Our Safeguarding Courses
This course sets out to show the impact of parental mental ill health on children and how we try to implement safeguarding. It is relevant as we know that adults' and childrens' services are not working together
To raise awareness of LGBTQ and how this is relevant to your work setting
To equip housing team members with the skills and knowledge to effectively apply professional curiosity in their daily interactions, ensuring better support and safeguarding for vulnerable adults and children.
To raise awareness of and begin to develop strategies for safeguarding children and young people with disabilities.
This course aims to give participants the opportunity to reflect upon, develop and maintain skills and attributes of professional curiosity in practice. It will consider the importance of healthy scepticism and respectful uncertainty, encouraging workers to fact check and cross reference as an evidence base; to attune to their professional instincts.
This two day course will consider both the culture of safeguarding in the organisation to explore what a “rights respecting culture” looks like, and the operational aspect of safeguarding to explore what “rights respecting care” looks like.
Day 1 will focus on legal literacy around the relevant legal frameworks for child and adult safeguarding with the aim to support both the organisational culture and strategy as well as the operational day to day delivery of safeguarding.
Day 2 will focus on good practice around record keeping and reporting. It will include a session on lessons to be learnt from audits, ombudsmen cases, reviews, complaints and serious incidents. It will end with a session around the role of the professional witness in court, giving evidence and top tips for preparation.
A 1 day course to give you an understanding of childhood trauma
This session is aimed at individuals who work in the community and is intended to provide the practical skills to disengage a potential attacker.
This session is aimed at individuals who work with, support or care for children, young people or adults and provides practical techniques to release and re-direct situations whereby we are grabbed or held.
This one-day introductory programme of Social Care training Safeguarding Disabled Children aims to explore good practice in the protection of disabled children from abuse, and promote effective working together for all those concerned for their safety and welfare.
his one day programme is for those with responsibility for safeguarding practice in fostering organisations including front line managers, senior managers and members of fostering panels. Its focus is on the national policy and legislative context and how this, along with evidence from research and practice informs safeguarding work. The course will apply this national context to the specific issues that need to be addressed when managing a foster care service.
This course aims to develop practitioners’ knowledge and understanding of parenting assessments
Keeping children and young people safe online and protecting them from exploitation, is of major importance in a world significantly influenced by social media. This course explains how children and young people use the internet and mobile technologies, the key risks and the strategies for managing incidents that may occur.
This programme aims to give practitioners the opportunity to examine and explore the nature of the exploitation of adults at risk of harm. It will consider the nature of that exploitation and how it can manifest in our communities and care settings in order to help practitioners to intervene in order to minimise either the risk, or experience of, abuse.
Replacing the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 is expected to come into force from April 2023. The new system (expected to be referred to as the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS)) will cover care in a wider range of settings. NHS bodies, Local Authorities and Care Providers will all need to understand their new responsibilities and start preparing to implement the new system.
This course is designed to provide professionals working with children and families a good understanding of the terms, effects and principles of Special Guardianship Orders. Delegates are introduced to the legislation and regulations and are provided with a detailed analysis as to how that legislation impacts upon decision making and best practice in the real world. The course also includes in depth consideration of the role of the Local Authority, an analysis of the construction of the “SGO report” in the context of the court decision making process and an examination of the often controversial requirements of the “support package”. There is an update of recent relevant case law, regulations and policy
This course is intended to give social care professionals a greater insight into the complexities and principles of working with families where sexual abuse of children is a feature and use this to improve risk assessment and risk management.
This is achieved through understanding who perpetrators of sexual abuse are, what behaviour they exhibit and motivations behind offending and developing knowledge of the risk factors behind sexual offending.
Delegates will also develop knowledge of the legal framework with reference to the Sex offender register (SOR), Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPOs), Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme (CSODS) and the role of criminal justice agencies in the management of these cases.
The course also looks at the role of the non offending parent or caregiver and how we can use this understanding to work more effectively with families.
Delegates will also develop skills in working with those who perpetrate sexual abuse against children and be able to signpost them to support services.
Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking
Course Outline
The International Labour Organisation suggests there are more than 40 million people in modern slavery across the world, with nearly 25 million in forced labour; in addition to forced labour, modern slavery encompasses human trafficking, slavery, and servitude. In human trafficking cases, exploitation can take many forms, including sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery, servitude and forced criminality. This is a serious concern when related to children who are being exploited as part of County lines.
This course will provide an overview of the “Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance for England and Wales” Jan 2021 and include how to identify and recognise indicators of modern slavery, exploitation, and abuse.
