Building Confidence, Awareness and the Skills to Stay Safe
Today at Waymakers, young people explored something that matters to all of us: personal safety.
We welcomed Julie Gabriel from Cambridge Academy of Martial Arts for a special Personal Safety Deep Dive to explore what it means to feel confident, recognise boundaries and navigate situations where our safety might be at risk.
The session came about in response to interests that parents had shared with us. We know that children and young people are increasingly keen to develop practical skills that help them feel more confident and capable in the world around them.
And that’s exactly what we wanted to create space for.
Safety starts with knowing our boundaries
Personal safety isn’t simply about knowing what to do if something goes wrong. It’s also about understanding our own boundaries, recognising when something doesn’t feel right and feeling able to communicate that.
Participants explored the importance of personal boundaries and confidence, alongside situational awareness: noticing what’s happening around us, recognising potential risks and thinking about how we might respond.
An important part of staying safe is understanding that we have choices. We can pause, move away, seek help, communicate clearly and make decisions that prioritise our wellbeing.
Practical skills and real-world confidence
With Julie’s experience and expertise, the session also introduced practical elements of personal safety, including de-escalation, how we hold ourselves can make us appear more or less vulnerable, safe movement and basic breakaway techniques.
These skills aren’t about encouraging confrontation or teaching children to fight. Quite the opposite. The emphasis is on recognising situations, avoiding unnecessary escalation and having some practical strategies available if a situation becomes uncomfortable or threatening.
Having the opportunity to practise physical skills in a supported environment can also help build confidence. Knowing that we have options can make a real difference to how capable and prepared we feel.
More than self-defence
For us, the bigger picture is important too.
We want young people to grow up feeling that their voices matter, that their boundaries deserve respect and that they are entitled to feel safe.
We also want them to understand that personal safety isn’t solely their responsibility. Adults, communities and the wider world all have a part to play in creating environments where children and young people are respected and protected.
Giving young people practical tools is valuable, but it should never become a message that they are to blame if someone else chooses to behave inappropriately.
Creating opportunities to explore real-life interests
At Waymakers, we’re keen to respond to the interests and ideas of the young people and families in our community. These Deep Dives give us an opportunity to explore subjects that might sit outside our regular core groups and create focused experiences around things young people genuinely want to learn about.
Today’s session was a great example of that approach: taking an important life skill, bringing in specialist expertise and creating an opportunity for young people to develop their confidence in a supportive setting.
Thank you to Julie Gabriel and Cambridge Academy of Martial Arts for sharing their expertise, and to the families whose suggestions helped make this session happen.
We hope everyone left with a few more tools, a little more confidence and the reassurance that their boundaries matter.
“I now have two new safety and emergency plans of what I’d do in certain situations.” Age 11 Participant who helped proofread and fact check this blog post!
