How to Build Connection with Young People and Online Safety

As part of our sessions with Human Focus Films, we explored how trust, curiosity, and safe spaces help young people speak openly about their online experiences and stay safe.

In this clip, our Project Lead, Faysal Curry, explains why safeguarding begins with listening, not lecturing. Working in digital spaces, he speaks the same language as young people, which helps remove the barriers they often feel when talking to adults or professionals. Instead of making assumptions, he lets them describe their own online experiences, relationships, and environments.

Faysal discusses how many young people are already overwhelmed by authority figures in their lives and why creating a safe, curious space matters. For Faysal, disclosures don’t come from direct questioning, but from trust, safety, and from allowing young people to tell their stories on their own terms. Listening is not optional, it’s the foundation of effective safeguarding.