Self-help, information and support for those concerned about their inappropriate thoughts or behaviour.
Information and support for those concerned about the behaviour of another adult or those concerned about a child or young persons behaviour or wellbeing.
We offer professionals practical advice, training resources, and support tools to help them recognise, prevent, and respond to child safety concerns effectively.
We can support anyone with a concern about child sexual abuse and its prevention via our self-help resources, programmes and helpline.
As a charity, we rely on the kindness and generosity of people like you to support our vital work to prevent child sexual abuse. And right now, we need your help more than ever.
By donating, fundraising, or simply spreading the word about our work, your support will have a huge impact.
Self help modules:
This module aims to help you focus on looking after yourself so that you are able to undertake any changes needed to address your thoughts and behaviour.
This module will help you explore and understand:
Self-care means being mindful of our own needs to improve our own physical, mental and emotional health. Self-care can take many different forms, ranging from making sure we get enough sleep to getting some fresh air for a few minutes. We’ll explain some of the different types of self-care and how they can help you.
Self-care is particularly important when working through the information on this website. This work can be difficult, especially when feeling other strong emotions like anxiety or fear about the future. Making sure we find time for self-care can help us deal with the challenges we face in a positive way.
We also suggest doing this work in a way that feels emotionally and psychologically safe. This might mean involving a trusted family member, friend, or professional, so you don’t feel isolated and have someone to discuss the information with.
Regularly using strategies like breathing techniques, grounding, mindfulness, and self-compassion can help us to cope with difficult emotions, thoughts, and situations.
Self-care is important in helping you move away from risky and illegal behaviour. When people feel happy and content, they are far less likely to offend or re-offend. People often tell us that when they offended, their relationships with themselves and other people are strained. Focusing on self-care can help us to see ourselves in a more positive light and this can help to improve our relationships with others.
Please complete the following wellbeing assessment that will ask about your physical, social, mental, spiritual and emotional self-care.
your score suggests self-care hasn’t been important to you. A good starting point would be focusing on healthy eating, daily exercise (a 10-minute walk counts), and a healthy sleep routine.
you’re engaging in some self-care behaviours but there’s room for improvement. Begin working on recognising the importance of self-care and try to factor it into your daily life.
it sounds like you’re consciously incorporating self-care into your daily life. Perhaps there is one particular area that is low scoring where you could focus your attention.
self-care must be important to you and an area that you consciously give attention to. Keep prioritising it. Read the strategies below to see if there’s anything you could add to what you are already doing.
Some self-care strategies are straightforward and easy to use on a daily basis, and others need more practice and attention but are hugely worthwhile.
It might help you to complete a self-care plan. There isn’t a one size fits all for this and will need to be tailored to meet your own needs. Think about what is going on in your life and which areas would benefit from attention and self-care – the scores that you gave for each of the sections above will help you.
Use the table below to set some goals to improve your self-care. You don’t need to have goals in all sections, particularly if the section is already high-scoring.
Area of your life | Goal |
Physical |
|
Social |
|
Mental |
|
Spiritual |
|
Emotional |
|
There are many strategies that can be helpful when feeling anxious, stressed discomfort, or emotional distress. Below are some examples and how to do them. Some strategies will be more effective than others for each person, and it is about finding out which works for you.
Click the below to find out more.
Regulating our breathing helps us to re-centre ourselves in the moment and to regain control of our bodies when we feel that we are overwhelmed. It can help to bring our heart rate back to a normal rate and reduce physiological signs and symptoms of anxiety. Breathing exercises can bring the most benefit when they are repeated often, such as daily.
We can do this exercise sitting or standing with both feet flat on the ground, roughly hip-width apart. If sitting, arms should be placed on the chair arms. The breath should flow as deep down into the belly as is comfortable, without forcing it.
Belly breathing is easy to do and very relaxing. This basic exercise can be used at any time to relax or relieve stress.
Roll breathing helps to develop the full use of the lungs and to focus on the rhythm of breathing. This technique can be done in any position. However, whilst learning, it is best to lie on your back with your knees bent.
These websites have more information on breathing techniques:
These techniques can be particularly helpful when feeling worried and anxious about the past or what could happen in the future. They can help to redirect our thoughts away from traumatic memories, flashbacks, and distressing feelings and bring us back to the here and now.
There are many different types of grounding techniques. They aren’t always easy and it can take practice before they begin to work well for you, so don’t give up if they don’t seem to help immediately. It is important to use the techniques as early as you can when you begin to experience distress – although they are a useful technique to practice generally, whether feeling distressed or not.
Acknowledge five things you can see around you; four things you can touch around you; three things you can hear around you; two things you can smell and one thing you can taste.
The aim of this technique is to focus on the world around you so that you are less focused on what is making you feel anxious, worried, or distressed.
