As part of my PhD I am carrying out research about confidential services for young survivors of abuse. Lots of services say they are confidential but, if a young person then says too much, the services stop being confidential. 18u is more confidential than most and I want to explore what young people really think about confidentiality. You can decide for yourself if you want to be part of this, or not, and also how much involvement you want. You can do nothing, or just give me your views or you can help me with the whole thing such as thinking of the right questions to ask, how to reach other young people to get their views, helping analyse what people say about it and basically directing me in how to get this right. In my opinion, young people are the experts and I want to make sure that their voices are heard.

The questions I would like to start with and ask young people (and workers and volunteers who can represent young people's views) are;

What are the views of young survivors on confidentiality and what degree of confidentiality do young people want from services, and why?

Does confidentiality, or lack of confidentiality impact on whether young people can talk about abuse?

How confidential should confidential be?

I'd like to just start a conversation about this and welcome any thoughts. If people prefer to talk with me by email rather than on here, that ok too.

There's no need to stick with these questions either, so feel free to just let me know your thoughts on anything to do with confidentiality (or lack of confidentiality). Please don't say anything too personal here though as it is a public message board.

Also, be aware that if you do take part in this research, your identity will be protected and anything that would identify you will be removed from what gets written up. You also have the right to change your mind at any time and withdraw anything you have said.