Abi Billinghurst is the Founder and CEO of Abianda. Abi’s background is in youth work and she has collaborated with a number of organisations to develop participatory approaches to working with vulnerable adolescents. She has worked with The International Centre: Researching Child Sexual Exploitation, Violence and Trafficking at the University of Bedfordshire, supporting specialist social care teams in Wigan and Rochdale to implement strengths and participatory approaches to Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). Abi co-wrote training for these teams with Dr Camille Warrington on behalf of Research in Practice.
At the University of Bedfordshire, Abi also worked on the LEAP project (2015-17) with Dr Kate D'Arcy. Abi wrote training tools for young people and professionals across Europe, to respond to young people's experiences of sexual violence and to support efforts to prevent sexual violence. The three-day youth facilitator training programme is called “Life-skills, leadership and limitless potential" (LLLP). All these programmes provide knowledge and tools to apply participatory approaches to practice with young people.
To learn more about Abi’s work and Abianda, you can listen to a podcast she recorded in January 2018 for two organisations: the Contextual Safeguarding Network, and Our Voices - a programme of work coordinated by The International Centre at the University of Bedfordshire.
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