Child sexual exploitation and mental health – An evaluation on St Christopher’s Services

by Dr Nikki Luke, with Prof Judy Sebba, Dr Alun Rees and Di McNeish

This report presents an overview of eight projects in the Innovation Programme that focused specifically on groups of young people who were experiencing or at risk of experiencing child sexual exploitation (CSE) or mental health issues. The projects took differing approaches to support young people with complex needs, including testing residential facilities as an alternative to secure accommodation or mental health inpatient settings, working with family members and specialist foster carers to increase their understanding of CSE and their ability to manage risks, developing a new service model based on building supportive relationships, a bespoke outreach service, and out-of-hours support for families that included access to psychiatric and psychological services. It is underpinned by a social pedagogic approach.