A cartoon has been created to help young people look for the signs of unhealthy relationships.
Cumbria police, working with the NSPCC and Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership, have commissioned the artwork to support the It’s Not OK campaign.
The artwork’s aim is to highlight the differences between positive relationships and those which are unhealthy and the negative effects they can have on a young person.
The signs of an unhealthy relationship include:
- Becoming isolated and spending little time with family or friends.
- Controlling behaviour, such as being told what to wear, always needing to let the person know where they are or what they’re doing or having their social media accounts monitored.
- Feeling pressured or like they have to do things they’re uncomfortable with. This could include being pressured into sex or to send nudes or sexual images.
- Having their money, access to food or day-to-day items controlled.
- Being prevented from working or going to school or college or feeling reluctant to go to school.
- Persistent changes to a child’s mood or behaviour can also be a sign that something’s wrong.
- Being bullied or experiencing sexual bullying, either online, in private or in front of others at home or in school.
Child centred policing Inspector, Gemma Hannah, said: “Sometimes it’s hard to identify behavioural change in young people, there is a lot going on in our daily lives already and these changes can easily be misinterpreted as growing up or being stressed or tired.
“We created this artwork to help raise awareness of the signs of an unhealthy relationship, in a new way, that is accessible to everyone.
“By asking people to engage and really ‘look’ at the artwork, to see what has changed, we hope the different scenes will stick in people’s minds to consider in real life situations.
“We also hope the two scenes will start conversations about healthy relationships, which are vital to aid confidence and understanding in young people.”
Holly Murphy, of the Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership, said: “Understanding healthy and unhealthy relationship dynamics is important, especially when they involve young people. The effects of an unhealthy relationships can be damaging and long lasting.
“By getting people looking and talking, this vibrant and engaging artwork will help us with our work with raising awareness of unhealthy relationships”.
The It’s Not Ok campaign was launched in October and aims to tackle child exploitation in Cumbria.
