Funding boost expands ‘Let’s Talk’ programme to help parents spot coercion and control

Crucial advice to help parents recognise the signs of coercion and control in their children’s relationships is being shared through an expanding community safety programme backed by £100,000 in new funding.
The Let’s Talk initiative, developed by the South Devon and Dartmoor Community Safety Partnership, aims to empower parents and carers by raising awareness of risks facing young people, including pornography, drugs and alcohol, and unhealthy relationships. The programme provides practical guidance to help families start difficult conversations and support their children.
The scheme, which has already engaged nearly 9,000 parents, is now set to grow further after securing funding from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC). The investment forms part of the OPCC’s commitment to back innovative projects tackling violence against women and young girls (VAWG).
The funding will support live online sessions for parents, carers and professionals, a dedicated Let’s Talk Dads campaign, and themed workshops covering issues such as misogyny.
Rebecca Hewitt, Teignbridge District Council’s strategy and policy manager and chair of the South Devon and Dartmoor Community Safety Partnership, discussed the project after appearing as a guest on the third episode of the Your VIP (Your Voice in Policing) podcast. The series references Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez’s role in representing the public in policing.
Rebecca said: “As a society now, we kind of expect parents to be nutritionists, to be psychiatrists and to be educationalists. There’s so much pressure on parents. The theme of Let's Talk is very much be a parent, love, support, listen and develop communication.
“For example, a 15 year old girl is in a relationship and starts really well. Maybe the family know them, then as the relationship starts to develop, that young girl kind of retracts from her friends. She maybe dresses differently and her behaviour starts to change.
“We see control and coercion in relationships with young people far too often. Our social media and our pornography is where a lot of young people are drawing their life experiences. The online world, is telling them that's how it's supposed to be.”
She advised parents to approach conversations carefully if they have concerns.
“One of the things that we talk about in Let's Talk is the last thing you want to do is sit your child down right in front of you and say, ‘let's talk about this’. Use a social media story to talk about the circumstance rather than make it about them or do it side by side on a drive somewhere.
“We also talk to parents very much around being ready when you start that conversation, to not react with judgement and be really clear, and reinforce that you will always be there for them and you care from really early on which is why we've started working with parents at pre-school.”

During the podcast, Rebecca – winner of the 2025 Combating Violence Against Women and Young Girls award at the West Country Women Awards, sponsored by the OPCC – highlighted the broader work of community safety partnerships across the peninsula.“What we're hearing from the young people that we work with is that an awful lot of harmful sexual behaviour has become really normalised. They wouldn't even think to report it because that's what happens as a young person.
“What we're doing is working with young people to tell them that isn't okay, to tell them what a healthy relationship is, to make it clear that they understand consent, and to talk about the impacts of the pornography that they're watching.”

Speaking on the podcast, Commissioner Hernandez described VAWG as a persistent issue throughout her 10 years as PCC for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and voiced frustration at poor criminal justice outcomes for victims.
She said: “Most women have been a victim of some sort, whether it's from street harassment all the way up to non-fatal strangulation or even murder. This is why we want to have the conversation about men. It is time for men to help us to step up and change their behaviours because I think some of them don't even realise that they are being harmful. They've normalised it among themselves and that's the sort of trend that we need to break in society.”