Choose one or two broad categories such as cities, dog breeds, or ice cream flavours, and list as many as you can within that category. Alternatively, try reciting the alphabet backwards or practicing times tables.
Again, the purpose of these exercises is to focus your attention on something other than whatever is making you feel ungrounded.
In a sitting or standing position, focus on each part of your body and how it feels. Try not to assign judgement to this process – for example, if you notice that your chest feels tight, do not begin to reflect on why that might be. Instead, identify how each body part feels and then move on to the next. Close your eyes if that helps you to focus on the exercise.
Begin by taking some deep breaths and then bring your awareness to where your body makes contact with the floor or chair. Begin by scanning your left foot for any sensations, moving up your calf and thigh. Then move to the right leg and follow the same order. It is ok if you don’t feel anything, just observe that and move on. Then focus on your stomach, feeling it rise and fall with your breath. Next focus on your left hand and arm. Bring curiosity to your scanning, continuing to notice any sensations. Continue with your right hand and work up the arm. Move to your chest, scanning upwards to your neck, face, jaw, and throat. Pay attention to any sensations in your head, ears, and the back of your neck. Finally, think of your body as a whole, noticing how they all connect. Stay alert to any sensations that you experience and notice them without judgement.
It is likely that your mind will wander during this exercise. This is expected. Simply remind yourself to refocus and return to concentrating on the breath and the body scan.
These websites have more information on breathing techniques:
Having thought about, and hopefully practiced, some of the self-care techniques, think about what you can add to your self-care plan. Using the original template, consider what other techniques and resources will be helpful for you, and add these to the bottom two rows of your plan.
Area of your life | Goal |
Physical | |
Social | |
Mental | |
Spiritual | |
Emotional | |
Self-care techniques that work for me | |
Useful resources |
Most people say that good quality sleep is important to their general sense of well-being.
Many people who have problems related to fantasies about children, sexual preoccupation and problematic pornography use say that these difficulties can be especially tough at night, often disrupting their sleep.
Problematic sexual fantasies may be more readily triggered in the bedroom, last thing at night, if this has become your routine.
Following routines and practices can help good quality sleep. This is sometimes called ‘sleep hygiene’. Here are some things to try.
It might take some time before the positive changes you make to your sleep routines take effect. If you regularly find you are having problems with your sleep-wake cycles or are feeling sleepy during the daytime, you should take advice from your GP.
Self-care is an important element in your journey to understanding your risky online behaviour and moving away from it, towards a better future. Investing time in self-care will enable you to feel more resilient when undertaking the upcoming modules. We would encourage you to factor in self-care after each session of working through these self-help modules.
The experienced advisors on our confidential helpline can support you if you want to discuss anything covered in this module, have struggled when working through it, or want to go through the information with a practitioner to guide you. You can stay anonymous and don’t have to give your real name, location, or any contact details. If you’re not ready to speak to anyone yet, you can also use our live chat or send a secure email.
These sections will help you learn healthy ways to communicate, express yourself and challenge negative self-talk to improve your self-esteem.
This module aims to help you focus on looking after yourself so that you are able to undertake any changes needed to address your thoughts and behaviour.
The exercises in this module aim to help you get more in tune with your body so that you notice how it is responding in different situations.
This module aims to help you explore and gain understanding of the interaction between thoughts, feelings and behaviours so you can notice inappropriate sexual fantasies and behaviours.
This module helps you to develop strategies to help you deal with difficult thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
Identify where you are in your readiness to make changes and take initial steps to change harmful behaviours.
The conversations you have with yourself can be destructive or beneficial. They influence how you feel about yourself and how you respond to events in your life. This module helps you recognise negative self-talk and change your inner voice.
The role self-esteem plays in helping create an offence free life.
This module aims to help you recognise if you’re feeling shame and ways you can overcome it so that you can build a positive and offence free life.
Our confidential helpline is free and available to anyone concerned about the safety of children.
Lucy Faithfull Foundation offers support and advice for parents, carers, professionals, survivors and communities. Shore is for teenagers worried about sexual behaviour.
Our helpline 0808 1000 900
2 Birch House, Harris Business Park, Hanbury Road
Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove, B60 4DJ
Lucy Faithfull Foundation is a Registered Charity No. 1013025, and is a company limited by guarantee, Registered in England No. 2729957.
Self-help, information and support for those concerned about their inappropriate thoughts or behaviour.
Information and support for those concerned about the behaviour of another adult or those concerned about a child or young persons behaviour or wellbeing.
We offer professionals practical advice, training resources, and support tools to help them recognise, prevent, and respond to child safety concerns effectively.
We can support anyone with a concern about child sexual abuse and its prevention via our self-help resources, programmes and helpline.
As a charity, we rely on the kindness and generosity of people like you to support our vital work to prevent child sexual abuse. And right now, we need your help more than ever.
By donating, fundraising, or simply spreading the word about our work, your support will have a huge impact.