The training has been developed to support Local Authorities who have a statutory duty to identify and refer cases of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery as part of the National Referral Mechanism.
First responders and other organisations need to understand the signs of modern-day slavery and be able to recognise indicators of abuse and exploitation which can include physical, psychological, situational, and environmental. This is particularly evident when considering child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation and County lines.
It can be challenging to identify potential victims of modern slavery who may be reluctant to come forward or may not recognise themselves as having been trafficked or enslaved. There are likely to be barriers that prevent victims from disclosing or engaging with services. It is a disturbing truth that perpetrators and organised criminal gangs use coercive, controlling, and abusive means to dominate and abuse both adults and children.
This course will examine the effects and risks, trends in drug and alcohol use, drugs and the law, working effectively with young people around drugs and alcohol issues, referral processes and support services.
The training is designed to give delegates a greater understanding of the effects of substance use on pregnancy and parenting. In particular looking at different substances and their effects on both mother and unborn child, effects of different drugs and alcohol on parenting and how agencies can work better together to provide appropriate care and support for all the family.
The course is designed to enable participants to develop a working knowledge of the importance of understanding and managing challenging behaviours in a variety of different workplaces.
This course will focus on the impact of the Trilogy of Risk (also known as the Toxic Trio), of domestic abuse, parental substance misuse, and parental mental health on children and multi-agency responses to working with families where this is a feature. In an analysis of 139 serious case reviews, between 2009-2011 (Brandon et al 2012), investigations showed that in over three quarters incidents (86%) where children were seriously harmed or died one or more of a “toxic trio” mental illness, substance misuse and domestic abuse played a significant part.
The course provides a solid understanding of how to manage Enquiry Officers and their duties and responsibilities as outlined in the Care Act 2014
The purpose of this course is to provide professionals working with vulnerable adults with a basic awareness of financial abuse and how it occurs. It focuses on the prevalence of financial abuse and what options are available to investigate and safeguard the assets of vulnerable adults in line with Safeguarding Adult Procedures
This course is designed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills to be able to effectively chair multi agency meetings involved in the protection of vulnerable adults
Self-Neglect is an extreme lack of self-care, and it is often associated with hoarding – which in turn is a form of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. All of these may be a result of other issues such as addictions. Practitioners in the community, from housing officers to social workers, police and health professionals can find working with people who self-neglect extremely challenging.
This course discusses each disorder in detail and equips the delegate with skills to be able to understand each.
This Safeguarding Adults for the Frontline Workforce training course is designed for those who work in a social or health care environment. It is designed to provide the essential knowledge and understanding of responsibilities to staff at all levels with regards to Safeguarding.
In this course, we will look at the assessment of a child in relation to all the factors that are influencing and impacting on his or her life within this definition. Therefore, the course will cover County Lines (CL), Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE), Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), Peer-on-Peer Abuse, Online Abuse, PREVENT, Gangs and their origins, whether from the home and family, peers, the school community, their neighbourhood or from the wider society. Within this, we will also look at the roles of agencies that could have a positive influence on the child or young person involved in these matters. In addition to this, we will explore the child’s existing issues which make the child/young person more vulnerable.
There is the added option within this training course to feature Derek Bell, an ex Newcastle United professional footballer and a survivor of the football sex abuse scandal to talk on his experiences as an Adult of historical sex abuse and how it ruined his Adulthood along with being sectioned under the Mental Capacity Act, and then about turning his life around.
The course provides an understanding of the Enquiry Officer role, statutory duties and responsibilities in line with the Care Act2014 and requirements of Multi-Agency Safeguarding Policy and Procedures.
This course will enable workers who are engaged in work with children and families to develop effective ways and build confidence in working with difficult behaviour, in order to recognise potential impacts on professional dynamics and multi-agency child protection work when professionals are faced with working with families who are hostile and evasive.
To enable participants to become familiar with the role and responsibilities of the multi-agency role within safeguarding children and develop competence and confidence in carrying out their role
Understanding the implications of disguised compliance comes mostly from learning from serious case reviews. Parents’ behaviour can mislead us about the progress they are making and about the true nature of the lived experience of the child. Apparent or disguised cooperation can prevent or delay understanding of the severity of harm to the child and lead to cases drifting.
