HEALTH chiefs and police in York have backed a Home Office campaign designed to prevent teenagers becoming victims of abuse.

This Is Abuse, targeted at 13 to 18-year-olds, is intended to make young people think about their views on violence and controlling behaviour and what consent means in their relationships, as well as directing them towards help and advice.

City of York Council is sending posters, contact cards and DVDs to York’s secondary schools to help them tackle the issue.

Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones, the authority’s director of health and wellbeing, said: “It is really important we do what we can to inform teenagers that abuse in relationships is not normal or acceptable, and if you’re in an abusive relationship, it’s not your fault.”

Detective Superintendent Heather Pearson of North Yorkshire Police’s Protecting Vulnerable Persons unit said the force had specially-trained officers who investigate abuse.

More information is at thisisabuse.direct.gov.uk