In a digital age, we know young people turn in rising numbers online for support with healthy relationships, sexual health or mental health: our recent youth manifesto found that nearly 90% of the UK young people we surveyed are doing this, regardless of the quality of sex ed in schools or elsewhere.
And it’s clear that online porn and toxic social media influencers are fast becoming the default. This is not just inadequate – it’s dangerous. (‘Over half of top mental health TikToks contain false claims’ — The Guardian, May 2025) So, what’s the answer?
Fumble began in 2017 when a group of young volunteers came together to tackle a root cause of gendered violence: the lack of relationships and sex education addressing the challenges young people face in the digital age.
Our free-to-access digital resources, co-created with young people and meeting national safeguarding and quality control best practice, along with our wrap-around programme of workshops, consultancy and advocacy, tackle this.
Today, Fumble is a nationally recognised, multi award-winning charity, featured by the BBC, Times Radio, the Independent, Vice, Metro and more.
We partnered with Superdrug on a national campaign, we were one of the 10 first charities nationally to win a place on the King’s Fund inaugural Grow Programme, and we’re backed by major foundations including Garfield Weston, the National Lottery Community Fund, UK Youth, and the Julia Rausing Trust.
Since launching, we’ve reached over 2.5 million young people online through four major campaigns and our digital hub of 300+ free, co-created articles—empowering young people to manage their relationships, sexual health, and mental wellbeing in today’s complex digital world.
We won grassroots initiative of the year in the national Sexual Health Awards judged by Brook and SH:24, and we’re ‘I Will – Power of Youth’ charter signatories. Explore our latest charity annual report and accounts.
We’re building a safer, more informed future for young people in the digital age.
Fumble was founded by a grassroots group of young volunteers in the UK in 2017, motivated by the failings they’d experienced growing up as the first generation to navigate puberty in a digital age.
Today, we’re still led by some of those people, alongside leading experts in our field. For example, Lucy and Emilie:
Our CEO, Lucy Whitehouse, is a digital media and youth work expert, with 15+ years of experience. Lucy's journalism has been published across national media outlets including The Guardian, The Independent, New Statesman, and Novara Media. A career highlight so far was the delivery of a national campaign for YoungMinds - the leading youth mental health charity in the UK - on online harms in partnership with O2. It reached 1.25 million young people.
Our Programme Manager, Emilie Cousins, formerly of national sexual health charity Brook, brings 12+ years of youth work experience and digital media expertise. Emilie led our work on Fumble's national campaign with LADbible about young people's experiences growing up alongside porn.
We’re also guided by our Expert Advisory Panel, including NHS doctors, leading academics, safeguarding specialists, digital experts, and more; our Trustees; and our Youth Advisory Board.
Our expertise enables us to deliver support that is empathetic, inclusive, and rooted in care.
The people we support
Young people up to the age of 25 in the UK, of all backgrounds. Within this, we especially focus on those aged 13-21.
We especially aim to meet the needs and experiences of young people that have been traditionally left out of mainstream provision of sex education, including:
Are you a teacher looking for Relationships & Sex Education support? Download our FREE guide here, created in partnership with the University of Surrey.
Are you a parent, carer, or otherwise a trusted adult looking to support a young person in your life? (Well done, that’s great!) We’ve got you too: discover our comprehensive support for you here.
Our top quality programmes and award-winning resources meet our rigorous internal review process, including oversight from our Expert Advisory Panel, which boasts NHS doctors, leading academics, safeguarding specialists, digital leaders, and more.
Discover more here on how we keep young people safe.
We’re a UK registered charity. We launched Fumble in March 2017, and gained charity status in February 2020. Registered charity number: 1188089.
