Safeguarding thoughts

I have been doing a wide variety of work relating to my safeguarding specialism recently.  I am particularly enjoying supporting the roll out of safeguarding training for leaders within a church area. This has led to some really interesting discussions about safeguarding adults. We have discussed what you do if you are aware of an adult in a church about whom you have concerns, but the person does not want or perceive that they need help.  Of course, this links to my role as the Girlguiding Lead Volunteer for Safeguarding.  As a participant at a training said to me recently:

‘Jill it is almost easier when I am worried about a young member as I know I can share this information…’

Knowing how to support an adult that you feel is at risk can be really challenging – particularly as most of us move in and out of vulnerability which influences our risk levels.  There have been a couple of items on TV and radio recently which might help you as you consider this theme

• The series ‘reported missing’ on BBC (available on Iplayer at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08mp809 )  not only gives us a glimpse into the complex operations involved when the Police try to find someone who is missing…but also raises the question…what if I don’t want to be found?  I think I am perfectly safe…
• Alongside this, I have today been listening to one of the thought provoking…Behind Closed Doors… series on radio 4.  This episode https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07ffxst focuses on a young man who is asking to be released from a secure unit and it looks at some of he challenges around decision making in this situation.

Many of these issues have been bought into sharper focus this year by the COVID pandemic – we can’t go where WE want and that provoked a variety of feelings in us. And many who I have talked to have said how much it has increased their vulnerability as life savings are being eaten into, elderly parents seem to be ageing by the day and long standing hospital appointments are cancelled.

The photo I have attached here encourages us to use these starting points to wander in our reflections – how can we make society as safe as we can for adults at risk at this time?  How can we support adults we know who might be at risk…

Those of you who have trained with me will have hear my mantra – safeguarding is not a black and white science…and this arena certainly evidences that.  I hope you will use the thoughts and resources here to encourage you to develop your thinking and reflections around this area.  I would love to hear how you get on! Thank you!

New developments...

It has been a challenging 6 months for all of us, and I know for some of you this update comes at the start of a new term, for others your businesses are starting to return to the office and others are still working remotely. 

I continue to develop and shape my business to adapt to the new ways of working which COVID brings. Like many of you, I set myself some challenges in lockdown and invite you to visit my You Tube channel to have a look at the results! 

I am offering my full range of training both virtually and face to face. Most of my clients are choosing virtual where possible, and recent projects have included training for charity trustees, delivery of safeguarding courses and a number of courses run using blended learning.

Blended learning is one of the new training methods I have to offer. This involves the learners committing to an agreed amount of preparation time prior to the virtual or face to face training. Sometimes this is done at home alone and sometimes as a virtual session before a face to face session. 

As the dark nights will shortly be upon us, this is a really useful option for many customers, as the less time we spend face to face, we do of course reduce the risk of spreading the infection.

 Some excerpts of feedback received so far as a result of this new teaching manner:

•  I much preferred to do the course over Zoom as I took more in. 
•  I feel the Zoom training was great, very ideal. Prefer half Zoom and one Saturday (for a First Aid course)
• Really pleased with the Zoom half. Jill did a mixture of things to keep us engaged – breakout rooms, white board, Youtube videos. Jill was fun and engaging. The Saturday session – Jill was very interactive which helped me remember the contents

When I am training face to face, I have a full COVID risk assessment in situ to ensure that all government guidelines are adhered to, including having smaller groups, where needed, to fit into the room. 

I am delighted to confirm that I am now able to offer the following new set of courses which have all been certified:

•  Designated Safeguarding Lead has now gained certification through CPD UK, this is for those with some existing safeguarding knowledge
•  An Allergen Awareness and Notifiable Diseases course was certified by CPD UK last week and is a continuation for anyone who holds a Level 2 Food Safety qualification
• I have also been accepted as an instructor with NUCO – providing the option to run a fully accredited Level 3 Safeguarding course

 I would love to hear from you if I can be of any further help to you and/or your organisation. I can also supply details of forthcoming first aid and food safety courses, along with an opportunity to join the first group of learners on the RFQ Level 3 Safeguarding course run via NUCO. If any of these courses are of interest to you This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as soon as possible, as places are limited on all courses. 

Resilience

I hope you will enjoy watching my latest you tube video! (One of my challenges during COVID was to develop my YouTube channel (Jill Webb Training)  – and my latest video is about resilience.

I’ve been thinking about resilience a lot this week. There are loads of different definitions around – I like the really simple ones.  My personal favourite is pictured above – a weeble.  Do you remember the advert – Weebles wobble but we don’t fall down?   When I think about my own resilience, I think that life events can make me very wobbly but resilience is the ability to right myself again.

It’s been a particular challenge this week due to the fact that I live in the part of the country that has been locked down again. It’s amazing how many emotions that’s provoked amongst myself, friends and colleagues:

• ‘It’s not fair’
• ‘The rules don’t make sense’
• ‘We are back where we started’

Once you calm down and rearrange your already rearranged diary, you realise that you have the resilience to manage this!  Yes, we’ve been in a similar situation before, but we have more freedom than we had then. And that to me really links to our resilience.  A resilient individual can face life’s challenges. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to get knocked and we’re not going to wobble but it does mean that we can keep ourselves in a safe place emotionally (or ‘right or balance ourselves’).

So, the challenge for most of us is to check out how we are building our resilience. I like to keep things really simple and think about the different areas of my life:

• Am I eating sensibly and moderating my alcohol and caffeine intake?
• I’m no gym fan, but am I getting out for as many walks as I can – knowing that fresh air does me good as well as the physical exercise?
• Am I spending time with family and friends – even if it has to be virtual? While thinking about this,  many thanks to my friend Alison Gordon who taught me about drains and radiators. Being aware of friends and colleagues you spend time with and how you feel afterwards is important.  Who are those people that when you spend time with them you end up feeling like a radiator warm and hopefully re-energised?  Are there others who you actually feel quite drained afterwards?   I’ve been aware of those people that it’s been a challenge for me in the last few months to try to get that balance right.

There is so much more I could say but I’m sure you have your own ideas which I’d love to hear!