“Young people are less likely than adults to recognise when they are in abusive or coercive relationships.”

 

They are also less likely to seek out support services.

The traditional language and conversation around domestic abuse has limited relevance to young relationships. This can have an isolating effect, preventing young people from coming forward.

Working with Safe Lives, we have worked with 500 young people around the UK to surface insight and stories around abuse in teen relationships. This included disabled teens and those with mental health challenges.

That consultation showed how hard it was for teens to know where to draw the line between healthy and abusive behaviours.

This insight, coupled with the brave stories shared by young people, has formed the basis of a new interactive online platform called Draw The Line – which will be launched this month.

Teenagers will be invited to read real life relationship stories and draw a line with their finger through the parts of the stories that they feel show harmful behaviours.

They can then compare their interaction with other teens and professionals, with information about why the line is there and how to get support.