Ask Sam letter

Hi there

Thanks for your message. It’s really positive you decided to get in touch as I can hear this has been worrying you for some time. It sounds like this was a bad experience for you and your friend really let you down. I can also hear that you are worried about how this could affect your future.

Your school should not mention this to anyone else unless it was someone who needed to know, like the police or your parents. When giving references or information relating to your future, your teachers should be talking about the best things about you as a student at the school. They will usually focus on the positives to give you the best chance of having a successful future.

When you are older, you may send out your CV to help you find a job. A CV lists your skills and achievements. Your CV is something that you write yourself, so there wouldn't have to be anything about the pictures you sent on there.

I understand how easily sexting can happen and how things can go wrong – even when you didn’t mean for them to. You can find out a bit more about keeping safe when talking to people online or how to report anything that feels uncomfortable at www.thinkuknow.co.uk.

You can also find out a bit more about sexting, including ways to deal with this if you don’t feel comfortable or if someone breaks your trust and does something with the images you send. You could also download the ChildLine Zipit app. If someone asks you to send them nude images again, you can use Zipit to send a funny comeback image instead.

If you would like to talk a bit more about the pictures you sent and how this left you feeling, you can talk to a ChildLine counsellor by calling free on 0800 1111 or creating a ChildLine account and having an online 1-2-1 chat. This is a space for you to fully talk about your feelings. ChildLine counsellors will never judge anything you do or say. They are there to support you.

I hope this helps

Take care,
Sam