The Blast Project

• Male-only project supports boys and young men across Leeds, Bradford and Calderdale who have been, are being or are at risk of being sexually exploited
• Blast also trains frontline professionals across England to recognise sexual exploitation of boys and young men, often overlooked by mainstream services
• And through group work in schools, it helps boys spot the signs of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and stay safe

ACTION

Boys and young men are largely overlooked by CSE services and potential referrers, despite growing awareness of CSE and the fact that they're likely to make up around one third of victims, according to 2014 NatCen and University College London research.

The Blast Project was started in 2003 by sexual health organisation Yorkshire MESMAC, to support young men in Bradford involved in sex work. Blast initially stood for "Bradford Lads and the Sex Trade", but this was swiftly dropped as it evolved into a CSE service. "We were getting lots of under-18s referred, who were involved with paedophiles and older men, and sometimes, older women," recalls project co-ordinator, Phil Mitchell. "Then people realised they were child sex abuse victims, not sex workers."

Mitchell and three part-time workers currently provide one-to-one support to 43 boys and young men in Leeds and Bradford, mostly young teenagers, funded mainly by Comic Relief and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and, from next month, by Children in Need. A council-funded full-time Blast worker also supports young men in Calderdale. Clients are CSE victims or deemed at risk, referred mainly by children's services, teachers or parents.

Team members discuss what work they could do with the boy to reduce his risk, such as finding ways of reducing the frequency of him going missing. If he's already a CSE victim, they discuss how they can help him deal with the consequences. The Blast worker requests a meeting with him, sometimes with the referrer, focussing initially on relationship building, through an ice-breaking subject of interest or activity. "In the first session, we'll rarely mention sexual exploitation, as they're likely to say: ‘I'm not at risk, everything's fine," explains Mitchell.

"Our job is to establish the barriers to working with us and how we can get through them."

Mitchell describes Blast's one-to-one work as "facilitative and educational", using resources developed by the team to reduce boys, risk, by helping them think differently and make positive choices. These include games, DVDs, or possibly introducing him to a peer who has been through similar experiences. "It's all about evidence," Mitchell explains. "A 14-year-old with a 25-year-old girlfriend might ask: ‘she's fit, we use condoms, what's the problem?, So we'll Google articles about women grooming young boys and what the outcome has been."

Blast's support usually lasts around a year, ending after a sustained reduction in risk factors such as missing episodes. Boys already entrenched in sexually-exploitative situations may need longer-term support, with Blast workers staying with them at key points in their journey out of exploitation, sometimes as the only organisation fighting their corner. Mitchell cites the example of a boy he's been working with for five years. He was 13 when Blast started working with him and the victim of ongoing grooming and abuse by at least 15 men, some now jailed. "When he made his disclosure, we were there," Mitchell recalls. "When he was in court giving evidence, we were there. When he argued with his parents, we were there. When police were having a go at him, when his social worker wasn't there, we were."

Mitchell says boys can be failed by potential referrers, who tend to recognise CSE much more quickly and easily among girls, finding it harder to see boys as victims. So Blast trains professionals across England to identify male CSE victims, without being swayed by gender. Mitchell typically delivers a day's training to professionals including social workers, police and teachers, sometimes in multi-agency groups. "When these professionals talk about a boy who's the same age as a girl and displaying exactly the same warning signs, they often have a very different response to him," he explains. "We ask why they're not considering CSE when it comes to the boy. Then there's an awkward silence. We say the only thing different is the gender and if you're going to let that affect your professional decision-making, that's gender inequality: the girl is getting a service but the boy isn,t, despite both being in the same situation."

Blast has provided one-to-one support to almost 500 boys since 2003, trained around 7,000 professionals and delivered group work to around 16,000 young people in schools and youth centres, helping them spot CSE signs and stay safe.

IMPACT

Excellence for Boys, a two-year Department for Education-funded project from April 2013, involving Blast working with a CSE service and partners in 20 English council areas to develop more proactive, male-friendly services, led to the number of boys offered support across these areas increasing from 91 to 249.

Of 135 improvements outlined in 20 action plans, such as increasing the male-friendliness of publicity and premises, 71 per cent had been implemented by the end of the project, according to the evaluation report due for publication this autumn. Of 560 professionals attending training, 90 per cent said it left them better equipped to work with boys and young men, with 95 per cent stating they would no longer be influenced by gender when assessing risk.

Of 504 boys and young men attending awareness training, 95 per cent said they would now be able to spot the signs of CSE and make different choices to stay safe.

This practice example is part of CYP Now's special report on child sexual abuse and exploitation. Click here for more