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Community WellbeingComms leadProgramme lead

Story interview guide for a participant

A trauma-aware, non-leading interview guide with consent built in.

When to use

Before interviewing a participant, volunteer or staff member for a story.

Prompt template

Draft an interview guide for a story about {THEME}. Interviewee: {ROLE_OR_RELATIONSHIP}. Sensitivities: {SENSITIVITIES}. 8 open questions moving from safe to reflective. No leading questions. Include a consent check at the start, an offer to skip or pause, and a note that they can withdraw their story at any point before publication.

Replace each highlighted placeholder with real context. Keep names and safeguarding details out.

When to use this prompt

Reach for this prompt when you need to a trauma-aware, non-leading interview guide with consent built in. It's designed for Comms lead, Programme lead. Typically used within Marketing work.

Draft with AI, then have a colleague verify facts and tone before use.

How to use it
  1. 1

    Gather your inputs

    Have your local context, audience and goal to hand.
  2. 2

    Fill in the highlighted placeholders

    Copy the template above and replace every highlighted placeholder with real, local context.
  3. 3

    Run it in your AI tool

    Paste into your preferred AI assistant. Ask a follow-up if the output misses your association's tone.
  4. 4

    Work through the checklist

    Tick every item before you send, publish or act on the output.
Why this prompt works

Ethical story-gathering, especially with young people or people who've experienced harm.

Worked example
Theme: recovery from homelessness\nSensitivities: past mental health, family estrangement
What good output looks like

A trauma-aware interview guide with consent and pause built in.

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YMCA AI Adoption Toolkit

A practical library, guided context and safeguards so YMCA staff, volunteers and young leaders can use AI safely, confidently and locally.

Aligned with YMCA Vision 2030. Human review, always.

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Safeguarding

    Never enter identifying information about children, health or safeguarding cases into any AI tool. AI drafts, humans decide.

This toolkit is in beta. Its content was created with AI assistance and may contain errors — review outputs carefully, use your judgement, and follow your organisation's policies.

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