‘Nothing geeky about photography’: engaging and supporting girls and young women accessing a specialist child sexual exploitation service through photography and digital storytelling

Abstract

There is a gap in the literature surrounding creative, arts-based approaches for engaging and supporting young people accessing specialist child sexual exploitation (CSE) services in the UK. This paper is based on an ethnographic study of a group photography and digital storytelling project to illustrate why and how these tools can engage girls and young women affected by CSE who, as a group, are routinely described in the literature as ‘hard to engage’. The article draws on interviews and field notes to consider why photography in particular may be engaging and appealing for this group. Furthermore, it illuminates how photography and digital storytelling may potentially be utilised to help counter trauma dynamics associated with child sexual abuse and exploitation through foregrounding choice and control. Consideration to whether such opportunities and outcomes may be achievable with the use of other arts-based tools, or within traditional one-to-one support settings, is also explored. Further research is required to unfurl the potential of arts-based tools and strategies for engaging and supporting young people who have experienced child sexual abuse and exploitation.