POWER 9-12 years

Introduction to POWER

The following document will give you all the information you need to understand the purpose of this resource in supporting young people with their recovery from Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse (TACSA) and will offer guidance in using the resource in your direct work. 

Introduction to POWER resource 9-12

You will find below, along with the full resource, sessions and information for each stage of POWER and guidance on the content of each session.

You will begin your journey with the opening and foundation sessions which are mandatory before choosing from the pick n mix targeted sessions that give you flexibility of choice, ensuring that the needs of each individual young person you work directly with are met. Before finally working together through the closing session. 

Contents & Looking After Yourself Session

Contents of POWER

This document will provide you with a full list of all of the sessions available to you in the POWER resource along with a brief description of each session. 

Contents POWER 9-12

Looking After Yourself sessions

These self-care activities form a set of exercises or ideas that can be shared with young people to give them a range of tools, which will help them manage different difficult situations. The activities can be revisited time and again and with repetition will become even more effective.

At the end of each session a “looking after yourself” exercise will have been selected and will be worked through together. This will allow the young person to not only build up a range of tools to look after themselves but will give them the opportunity to ‘de-brief’ from each session, leaving with a positive strategy for self-care.

The 5-4-3-2-1- technique

Extended exhale breathing

Writing it down - journaling

The AWARE technique

A positive spin

Thoughts are like buses

Sleep hygiene

The worryspace

Move more

Mindfulness

Relaxing your body - Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)

A hero's journey

Three chairs of perspective

Opening & Foundation Sessions

Here you can download the sessions that begin your journey through POWER. 

Opening session

This session is beginning the process of building trust, rapport and a connection between the young person and practitioner to support their recovery. This will be the opportunity to discuss expectations and give clarity on what is to come.

Getting to know each other

Foundation sessions

There are three mandatory sessions that will be relevant to the young person regardless of their experience. These are completed before moving onto the next stage of the resource.

Relationships
This session is to set out what good and healthy relationships look like and how to behave and treat each other in ways that feel safe and respectful.

Dealing with change
This session is to explore the different things that may change in life – good and bad, expected or unexpected – how you can predict and prepare for some changes and how you can manage changes.

Managing and understanding emotions
This session is to help the young person understand how emotions are triggered and what effect they have on the mind and the body. The aim is to widen understanding of emotions beyond simple angry/sad/happy etc and to have greater awareness of how to manage their own emotions.

'Pick N Mix' Targeted Sessions

This stage is where practitioner and the young person will choose at least 3 sessions from a broad range of different topics that explore supporting the young person in their recovery from Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse (TACSA). 

Okay and not-okay behaviours in friendships and other relationships
This session looks at behaviours that are okay and not-okay in relationships, and how we might respond to them. We will look at different situations and think about when we are being forced to something that we don’t want to do (which is sometimes called coercion).

Feeling safe
This session allows the young person to explore what feeling safe looks like in their life, and what and who offers them the feeling of safety. This will allow discussion around safe places and people.

Telling people what I need
This session gives the young person opportunity to explore how they can tell certain people in their life what support they need without having to find the words to vocalise it. It will also provide families and other trusted adults with ways to interact with the young person in a way that is helpful and supportive to them.

Feeling like it’s my fault
This session gives the young person opportunity to consider scenarios where we may blame ourselves or feel as though others blame us, but where we need to look at the context of a situation in order to see that it wasn’t the victim’s fault.

Managing upsetting thoughts
This session is an opportunity to explore managing unhelpful or upsetting thoughts.

Building strengths
This session allows the young person to explore the positive things in their life and their strengths. Reflecting on our strengths helps in our recovery.

Giving and receiving permission (consent)
This session will explore the issue of young people giving and receiving permission and empowering them to find ways to do only what they feel comfortable with.

Talking to people online: grooming
This session will allow the young person to explore how some people build connections to us online and then use them to get us to do things we might not want to, or that we feel uncomfortable doing.

Picture received with pressure to then send one back
This is an opportunity to explore thoughts, feelings and responses when someone receives a picture they didn’t ask for, or want, and is then pressured to send one back.

Image taken and shared with permission/consent then shared on without permission/consent
This is an opportunity to explore thoughts, feelings and responses when someone you trusted shares a picture with other people after tricking you into believing you were in a relationship.

Closing session

What makes us us?

All sessions have been designed to support recovery, teach skills and open up discussion. This mandatory closing session is about bringing it all together and reassuring the young person that they are able to move forwards

Full POWER resource

Although POWER is available to download in the above sections you have the option here to download the resource in its entirety. 

Full POWER resource 9-12