A Proud Step: Becoming a My Body Is My Body (MBIMB) Ambassador

Ambassador Certification

Why I Became a My Body Is My Body Ambassador

I've always been passionate about educating both children and adults on how to keep children safe, it's a thread that runs through almost everything I do. Some of that passion comes from personal experience: knowing people, and having worked directly with people, whose lives have been shaped by sexual trauma. I carry those stories with me, quietly, in the work I choose to do. My time working within children's residential sexual exploitation services showed me, up close, just how much damage can be done when the right conversations don't happen early enough and how much can be prevented when they do. That's why becoming a proud My Body Is My Body (MBIMB) Ambassador feels like such a natural next step.

Where This Passion Started

If you've followed my work for any length of time, you'll know that safeguarding isn't a topic I've picked up recently. It's been woven through nearly three decades of work with children, young people, and adults in some genuinely challenging environments. I've sat with families in crisis, supported young people who had been let down by the systems meant to protect them, and worked alongside colleagues trying to hold together services that were stretched far too thin.

My time working within children's residential sexual exploitation services was some of the most formative of my career. It's the kind of work that changes how you see the world, you can't unlearn what you learn there. You see, first-hand, how exploitation so often starts quietly. Not with something dramatic or obviously frightening, but with small boundary crossings that a child doesn't yet have the language to name, let alone challenge. You see how confusion, shame, and silence do far more damage than the original harm itself, because they keep children from telling anyone what's happening to them.

I've also drawn on experiences much closer to home, knowing people, and having worked with people, who carry the weight of sexual trauma. Some of those stories are decades old and still shape how the people who lived them move through the world. Others are more recent. What they all have in common is this: almost every one of them, if I ask, can point to a moment where an adult could have said something, noticed something, or simply given them the words to describe what was happening and didn't.

That's not a criticism of the adults involved. Most of the time, they simply didn't have the tools. Many of us weren't given the tools ourselves, growing up. We were taught about stranger danger, perhaps, but rarely about the much more common reality that most harm comes from someone a child already knows and trusts. We weren't taught how to talk to children about their bodies in a way that was clear, age-appropriate, and empowering rather than frightening.

I also think about this through the lens of neurodivergence, given my background in SEND education. Neurodivergent children often face additional barriers when it comes to body safety difficulty reading social cues, a tendency to trust adults implicitly and follow instructions without question, or communication differences that make disclosure even harder. They're statistically more vulnerable to exploitation, and yet safeguarding materials are so often written without them in mind. That gap has sat with me for years.

This is exactly the gap that My Body Is My Body exists to close.

What Is My Body Is My Body?

My Body Is My Body (MBIMB) is a safeguarding programme designed to give children and the adults around them clear, practical language and understanding around body safety, consent, and personal boundaries. It was created by Chrissy Sykes, and it's delivered through a registered charity (Charity Number 199901) with a simple but powerful aim: to reduce the risk of sexual abuse by equipping children with the knowledge and confidence to recognise unsafe situations and speak up.

What I love about the programme is that it doesn't rely on fear. It doesn't frighten children into silence, which ironically is often what well-meaning but poorly designed "stranger danger" messaging can end up doing. Instead, it gives children ownership of their own bodies from an early age. It teaches them the correct names for body parts, the difference between safe and unsafe touch, and crucially that their voice matters and someone will listen if they use it.

For adults, the programme does something equally important: it gives us the confidence and the language to have these conversations ourselves. So many parents, carers, and educators want to talk to children about body safety but freeze up, worried about saying the wrong thing, introducing a topic too early, or somehow "putting ideas into their heads." MBIMB removes that barrier. It shows you exactly how to have age-appropriate conversations that protect rather than frighten.

Safeguarding only works when it's proactive rather than reactive. We can't simply wait until something has gone wrong and then respond by then, the damage is already done, and often it's compounded by children not having had the language or confidence to speak up sooner. Programmes like MBIMB shift the entire model from crisis response to prevention. That shift is everything.