This course will assist practitioners with child protection responsibilities to reflect on the process of probing and reflective questioning and analysis to form a view about risk and harm and the parent’s capacity to meet their child’s needs. At the end of the course, participants will have developed their ability to critically evaluate practice actions and decision making to enable practitioners to be confident and persuasive when recommending a course of action to parents, to colleagues and to courts to protect a child.
Safeguarding means protecting people’s health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. It also means making sure people are supported to get proper access to health. Safeguarding adults at risk is fundamental to high-quality health and social care services. This Safeguarding Adults Level 3 training course enables professionals to be fully competent in safeguarding adults.
Child criminal exploitation is not defined in law, though the government’s Serious Violence Strategy (2018) defines it as occurring where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into any criminal activity:
• in exchange for something the victim needs or wants
• for the financial or other advantage of the perpetrator or facilitator
• through violence or the threat of violence
The most common form of child criminal exploitation is ‘County lines”.
County lines is defined by the Government’s Serious Violence Strategy (2018) as
“…a term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas (within the UK), using dedicated mobile phone lines or other form of ‘deal line’. They are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move (and store) the drugs and money and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) or weapons.”
There are more than 2,000 County lines organised criminal gangs across England and Wales and gang members can give some children and young people a false sense of belonging, safety, and security, filling a gap that exists in their lives.
To introduce participants to the interface between disability and safeguarding. To recognise ways in which children with disabilities and complex health needs can be more vulnerable to harm.
The session aims to support practitioners to undertake a good quality, analytical, evidence-based assessment to inform the decision making and care planning for children, young people and their family.
It covers the theory, principles and value base that underpins best practice in assessment and care planning, including SMART outcome focused objective setting.
Helping a child make sense of his or her past is an important part of a practitioner’s role in working with children and young people. Being able to do this sensitively and effectively will help the child cope with current uncertainties, develop a clearer sense of identity and contribute to plans for their future. This course has been developed with reference to the latest research, legislation, standards and good practice and the delivery of knowledge and skills is designed to take account of a wide range of different learning styles.
This two-day Supervision Training course (with the option of a third follow up day) is designed to assist participants to deliver a model of supervision that works within a health organisation and contributes towards keeping adults safe from harm.
There are specific requirements relating to support for care leavers. The ultimate aim of leaving care services is to support care leavers so that they can live successful independent lives. Each care leaver will reach that point at a different age and there should be no assumption that the duty means that all care leavers will require statutory support until the age of 25.
Young people are not adults and are also transitioning through developmental stages which impact on their decision-making reasoning, risk taking choices and ability to learn and use life skill. As part of this Transitions (Leaving Care) Training course we will look at brain development in adolescence and how to support young people through a range of transition situations
The aim of this course is to offer participants the opportunity to explore recent research into child development and its application to assessment; taking account of findings from serious case reviews and current research.
The aim of this course is o develop practitioners knowledge and skills in communicating and working with vulnerable children and young people.
To increase confidence of practitioners in engaging ‘fathers’ in children’s safeguarding work; and raise and reinforce awareness of the importance of engaging ‘fathers’ to secure better outcomes for children. ‘Fathers’ = “Biological or other father-figures” (Daniel & Taylor 2001)
This interactive one-day course will enable delegates to develop their knowledge and confidence in working with resistance parents and carers to improve the welfare and outcomes for children and young people. This course will develop skills in identifying disguised compliance, why families are resistant, how to identify and evidence in assessments and understand what they can do to move things forward.
To provide participants with an opportunity to increase knowledge, and understanding about the importance of developing secure attachments, and the impact of insecure attachments on children’s development. To provide participants with the necessary knowledge and understanding about child development and attachment, to help them improve skills in supporting children and ultimately improving outcomes for them.
This two-day course aims to provide participants with an understanding of the principles underpinning social work assessments with children and families and the opportunity to develop skills in information gathering, analysis and developing effective plans.
The aim of this course is to offer insight into positive parenting and child development
This two day Supervision Training course (with the option of a third follow up day) is designed to assist participants to deliver a model of supervision that works within a health organisation and contributes towards keeping children safe from harm.
It explores the elements of supervision that are intrinsic to keeping children safe from harm across all professions. The course will explore working with uncertainty, the factors that affect decision making, the role of emotional resilience as well as lessons from serious case reviews.
The aim of the course is to provide participants with an opportunity to develop their understanding of men who abuse women. To consider appropriate assessment of risk and how appropriate intervention can be used to plan appropriate child focused responses.
The course will be underpinned by appropriate current research, theory and knowledge drawn from Service User reports, Serious Case reviews, Inspections and Government Inquiries.
