HeadStart Digital Resilience Tool

The Online Resilience Tool

The Online Resilience Tool provides a practical way for professionals to assess young people’s online behaviour and help them make decisions about whether that behaviour represents risk of harm.

The Tool was developed as part of the Digital work-stream of the HeadStart Kernow programme in partnership with University of Bournemouth and the Professionals Online Safety Helpline. In total around 1000 children and young people in Cornwall were involved in the development process through workshops and discussion groups over a three year period.

The Digital Resilience Tool is available to download for free. 

Digital Resilience Tool Training

If you want to know more about how to use the tool you can do our free training, just follow this link. If you don't already have an account, create a free account. Once you have access to the Hub, go to the HOME tab, Select Wellbeing Training to Support Schools - scroll down and select 'Digital Resilience Tool Training Updated’.

This training covers how to use the tool to assess young people's online behaviour; what to do when you have identified a behaviour and online activities and the law. The course is self-guided e-learning and takes approximately 2 hours.

Not Harmful, Potentially Harmful and Harmful

We’ve put together some explainers about the terms ‘Not Harmful’, ‘Potentially Harmful’ and ‘Harmful’ which are used throughout the Digital Resilience Tool. You can download them at the links below.

Support for parents

We’ve got tailor made support for parents, with information sheets and podcasts helping you understand your child’s online behaviour organised by age.

Poster for professionals

Download and print this poster for your staff room to help your team remember the key messages when it comes to young people and the digital world. (link to poster)

Article on how we made the tool

Read this article to find out about how we developed the tool with young people across Cornwall. (link to article)

Was That Ok Tool

Was That OK is a new tool for young people to help them answer the question “Was That OK?” about anything sexual.

Young people told us that they often weren’t sure if something they had experienced was ok, normal and legal, and they didn’t know where to find out.

At the Headstart Kernow Digital Resilience project, we’ve developed a tool to help. The Was That Ok tool includes lots of information and advice for young people, including where to go for support, what happens if they tell someone (including the police), information about confidentiality and safeguarding, and support services they can access online. We’ve also included some ideas about how they might address a problem themselves. For example, working out what they want to say, taking a friend and screen recording messages.

You can learn more by watching this video about the tool that also contains advice about responding to young people if they come to talk to you after using the tool. 

SEND Digital Resilience Guidance

This guidance is aimed at people who support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. We’ve taken the key messages from the Digital Resilience Tool and distilled them into some straightforward advice so that you can make sure that all professionals supporting a young person are giving the same information and using the same language.

If you have any questions / comments on any of the above please feel free to contact:

Louisa Street - louisa.street@packshare.org

Professor Andy Phippen - aphippen1@bournemouth.ac.uk