Why I Chose to Become an Ambassador

Becoming an MBIMB Ambassador for the United Kingdom isn't something I've taken on lightly. It sits alongside my practice, Creating Change IEMT, and my broader work as an Advanced IEMT Practitioner, ADHD Clinical Services Provider, and trauma-informed coach but it feels like a natural extension of everything I already believe about how healing and prevention are connected.

So much of my clinical work involves helping adults process and move on from difficult experiences, many of which trace back to childhood moments when they weren't kept safe, weren't listened to, or didn't have the words to explain what was happening to them. I sit with the after-effects of exactly the kind of harm that MBIMB is designed to prevent. That gives me a particular vantage point: I see both ends of the story. I see the child who wasn't given the tools, and I see the adult, years or decades later, still working through what that meant for them.

Becoming an Ambassador means I get to work at the earlier end of that story too. It means using my voice, my platform, and my professional network to raise awareness of the programme, to encourage schools, nurseries, and community organisations to bring it into their settings, and to support parents and carers who want to have these conversations but aren't quite sure where to start.

It also means holding space for a subject that many people find genuinely uncomfortable to talk about. I understand that discomfort. But I've learned, over nearly thirty years of working in this field, that the discomfort of talking about it is nothing compared to the harm of staying silent. Silence protects abusers. Conversation protects children.

What Being an Ambassador Actually Involves

Practically speaking, being an MBIMB Ambassador means championing the programme within my own networks that includes the schools and settings I already work alongside through my SEND background, the practitioners I train and supervise, and the wider community I've built through my writing, coaching, and social media presence.

It means helping to spread awareness of what the programme offers, supporting bookings and deliveries where I can, and being a visible, approachable point of contact for anyone who has questions about body safety education whether they're a parent wondering how to start the conversation at home, a teacher wanting to bring the programme into their classroom, or a fellow practitioner curious about how prevention-focused safeguarding fits alongside trauma-informed recovery work.

I also see it as an opportunity to bring my own specialisms into the conversation. My background in SEND education means I have a particular interest in how body safety education can be adapted for neurodivergent children and children with additional needs groups who are, statistically, at significantly higher risk of exploitation and abuse, and who are too often left out of mainstream safeguarding programmes because the materials aren't accessible to them. That's an area I'm especially keen to focus on as I take this role forward.

Why These Conversations Matter More Than We Think

I want to speak directly to any parent, carer, or educator reading this who feels nervous about the idea of talking to a child about body safety. I understand that nervousness completely it can feel like a heavy, frightening topic to introduce, especially to a young child.

But here's what nearly three decades in this field has taught me: children who have the language for their bodies, who understand the difference between safe and unsafe touch, and who know that they will be believed if they speak up, are significantly better protected than children who don't. This isn't about frightening children or taking away their innocence. It's the opposite. It's about giving them a foundation of confidence and self-ownership that actually allows them to feel safer and more secure in the world, not less.

These conversations don't need to be one big, heavy talk. They work best as small, ongoing, everyday moments using the correct names for body parts during bath time, talking about consent when tickling or hugging, checking in about who they feel safe with. Little and often. Normalised, not dramatized.

And it isn't only about protecting children from strangers. The uncomfortable truth one I saw repeatedly in my work within residential exploitation services is that most children who experience abuse are harmed by someone they know: a family member, a family friend, someone in a position of trust. This is precisely why "stranger danger" messaging alone isn't enough, and why programmes like MBIMB, which focus on body ownership and boundaries rather than fear of unknown people, are so much more effective.

Practical Starting Points, If You're Not Sure Where to Begin

I get asked a lot, both by parents and by professionals, where exactly to start. So here are a few practical, low-pressure starting points the kind of thing MBIMB itself teaches, but that I think bear repeating outside of a formal session.

Use the correct anatomical names. It might feel awkward at first if you're used to nicknames, but correct terminology removes ambiguity. If a child ever needs to disclose something, they need words that adults will understand clearly and immediately, without confusion or embarrassment getting in the way.

