17/02/2026
Sometimes, a single piece of feedback reminds you why you never gave up.
This message came from a parent who also works with children and families, after completing the STAND – Parents as Protectors course:
“Of all the courses I’ve done as a parent, and in work with children and families, your STAND course will be the one that I remain most grateful for and empowered by. I cannot recommend this course enough.”
STAND was created from listening to adult survivors — understanding how grooming often begins long before a child is ever targeted. The aim has always been simple: early awareness, gentle prevention, and empowering protective adults.
Knowing this work helps even one parent feel more confident, more aware, and more able to protect — makes every step, every mile, and every challenge worthwhile.
Prevention begins with awareness.
And parents are powerful protectors.
For over a decade, I have worked alongside adult survivors of grooming and sexual exploitation. Listening carefully, patterns began to emerge — not only in how children were groomed, but in how parents, families, and even communities were prepared long before a child was ever targeted.
From that learning, I created STAND – Parents as Protectors, a free early-intervention training designed to help parents and caregivers recognise grooming behaviours before harm occurs. Prevention was always the purpose.
I travelled — London, Manchester, Cumbria, Scotland, back to London — delivering this training to charity leaders, council subcommittees, and even the Home Office. The response was almost always the same:
“Excellent. Powerful. Important. Yes — we can see how this contributes to prevention.”
I wasn’t looking for praise - I was seeking support to deliver prevention into communities.
And yet, when asked whether they would recommend it to parents, many hesitated.
“We don’t want to alarm parents.”
“It feels uncomfortable.”
Let’s pause and reflect on that.
What is more alarming —
learning your child has been groomed and harmed,
or learning how to prevent it?
The truth is, the training does not describe abuse. It does not need to.
It is built on early awareness, recognising behavioural patterns, and strengthening protective instincts — so that we never reach the point of harm. That was always the intention.
Sometimes, prevention asks us to sit with uncomfortable feelings. Not to create fear, but to create awareness. And awareness protects.
This is not about blame, culture, or sector. This has happened across the board. Dedicated professionals, often acting from care, sometimes hesitated — perhaps managing their own discomfort, perhaps trying to protect others from difficult feelings.
But discomfort is temporary. Harm can last a lifetime.
Ten years after first presenting to a national children’s charity, it was a former England footballer and a safeguarding barrister who finally stepped forward to listen and support the work.
And I still wonder — how many children might have been protected if we had been willing, collectively, to sit with a little discomfort for the sake of their safety?
One piece of feedback from those early sessions has stayed with me:
“Thank you for your powerful and insightful presentation of STAND. Prevention is the key to stopping the sexual abuse of children, and I can see how this work contributes to that mission.”
“It’s not what we know - it’s what we do with what we know - that counts”
Prevention is not about creating alarm.
It is about creating protection.
