person whether the service we can offer is right for them and they are ready to build a relationship with a counsellor. The counsellor will also ensure the young person’s safety needs have been carefully considered.

When will the young person start ongoing counselling?
If the counsellor and young person agree to the young person starting counselling, the young person will then go on the waiting list for a regular appointment time. When an appointment time becomes available, a Relate appointment secretary will contact the young person (as they indicated on the referral form) to offer a regular appointment time.

Young persons and parental consent:
We encourage young people to secure support from their parent(s) or carer(s) when being referred to a Relate service. However, where the young person does not want to involve their parent(s) or carer(s) or this is not possible, we will arrange a first meeting as above. At this first meeting, the counsellor will make an assessment of the young person‘s competency. Based on this assessment and with support from a Senior Relate Supervisor, the counsellor will make a decision as to whether it is safe and appropriate for Relate to add the young person to the waiting list for an ongoing counselling appointment time.

Safety of the young person and their family:
The safety of the young person and their family always comes first. At the first meeting between the young person and the counsellor, the counsellor will discuss any safety measures already in place and the need for any further measures to provide for the young person and their family member’s safety. The young person will also be made aware that at any time if the situation around the young person changes and violence or abuse restarts or starts again in a different way, then the therapeutic work with their counsellor may need to be put on hold whilst their practical and safety needs are prioritised.

Additional needs:
Please tell us if the young person has any additional needs we can support them with. Please be aware Relate’s centres are not accessible to wheelchair users. We will arrange to meet young people in alternative premises according to individuals needs.


More info about the service:

Relate’s counsellors:
The service will be delivered by Relate-trained children and young people’s counsellors. All counsellors have received specialist training about the impact of domestic violence or abuse on young people and supporting young people to recover and cope with its lasting effects.

Groupwork:
When the young person is ready they will be offered the opportunity to join a small group with other young people with similar experiences to work together on building confidence and self esteem, learning relationship skills and breaking the cycle of violence. These small groups will be limited in age range and will be supported by expert facilitators from Relate and IDAS (Independent Domestic Abuse Services).


Other services for young people affected by domestic violence or abuse:

NSPCC DART programme
for children aged 7-11 in primary school and their mothers
Telephone: 0808 800 5000

IDAS young peoples advocacy service
for young people aged 11-18
Telephone: 01904 646630