Talk about consent in small, everyday ways. This doesn't have to mean a big conversation about abuse. It can be as simple as asking a child if they want a hug before you give one, or respecting it when they say no to being tickled. These small moments teach children that their "no" is valid and will be respected which is exactly the belief they need to carry with them into every other interaction in their life.

Explain the difference between secrets and surprises. Abusers often rely on secrecy to maintain control "this is our little secret." Helping children understand that a nice surprise (like a birthday present) is something that gets revealed and celebrated, while a secret that makes them feel uncomfortable or that they're told never to tell anyone, is a different thing entirely, gives them a really useful distinction to hold onto.

Make sure they know who their safe adults are. Not just you, a wider circle. A teacher, a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a family friend. Children need more than one person they trust, because sometimes the person causing harm is someone close to the primary caregiver, and a child needs somewhere else to turn.

Reassure them, often, that they will never be in trouble for telling the truth. This is one of the single most protective messages we can give a child. So much of what allows abuse to continue is a child's fear that they'll be blamed, disbelieved, or that telling will cause more harm than staying silent. Removing that fear, consistently and repeatedly, is one of the most powerful things any adult can do.

None of this needs to happen in one conversation. In fact, it works far better spread across many small, ordinary moments bath time, bedtime, the car journey to school. Little and often beats one big, heavy talk every time.

A Personal Note

I don't share my professional background lightly, and I don't share the experiences of the people I've worked with without immense care and respect for their privacy. But I think it's important, in a piece like this, to be honest about why this work matters to me so deeply.

I've sat across from adults in my therapy room who are still, decades later, untangling what happened to them as children the shame that was never theirs to carry, the silence they were taught to keep, the confusion of not having had the words to explain what was wrong. I think of them often when I think about why prevention work matters. Every child who grows up with the language, the confidence, and the safe adults around them to say "this isn't okay" is a child who may be spared that decades-long unravelling.

That's what draws me to MBIMB. It isn't just a programme. It's a genuine shift in how we protect children moving the responsibility away from children having to somehow instinctively know how to protect themselves, and towards adults giving them the tools, the language, and the confidence to do so.

A Personal Note

I don't share my professional background lightly, and I don't share the experiences of the people I've worked with without immense care and respect for their privacy. But I think it's important, in a piece like this, to be honest about why this work matters to me so deeply.

I've sat across from adults in my therapy room who are still, decades later, untangling what happened to them as children the shame that was never theirs to carry, the silence they were taught to keep, the confusion of not having had the words to explain what was wrong. I think of them often when I think about why prevention work matters. Every child who grows up with the language, the confidence, and the safe adults around them to say "this isn't okay" is a child who may be spared that decades-long unravelling.

That's what draws me to MBIMB. It isn't just a programme. It's a genuine shift in how we protect children, moving the responsibility away from children having to somehow instinctively know how to protect themselves, and towards adults giving them the tools, the language, and the confidence to do so.

Moving Forward

As I step into this Ambassador role, I'll be sharing more about the programme, how it works, and how you can get involved whether that's bringing it into a school or nursery setting, having a conversation as a parent or carer, or simply learning more about body safety education yourself.

If you work in education, childcare, or any setting where you spend time around children, I'd genuinely love to hear from you. Whether you want to explore bringing MBIMB into your setting, have questions about how to start these conversations at home, or simply want to know more about the programme, my door and inbox is open.

Protecting children isn't the job of one person, one programme, or one Ambassador. It's a collective responsibility, and it starts with conversations that so many of us were never given ourselves. I'm proud to be part of making sure the next generation grows up with them.

If you're a fellow professional a teacher, social worker, therapist, or anyone working alongside children and families and you come across a child, young person, or adult who could benefit from trauma-informed support, please do feel free to refer them my way. I'm always happy to have that conversation and see how I can help.

If you'd like to find out more about the My Body Is My Body programme, you can visit www.mbimb.org. And if you'd like to talk to me about bringing body safety education into your school, setting, or family or to refer someone who may benefit from my support please do get in touch through Creating Change IEMT.