People, places and spaces around me

What it is for

Asking the same three questions about five different spaces is what makes this sheet work. Nothing stands out on its own, but laid side by side you can see where the rating drops and who is in that space when it does. A young person who rates home and school as safe and the neighbourhood as unsure has drawn you a map in about four minutes.

Online sits as the fifth space rather than being treated as a separate subject, which is closer to how a young person actually experiences it. And the rating belongs to them: safe, unsure or not safe is how a space feels from the inside, not a judgement about whether it is dangerous.

Using it in a session

• The pattern across the five is the point. Read it across rather than down. One unsure rating is a fact; three in a row around the same people is a shape.
• The rating is theirs, and it stays theirs. Do not negotiate it. A young person who rates a space safe that you would not is still telling you something true about how it feels.
• Who is part of this gets asked every time. The same name appearing in the spaces rated unsure is the single most useful thing this sheet produces.
• Online is one space among five. Ask about it in the same tone as the others. Treating it as the serious one changes the answers.
• Read question seven back to them. What they want adults to understand is written for somebody else. Checking you have it right before it goes anywhere else is the respectful way to use it.