Mission

UTRUK “Under the Radar UK” was founded in 2012 through a small initial grant through O2 Think Big a non-profit arm of Telefonica. The initial concept only consisted of a website with information and advice and no individual support, which was far from what our founder, Mike Carroll-Owen, knew was urgently needed. But this highlighted the problem of young men and boys and child sexual exploitation (CSE), with over 3000 unique website hits per month in need of Information, advice and guidance, clearly demonstrating the issue was far bigger than previously understood. However, for Mike Carroll-Owen, this issue was no surprise. He himself a victim of CSE, at 17 years old was groomed by a man on social media, at a very vulnerable time in his life where he had just come out as being gay, feelings echoed by so many young, gay people. The grooming took over a year and intensified, escalating to the point where Mike was forced into prostitution. When Mike finally fled the perpetration, he was left with nothing and had to rebuild his life from scratch. Furthermore, Mike found that what he needed most was virtually non-existent; support services for boys and young men who had faced exploitation. Mike had no choice but to leave the area he grew up to try and access any type of support. Mike found that the best support was to begin a path for supporting others with similar experiences. Whilst accessing support services he took a voluntary role of a Youth Worker within a small LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning) youth group in which inspired and motivated his future as a Youth Worker. Mike has now been a Youth Worker for a period of 13 years working within many disciplines of the profession. In 2014 Mike became one of the official elected council members to the Institute for Youth Work (IYW) where he stands as a student representative and strategic lead for Communications and IT. In January 2016 Mike was awarded an Associate Fellowship to The Royal Commonwealth Society through the Queens Young Leaders Awards and in December 2016 he was awarded a second “Hine Award” for “Outstanding Contribution” to the O2 Think Big Program. Mike, the trustees and volunteers, are committed to raising awareness of the work that is desperately needed for boys and young men, and girls and young women’ alike who are going through any type of exploitation.

Category

Children and Youth

Additional Information

Under the Radar UK is going to be a helpline service for Young Men & Boy's who have been or are going through sexual exploitation.