Tackling violence & exploitation in Wales and the Southwest
We work in partnership with statutory, voluntary and community organisations to deliver early intervention and preventative support for children and young people involved in, or at risk of, violence and exploitation. Our approach aligns with national priorities on safeguarding, prevention and tackling the root causes of harm, ensuring young people are supported before risk escalates and long-term damage occurs.
Our services span schools, community settings and targeted interventions, combining universal prevention with specialist support for children and young people affected by child criminal exploitation, including county lines. Through trauma-informed, relationship-based mentoring, we help young people stay safe, remain engaged in education, and build resilience to coercion, grooming and exploitation contributing to safer communities and improved long-term outcomes.
We provide two projects supporting young people involved in criminal exploitation and county lines. Funded by Children in Need, County Lines in Cymru supports young people aged between 10-18 involved in child criminal exploitation in Cardiff and Vale. Through advocacy and care, our teams ensure the young person’s safety and support them to rebuild their lives. The team work in close partnership with other providers including the police. Funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Serious Organised Crime team in Gwent support young people aged between 10-19 involved in exploitation and county lines in Gwent.
The Serious Organised Crime team in Gwent support young people aged between 10-19 involved in exploitation and county lines in Gwent. We are also working in two schools in Gwent, supporting children and young people to stay safe through equipping them with awareness and resilience, alongside diverting them towards positive activities.
St Giles is working in partnership with Cheltenham Borough Council through its No Child Left Behind initiative to provide community-based mentoring for young people in Cheltenham who are most at risk. Our role is to provide trauma-informed support and help young people build resilience to peer pressure and grooming, re-engage with education and other positive opportunities. Although relatively modest, this project has had a life-changing impact on the young people it has supported and a wider effect in reducing levels of crime and anti-social behaviour in the wider community.
Lived experience underpins all our work to tackle violence and exploitation. By training and employing practitioners with direct experience of these issues, we build trust, improve engagement and deliver credible, culturally competent support strengthening prevention, improving safeguarding responses and helping young people move towards safer, more positive futures.