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A campus team builds, and sends home, a calm, trauma-informed guide that helps families talk with their teen about AI deepfake images and sextortion before a crisis, leading with "come to me, you won't be in trouble" instead of fear.
Families often hear about AI deepfake image abuse and sextortion only after it hits their child or makes the news, and by then fear drives the conversation. This session helps a campus team get ahead of it by building a short, calm, trauma-informed family guide and a plan to get it into homes in the languages families use. Teams learn the essentials, what these images are, that sextortion schemes target teens, that it is never the young person's fault, and what the law and takedown options now provide, and then translate that into warm, plain language a parent can actually use at the kitchen table. The anchor message is relationship, not fear: the single most protective thing a family can do is make sure a teen believes "if this ever happens, come to me and you will not be in trouble." Teams draft conversation starters, a what-to-do-tonight box, and a resource list, and avoid the common traps of scaring teens, blaming victims, or burying the one message that matters.
Hook
Ask the team: "How do most families first learn about deepfake image abuse or sextortion?" Usually a scary news story or their own child's crisis. Ask what that timing does to the conversation (panic, lectures, blame). Set the goal: get a calm, useful guide into homes first, so families lead with relationship instead of fear, and so a targeted teen tells a parent instead of hiding it.
Facilitator noteName the stakes plainly: in sextortion especially, shame and fear of punishment keep teens silent, and silence is what predators and abusers count on. The family message is a safety intervention.
Explore
Teams read Handout A: what deepfake images are; that sextortion (threatening to share real or fake intimate images unless the victim pays or complies) increasingly targets teens, including boys; that it is never the young person's fault; that the 2025 Take It Down Act requires fast platform removal; and the simple steps a family takes (don't pay, don't comply, save proof, tell, report, request takedown). Teams highlight the three or four points that matter most for their families.
Facilitator noteBoys are heavily targeted in financial sextortion; say so, since many families assume only girls are at risk. Keep every fact accurate and non-graphic.
Create
On Handout B, teams draft a one-page family guide with four parts: (1) a short, non-scary explanation of what this is; (2) the anchor message, warm wording of "if anyone ever does this to you, come to me, you will not be in trouble, I will help you"; (3) a what to do tonight box (the family's steps if it happens); and (4) a resource list with real local contacts. The rules: plain language, no graphic detail, no victim-blaming, and the come-to-me message must be impossible to miss.
Facilitator noteTeams tend to over-explain the threat and under-emphasize the relationship message. Keep pushing the ratio toward "come to me" and concrete steps.
Apply
On Handout C, teams plan delivery: which channels reach all families (not just the engaged ones), how to produce the guide in the languages families speak, and whether to pair it with a brief family event or a counselor Q and A. They also draft two or three conversation starters parents can use ("Have you heard of people faking photos with AI? What would you do if it happened to someone you know?") so the guide sparks a talk, not just a flyer in a backpack.
Facilitator noteEquity check: a guide only in English, sent only by email, reaches the already-reached. Push for the languages and channels that actually cover the community.
Reflect
Each team reads its guide aloud and the others apply the one-message test: "If a tired parent remembers only one thing from this, is it 'come to me, you won't be in trouble'?" If not, revise. Close on the standard: the guide succeeds not when it scares families into vigilance, but when it makes a targeted teen more likely to reach a caring adult, fast.
Facilitator noteEnd on that single measure. A beautiful, thorough guide that buries the come-to-me message has failed the kids it's for.
The drafting runs fully on paper: the essentials brief, the guide template, and the delivery planner need no devices, and the resulting guide can be printed and sent home in backpacks for families without reliable internet.
Use devices to pull in accurate local resource links, produce the guide in multiple languages, and deliver it through the channels families actually use (LMS, text, newsletter). A short virtual counselor Q and A can widen reach for families who can't attend in person.
Does it need a screen? The drafting and judgment are best unplugged, but delivery is where technology earns its place: reaching every family, in their language, through the channels they use, is exactly what makes the guide protective rather than performative.
What you should be able to see or collect if it worked.
A campus team builds and delivers a calm, trauma-informed family guide to deepfake image abuse and sextortion, leading with a come-to-me, you-wont-be-in-trouble message in families’ languages.
Finalize and send the guide home within two weeks, in the languages families use, through channels that reach everyone, and offer a brief counselor Q and A. Align it with the student lessons and staff training so families, students, and adults share one calm, consistent message before any incident occurs.
