Body- Based Approach

The Wolf Den sits apart from other consent or sex education programmes in a number of ways, but most significantly in its body-based approach. Most existing programmes are delivered as information sessions, perhaps with discussion, rather than through embodied practice; and “consent” is still taught as if there are a set of rules to memorise and somehow recall in the necessary moment. Consent, we believe, is not something one can be informed about, and it is not a simple “yes” or “no” based on circumstantial data. Consent is a complex internal process which requires the interoceptive ability to read one’s bodily signals – signals that can be hard to hear amidst the noise of inherited cultural beliefs and images.

Mental Health

In contrast to other available programmes, The Wolf Den seamlessly integrates consent and sex education with wider mental health and wellbeing issues. Learning to hear and honour one’s own voice can have significant impact on girls’ and young women’s mental health, so we explore topical and age-appropriate issues to allow participants to heal and grow on a number of levels.​​

All Ages

Other programmes that do involve somatic approaches are only available for university-aged women. The Wolf Den believes girls need to connect with, and learn to trust, their bodies from an early age. Embodiment and self-trust are life-long practices – the earlier we start, the more available these pathways become in our nervous systems. And the more we can feel into and trust ourselves, the easier it is to read our internal and bodily signals of consent. But we can access this neuroplasticity at any age, and it is never too late to learn to trust ourselves.

Trauma-Informed Prevention

Research shows trauma-informed approaches improve self-worth & reduce anxiety by 30% (National Trauma & Recovery Institute). Recently there has been a rising engagement with trauma-informed research, demonstrating the ways in which trauma is stored in the body, and the impact this has on our physical and emotional wellbeing. This research is starting to inform the ways in which trauma is treated – but we believe it is time that we utilise this research in order to prevent trauma. 

Time and Space

Unlike existing programmes which deliver one-off or short-term interventions, and often to an entire student body, this programme invites participants to engage with this material over an extended period of time, and in intimate groups, in order to nurture a safe space, and adequate time, for effective transformation.

Why now?


  • Currently, the term “consent” is circulating widely in the public sphere. But according to a 2018 study by Research for the End Violence Against Women Coalition by YouGov, “Attitudes to Sexual Consent”, what constitutes consent is widely misunderstood. For example, 33% of people in Britain believe that sex without consent, but which is not physically violent, doesn’t constitute rape.


  • With mass media trials in the US, like Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp in 2022, Christine Basey Ford vs. Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, E. Jean Carroll vs. Donald Trump in 2023, girls and young women are seeing repeated narratives of women not being believed about their own experience in their own bodies. These representations have repercussions on young women’s self-belief.​

  • Many studies show that girls’ and women’s “self-esteem” or “confidence” is low across the globe and is significantly lower than their male counterparts. According to Dove’s Global Girls and Beauty Confidence Report 2017, only 39% of UK girls aged 10-17 reported high self-esteem. The study also found that when girls have low self-esteem, 70% “will not be assertive in their opinion or stick to their decision.”​


  • As reported in the Guardian in 2023, students, out of mistrust for the justice system, have turned to their universities for help after an assault where there is little to no infrastructure to handle these situations; in these contexts, institutions are calling for educational programmes addressing consent – precisely what this project proposes to develop.

How We Started

My longstanding practice-based research in the field of feminist performance, embodiment, dance, rehabilitative movement and somatic therapies, as well as my extensive experience working with young people in the context of performance regarding identity and body politics, has culminated in the creation of this organisation. Since 2017, I have been working with teenagers in both the UK and Germany to offer a space for young people to address and unpick their relationships with their own identities, bodies, and politics, through the lens of radical performance. I have have trained and practiced as a professional dancer my whole life, and I have also been teaching rehabilitative Pilates and somatic healing for nearly 20 years.​​

Like many women I know, I have experienced sexual assault and its traumatic aftermath. When I was healing from a 3 year long illness stemming from these previous sexual traumas, I asked myself:

If I could offer my younger self anything, what would it be?

The answer was clear: This programme.

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The Wolf Den has the potential for significant impact on girls’ and women’s mental health and wellbeing, transforming the ways in which girls see themselves, care for themselves and others, and implement their agency across all areas of their lives.

About The Programme Director

Lauren Barri Holstein

My name is Lauren Barri Holstein, and I am a feminist scholar and performance maker. I hold a PhD in Contemporary Feminism and Performance from Queen Mary, University of London and have been presenting my performance work across UK-based and European venues, such as The Barbican, Fierce Festival, and Kampanagel, for 15 years. I have lectured at various UK and European universities since 2011, and given talks and workshops at venues such as Tate Britain and The Royal Academy of Art.

I have been interviewed about my work on BBC Radio 4 alongside Marina Abramovic and Laurie Anderson, Radio 4’s Women’s Hour, Icelandic public radio, Latvian public radio, gave a talk with Kate Nash about popular culture and feminism at Reeperbahn Music Festival in 2019, and have published several book chapters and academic articles. Since 2017, I have been working with young people in both the UK and Germany to offer a space for young people to address and unpick their relationships with their own identities, bodies, and politics, through the lens of radical performance.

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