Monday 23 June 2025: St John Ambulance has launched a virtual reality tool to encourage more young Londoners to learn ‘street first aid’ during the school holidays, when violent crime is known to spike*.
The new tool, called Seconds to Save, is part of the health charity’s Young Responders programme – which has so far taught nearly 25,000 11-to-25 year-olds in the city how to give life-saving first aid to victims of violence such as a knife attack.
The VR immersive experience, made by creative studio Visualise, is based around a short film in which two supposed teenaged friends have a meaningless disagreement that escalates into one of them being stabbed. Users are invited to choose different scenarios which not only teach them practical first aid techniques but also show the consequences of knife crime from multiple perspectives.
The Rt Hon the Lord Mayor of London, Alastair King, sampled Seconds to Save at Mansion House on Saturday [21 June], where he hosted an event to celebrate St John Ambulance’s life-saving work in communities.
He said: “We must do everything we can to protect young people from knife crime. I applaud St John for its Young Responders programme, which has already taught thousands of teenagers how to save someone’s life with first aid.
“The interactive VR tool is a powerful way to help young people who might be at risk of violent street crime. As well as giving them life-saving skills, it brings home the dire consequences of carrying knives and will hopefully act as a deterrent.”
15-year-old Paris Hobson is a student at Arco Academy, an alternative education setting for pupils aged 11 to 16 in Camberwell. In response to Seconds to Save she said: “I think it’s really important to do this training because there’s a lot of people nowadays getting stabbed. I know friends who’ve been stabbed, it’s almost normal now.
“The VR session was really interactive and none of us got off topic. It’s not graphic or cartoonish, it’s like the real thing and got us engaged a lot.
“What I saw on the VR changed the way I think. Now I can see any altercation could end up in a stabbing and so I’d act differently now and try to avoid any altercation.
“What I learned will make a difference because if I see someone stabbed in front of me and they’re very bad, I know how to stop the blood flow. That could save their life.”
Sharon Simpson, deputy safeguarding lead at Arco Academy, said: “The scenarios and choices in Seconds to Save reflect the reality of our young people. Back in the day, a stabbing would have been absolutely shocking, a rare occurrence, but most of our pupils know of someone who’s been stabbed.
“It was an easy decision to support St John Ambulance's life-saving initiative by having our pupils participate.
“Our pupils’ response to the recent session was, 'Is that what I need to do? I can do this!' which is exactly the reaction we hoped for. There’s no single solution to knife crime, but this certainly helps."
Pauline Bartley, Young Responders Project Manager at St John, added, “Latest Government research shows there’s been a 27% increase in knife and weapon offences among young people in the past 10 years*. These figures are exacerbated over the summer months, when many young people have unsupervised free time.
“By launching our Seconds to Save virtual reality tool, we hope to inspire and empower even more young people at risk of street crime with the skills and confidence to step in and save a life should the worst happen.”
The Seconds to Save VR experience will be rolled out in London and other parts of the country this year, reinforcing St John Ambulance’s ongoing commitment to equipping young people with life-saving knowledge.
For more information visit www.sja.org.uk/get-involved/young-people/young-responders/
