The Lighthouse is a multi-agency service for children and young people who have experienced sexual abuse. It offers a child-centred approach, providing guidance and support to help children and young people recover. It is the first service of its kind in the UK and has been funded as a national proof of concept of the Child House model based on the international ‘Barnahus’ model.

As part of a wider evaluation of the Lighthouse being undertaken by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), we were commissioned to elicit children and young people’s perspectives on the service to ascertain what they think works well and what could be improved.

This work was conducted in Spring/Summer 2021. It comprised two key phases of work:

1. Individual interviews with children and young people who have received or were receiving a service from the Lighthouse
2. Sharing the findings of phase one with other young people who have not been involved with the Lighthouse to elicit their views on the approach.

The findings from this piece of work will feed into the wider MOPAC evaluation.

Outputs

‘There’s something there for everyone’ Learning about the Lighthouse: Young people’s perspectives on London’s Child House Report [PDF]

For further information on the project, please contact Dr Helen Beckett at helen.beckett@beds.ac.uk or Claire Soares at claire.soares@beds.ac.uk