The aim of this course is to increase confidence of practitioners in engaging ‘fathers’ in children’s safeguarding work; and raise and reinforce awareness of the importance of engaging ‘fathers’ to secure better outcomes for children. ‘Fathers’ = “Biological or other father-figures” (Daniel & Taylor 2001)
This course is designed to assist practitioners in their assessments of children’s needs where one or more parent or carer has a mental illness. The training recognises the intricate interplay between parental ill health, parenting tasks and the developmental needs of children.
Working to support learning disabled parents and ensure that their children are safe requires an understanding of the multiplicity of risk factors facing learning disabled parents and their children. This course will build on established assessment frameworks and provide participants with up to date knowledge and skills that will assist them to conduct effective assessments and work alongside families and their children to both need and reduce risk.
To help practitioners to recognise and work with the complex factors affecting domestic abuse, and how this impacts on children and use this knowledge to carry out effective assessments which lead to the right help being provided to individual children and their families.
This course aims to enable participants to undertake effective and timely pre-birth assessment, in partnership with parents. This is a critical area of practice and this course will enable professionals to develop an effective and evidence-based approach to pre-birth assessments
This one day course helps staff to understand the affects of mental health on the behaviour in adolescents
To provide staff with an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in chairing child care meetings, including looked after reviews and child protection conferences.
This course will provide frontline staff with the ability to increase their knowledge of development of children through to young people (aged 13 - 25)
This course will provide frontline staff with the ability to increase their knowledge of development of children from the ages of 0-12
The aim of this course is to equip managers, owners and supervisors within nursery and day care settings with the knowledge and skills required to play an active role within the safeguarding system and maintain effective safeguarding practice within their own setting.
This course is mandatory for newly qualified social workers and is also suitable for those working in children’s services who may be working with families where physical abuse is an issue. The aim of this course is to enable participants to gain a greater understanding of how physical abuse affects children and young people and to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to intervene effectively.
Each year well in excess of 100 serious case reviews are carried out by Safeguarding Children Boards. Whilst the purpose of reviews is to contribute to learning and practice improvements, too often the only people who really have the time to absorb the learning are those who have been involved in the review process. Those involved in carrying out reviews hear powerful stories from families and practitioners that may not always be adequately reflected in a published report and a vital opportunity to understand the way in which professional practice impacts on the lives of children (both positively and negatively) may stay within the review team.
Child to parent violence is any behaviour used by a young person to control, dominate or coerce parents. This course aims to help delegates understand and increase their awareness of what this is and give them strategies as a practitioner in working with child to parent abuse
To provide practitioners across all agencies with best practice principles for working with children and young people who have been, or are at risk of being, sexually exploited.
This one-day course offers an overview of recent relevant reviews’ findings, particularly in relation to infants and adolescents (e.g. Complexity and Challenge, Out of Routine, National review of NAI in under 1’s, It was hard to escape, etc).
Together with information from relevant research it will set the context to help practitioners begin to identify which may be the more vulnerable groups of children and which may be the most recurrent themes within families.
To provide participants with research and practice-based information that will enable them to effectively identify and manage cases of likely or actual sexual abuse of children and young people.
To give participants an opportunity to consider some of the dilemmas involved in working with families where emotional abuse is an issue. Lessons from research and Serious Case Reviews will be used to enable participants to define and identify emotional abuse, explore assessment processes and examine appropriate ways of intervening
This comprehensive one day course aims to enhance knowledge and awareness of the issues surrounding FGM. The training explores what action needs to be taken if you encounter a child or woman who has had, or is at risk of, FGM.
The aim of this course is to increase participant’s awareness of the particular vulnerabilities of disabled children and to provide them with an opportunity to explore ways in which we can effectively safeguard disabled children from harm.
We offer 1:1 and Group Safeguarding Supervision sessions facilitated by trained Supervisors
We offer tailored 1:1 Direct Safeguarding Supervision Training sessions facilitated by trained supervisors for individual and group needs.
This interactive one-day course will enable delegates to develop their knowledge and confidence in working with resistant parents and carers to improve the welfare and outcomes for children and young people. This course will develop skills in identifying disguised compliance, why families are resistant, how to identify and evidence this in assessments and understand what they can do to move things forward.
This two day Developing Effective Supervision Training programme (with the option of a third follow up day) aims to focus on the core knowledge and skills needed by supervisors working within a variety of settings in health and social care.
For social work supervisors the content of the course is consistent with the approach to supervision set out within the employers standards.