Beyond the Warning: How Do We Talk to Young People About Strangulation, Relationships and Risk?

A new Reimagining RSE podcast featuring IFAS Chief Executive Bernie Ryan OBE explores how educators can talk about strangulation in ways that combine accurate information about physical risk with curiosity, listening and an understanding of the influences shaping young people’s experiences.

There is no safe way to strangle.

This is a message the Institute for Addressing Strangulation (IFAS) has consistently communicated, grounded in clinical evidence about the potentially serious physical and psychological consequences of strangulation.

But when it comes to educating young people, is communicating the risks enough?

That question is at the heart of a new episode of the Reimagining RSE podcast, featuring IFAS Chief Executive Bernie Ryan OBE.

The conversation explores a challenge facing educators, safeguarding professionals and policymakers: how do we communicate serious risks while creating space for young people to ask questions about intimacy, relationships, pleasure, pressure and the influences shaping their understanding?

Moving beyond warnings alone

Education about strangulation must be unequivocal about the physical risks. Serious injury can occur even when there are no visible marks, and consent does not remove those risks.

Yet young people’s understanding of relationships and intimacy is shaped by many influences, including relationships, peers, social expectations, online content and the wider culture around them.

Some may encounter conflicting messages about what is desirable, expected or acceptable. Others may struggle to recognise pressure or communicate boundaries.

Effective relationships, sex and health education needs to engage with these complexities, rather than assume that delivering a warning will necessarily lead to understanding or behavioural change.

As Bernie Ryan OBE, Chief Executive of IFAS, explains:

“Strangulation is the obstruction of blood vessels and/or the airway by external pressure to the neck, resulting in decreased oxygen supply to the brain. We can be absolutely clear that strangulation carries significant physical and psychological risks, but we also recognise that effective RHSE cannot be built on warnings alone. We need to stay curious, listen without judgement and understand the questions young people are actually asking about intimacy, pleasure, relationships and risk.”

These conversations should not be confined to RHSE lessons. There are opportunities across the wider curriculum to reinforce learning about healthy relationships, risk, boundaries and the influences shaping young people’s experiences.

Young people deserve accurate information about risk, but they also deserve education that listens to them, respects their experiences and helps them navigate relationships with understanding, care and confidence.

Bringing expertise together

These questions are also informing IFAS’s ongoing work through its RHSE Working Group, bringing together perspectives from education, safeguarding, clinical practice, research and related fields.

The group is exploring how evidence about strangulation can inform an age-appropriate, inclusive and meaningful educational response, while recognising the wider context of violence against women and girls, healthy relationships, consent and safeguarding.

An important part of this work is considering how young people can develop understanding progressively, building on existing learning about bodily autonomy, boundaries, relationships and care.

There is also recognition that educators need the confidence, knowledge and practical support to facilitate sensitive conversations and respond appropriately when concerns arise.

This is an evolving and collaborative process. Our focus is on developing an evidence-informed approach that brings together clinical understanding, educational expertise and the perspectives of young people.

Creating space for thoughtful conversations

One of the valuable ideas explored through our discussions with Reimagining RSE is safe uncertainty.

This does not mean uncertainty about the medical risks of strangulation. The clinical message remains clear.

Rather, it encourages professionals to remain open to understanding young people’s perspectives, to question assumptions and to respond thoughtfully to experiences that may not fit neatly into predetermined categories.

It also means recognising that discussions about consensual sexual activity, coercion and abuse require care and nuance. Understanding the context of young people’s experiences is important, without conflating consensual activity with abuse or minimising the potential risks of strangulation.

Being clear about risk and being willing to listen are not competing priorities. Both are essential to effective education and safeguarding.

We are grateful to Emily Setty and Jonny Hunt for their expertise, thoughtful contributions and continued engagement with this work, and to everyone involved in the IFAS RHSE Working Group for helping shape these important discussions.

Listen to the conversation

We would also like to thank the Reimagining RSE team for creating space for such an important conversation and for inviting Bernie to contribute.

The episode offers valuable reflections for anyone working in education, safeguarding, public health, policy or the prevention of violence against women and girls.

🎧 Listen to Bernie Ryan OBE on the Reimagining RSE podcast:

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/8a1527e4-659c-4c7b-8b61-136aecd30754/reimagining-rse