People Networks

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A network of trusted adults or older teenagers is a group people we can go to when feeling unsafe, confused or something is just not right. Teaching what a network of trusted adults is will allow us to recognise the people in our lives who we can trust and feel safe with. These people could be friends, family members, neighbours, teachers, coaches, or friend’s parents. Trusted persons can be different for each of us. The activity of identifying a network of trusted adults can help assure we are supported and are part of a connected community. Feelings of belonging and being cared for enables wellbeing and to participate enthusiastically in our lives.

It is important to have at least five people on a safety network in case someone is not available, doesn’t believe or cannot assist. If a safety network is identified and planned, it can be easier to persist and find help. It is important to check the age of their trusted adult. Rule of thumb is a trusted person should be old enough to have a car licence.

Learning to figure out who is in our safety network will help us to understand who we can talk to and get help from. We need to understand sometimes we might not be able to get a person to understand what is happening if this happens, we should tell someone else and keep telling until we feel safe again and early warning signs have gone.

Some people can feel alone when they feel unsafe. It is important to know we are not alone and there are people who want to help, such as teachers, school social workers and police.

Remember ‘we all have a right to feel safe all the time’ and ‘we can talk to someone about anything’.

Know

The significance of having a network of safe and trusted people. Determine relationships and connections within their safety network. Actions they can take to communicate when feeling unsafe. Develop skills for using a safety network including persistence, assertiveness and decision making.

Understand

The qualities and characteristics of a trusted person. Who to put on safety network. Why they have chosen to seek help from a trusted person on their network. They may need to be persistent and ask several different people before they feel safe.

Identify and list 5 trusted people - family, school and in their community. Describe actions to use when reporting unsafe situations.

Key Point

It is important to have at least five people on a safety network in case someone is not available, doesn’t believe or cannot assist.

Slide 01

Ally, with Mum has written a list of people Ally can talk to when Ally’s parents aren’t around.

Slide 02

Such as the teacher at school, Ally’s sport coach, grandparents. Remind students – ‘we can talk with someone about anything’

Extend and discuss

If someone breaks the rules even if they stop it is important to tell a trusted adult, it’s never too late to tell what happened. Remember ‘we can talk to someone about anything’.

Slide 03

Ally has written their phone numbers on the list.

Extend and discuss

For younger students - Some students may not know their parent’s names or home addresses. Ask students if they know the names of the adults they live with. Ask who knows their home address?

Slide 04

Ally knows Mum’s mobile number and their home address.

slide 05

Ally can tell trusted people this information if Ally fells unsafe.

explore

if Ally is in an emergency, this information is also important if Ally need to phone 000.

activity

Who are some of the people on Ally’s list of trusted people....?

Extend and discuss

Pose the following - Ally at the start of the story tells us how we have relationships from the time we are born, and our first relationships are with our parents, siblings, and other family members, who care for and protected us. As we grew older, this network of trusted people may have included neighbours or carers from day care. When we started school, we met more people and made relationships. This increasing the number of adults whose roles are to keep us safe. Now we are older who could we choose to be part of our safety network?

Create and shared meaning - Network people should be adults or older teenagers we see or talk to regularly people we trust and who will listen to us because they care about us. Network people need to be people who can make decisions and act. Discuss the characteristics of people who can be on our safety network. Revise the term ‘trust’ and its meaning - trust is when you believe another person will act in a fair and ok way).

It is important to tell a trusted adult about situations which make us feel unsafe and we experience harm. Telling something personal about feeling unsafe takes courage, so if you don’t get a helpful response with the first person even though it may be difficult to persevere/ keep trying. Worrying about something (remember how our thoughts can be hurt) may make you feel anxious and stressed. Sharing what is happening may help to remove these feelings. If we need help because we are feeling unsafe, who can we talk to?

Extend and discuss

We should seek help when:
- Have tried strategies to exit a situation and they haven’t worked
- Have notices signs in our environment and cues in our bodies that we are not safe.
- Feel unsafe and don’t know what to do
- Don’t feel in control of the situation anymore
- Need advice about handling a problem
- Know/suspect someone is breaking the law
- Have experienced abuse or harassment
- Want the situation to stop
- Need assistance with strategies to address their problem.
- Don’t want the unsafe situation to happen again to them or somebody else – even if the risk to their safety or abuse happened a long time ago
- Want or need an adult to intervene on their behalf.
- If someone is feeling unsafe or has been unsafe in the past, it is important an adult knows about this. It might be so they can stop the unsafe situation happening again or that it doesn’t happen to someone else. Having an adult stand up for a young person and them to be safe can remove some of the stress and anxiety which may have built up.
- Adults are responsible for keeping children and young people safe. (Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum)

Section 07 | 01 Lessons

In this topic

Key Point

Networks | Lesson 01

People

Slide 01

Ally, with Mum has written a list of people Ally can talk to when Ally’s parents aren’t around.

Slide 02

Such as the teacher at school, Ally’s sport coach, grandparents. Remind students – ‘we can talk with someone about anything’

Extend and discuss

If someone breaks the rules even if they stop it is important to tell a trusted adult, it’s never too late to tell what happened. Remember ‘we can talk to someone about anything’.

Slide 03

Ally has written their phone numbers on the list.

Extend and discuss

For younger students - Some students may not know their parent’s names or home addresses. Ask students if they know the names of the adults they live with. Ask who knows their home address?

Slide 04

Ally knows Mum’s mobile number and their home address.

slide 05

Ally can tell trusted people this information if Ally fells unsafe.

explore

if Ally is in an emergency, this information is also important if Ally need to phone 000.

activity

Who are some of the people on Ally’s list of trusted people....?

Extend and discuss

Extend and discuss

Section 07 | 01 Lessons

People NETWORKS

In this topic

Key Point

Networks | Lesson 01

People

Slide 01

Ally, with Mum has written a list of people Ally can talk to when Ally’s parents aren’t around.

Slide 02

Such as the teacher at school, Ally’s sport coach, grandparents. Remind students – ‘we can talk with someone about anything’

Extend and discuss

If someone breaks the rules even if they stop it is important to tell a trusted adult, it’s never too late to tell what happened. Remember ‘we can talk to someone about anything’.

Slide 03

Ally has written their phone numbers on the list.

Extend and discuss

For younger students - Some students may not know their parent’s names or home addresses. Ask students if they know the names of the adults they live with. Ask who knows their home address?

Slide 04

Ally knows Mum’s mobile number and their home address.

slide 05

Ally can tell trusted people this information if Ally fells unsafe.

explore

if Ally is in an emergency, this information is also important if Ally need to phone 000.

activity

Who are some of the people on Ally’s list of trusted people....?

Extend and discuss

Extend and discuss

In an emergency

Call 000

Stay focused, stay relevant, stay on the line

If you answered YES call Triple Zero (000). Triple Zero calls are free.

If you answered YES call Triple Zero (000).
Triple Zero calls are free.