Creating Safer Space

Foundation Module Refresher 2016 Edition Before the start of the training

You should be well prepared to deliver this Refresher course and be familiar with its contents, some of which differ markedly from the original Foundation Module (FM). The FM course preparation instructions also apply and you should remind yourself of these. Indicative timings are included, so with a 10-minute coffee break the whole session lasts 2.5 hours. If you are working with a large group then you are likely to need longer.

You may wish to send participants the course aims and learning agreement in advance. The course does not specifically focus on themes relating to diversity – language, culture, ethnicity, disability etc. Trainers will be expected to use practice or case examples to illustrate issues of diversity in safeguarding practice.

There is a revised and updated Foundation Module and Foundation Module Refresher Handbook, 2016 Edition which should be given to participants. We have aimed to make it more local church focused with examples and case studies, so please encourage participants to read it.

Course title and training personnel introduction

Slide 1 Slide 2

2 Section 1: Welcome and devotions

Slides 3–8 (15 minutes)

Welcome participants who completed the FM at some point in the last five years and trust that they will be able to reflect on that learning and their experiences during this course. Some attending may have thought that the earlier FM training was a required ‘one off’, so may need encouragement to be open to new ideas and thinking. Describe how recent events have pushed safeguarding higher up the national agenda, and that the Church remains strongly committed to ensuring that all our churches are safe spaces for all. For devotions you could use the PCR prayer card or the ‘Do not fear’ prayer card. www.methodist.org.uk/media/793466/2078%20Past%20case%20review%20and%20 prayer%20card%20(3).pdf www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/you_survivorsofabuse_0408.pdf

Slide 3

Slides 4–6 are imported from the FM course and participants will recognise them as timely and appropriate reminders about housekeeping, and looking after each other and ourselves.

Slide 4 Slide 5

3 Slide 6

It is suggested that although course members may know each other, there is still value in ensuring some early conversation for participants to share their expectations for the day. Trainers may wish to consider asking people to talk to each other about their journeys to the training, or the last film or concert they saw. Ask people to identify what they hope to gain from this Refresher course, given that they will have completed the FM earlier.

Record responses on a flip chart and refer to them while presenting the aims (slide 7).

Slide 7 reprises some of the aims of the FM, but puts them into a context of refreshing and reminding. Two important additions are references to the PCR learning and a stronger emphasis on survivors.

Explain that this refresher course has benefitted from the learning generated by the PCR and this will be referenced throughout the course today.

Slide 8 is a reminder about the learning agreement.

Slide 7 Slide 8

4 Section 2: Timelines

Slides 9–13 (10 minutes)

Slide 9

These slides aim to contextualise this refresher course and why it is important that people working with children, young people and vulnerable adults in churches remain properly equipped to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns. Since the FM was launched in 2011 there have been significant national and Church developments in the safeguarding field. It is important to enable participants to understand that the world has moved on in many ways, and safeguarding issues have a much higher profile than when training began. This summary aims to show why it’s important to be up to date and should act as a counterweight to those for whom the FM was seen as one-off.

Slide 10 is about the Methodist Church taking action and slide 11 describes how the Savile case brought many other issues to the fore at a national level.

Slide 10 Slide 11

5 Slide 12

Slide 13

Slide 12 is concerned with identifying how, at a national level and in the Church, some important milestones were achieved as a result of these concerns and actions, such as the PCR publication – although stress that there is much more work to be done as a consequence. All trainers will have attended an orientation session to be briefed about the PCR and prepare them for summarising the key findings of the report and the learning from it.

Remind participants that the Children Acts of 1989 and 2004 remain the key building blocks for good safeguarding practice that aims to protect children and young people. These apply to churches as much as to statutory bodies.

Slide 13 provides some basic information from the PCR report. Try not to get caught up in detailed discussions about the PCR. Use this as a reminder that the Church hasn’t been as safe as it should have. If it is suggested that all the problems are dealt with, it is worth reminding the group that the Connexional Safeguarding Team still receives regular referrals about current concerns.

6 Some recent background information to feed in as appropriate:

April 2014 – convicted of indecent assaults against girls aged 14-19 May 2014 – Care Act establishes a legal framework for the protection of vulnerable adults June 2014 – convicted of indecent assaults against girls aged 8-19 July 2014 – Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse established by Home Secretary, becoming a statutory enquiry in February 2015; Operation Hydrant set up by police to coordinate inquiries into high profile individuals accused of sexual abuse August 2014 – publication of reports about Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham March 2015 – new Government safeguarding children guidance Working Together published May 2015 – Courage Cost and Hope, the PCR report, published 29 June 2015 – Courage Cost and Hope approved by Methodist Conference

A very detailed timeline of national events in relation to child sexual abuse can be found on www.nota.co.uk/resource/savile-historic-child-abuse-resource/

A further purpose of the timeline (slides 10–12) is to demonstrate that the Church recognised for itself the need to address issues of concern before the significantly raised national profile of the sexual abuse of children and young people from 2012. Much has happened since then that we can learn from to improve our thinking and practice.

7 Section 3: Pause for reflection

Slides 14–16 (15 minutes)

Slide 14

Slide 15

Slide 16

The timeline suggests an acceleration and proliferation of concern about abuse, especially that affecting children. There are other items we could have included, but slides 14–16 provide a basis for some reflection on what it all means and how it makes us feel.

8 Invite the group to divide into threes and consider one or more of the following questions (Slide 15):

How does the evidence from the PCR about abuse in the Church, and how allegations were handled in the past, make you feel? When you read in the press or see on the TV details of another celebrity or person in authority being arrested, charged, convicted or sometimes cleared of a sexual abuse case, how do you react? Do adults who may be vulnerable receive appropriate attention? As a result of these events, how have you been challenged to do things differently?

Take some feedback to gather themes or headline messages about what people make of the current situation, and what governs their thinking in respect of safeguarding as they go about their work in the Church.

Slide 16 offers possible responses which can be discussed briefly in the whole group. There are more positives than negatives on this slide but care should be taken to ensure the group sees challenges and opportunities even where negative feelings are expressed.

9 Section 4: Building on our previous learning

Slides 17–20 (15 minutes)

Slide 17 Slide 18

Slide 19 Slide 20

The purpose of this activity is to get participants to think back over the last 4–5 years to a time, or times, when something came about because of what they had learnt on their original CSS course. This may be something they did or learnt, or it may be something they saw or heard that has stayed with them.

To guide participants’ thinking, refer back to key slides from the original course which summarise the Church’s 3 Ps and 4 Rs approach.

10 CREATING SAFER SPACE Foundation Module Refresher 2016 Edition

Since attending the Foundation Module: a personal record

Something I have done, learnt, seen or heard

PREMISES (eg make the building safer)

PEOPLE (eg the right people doing the work)

POLICIES (eg being clear about what we need to do)

PRACTICE (eg doing things differently)

RECOGNISE (eg being more aware)

RESPOND (eg doing the right thing)

RECORD (eg knowing/writing down what’s happened)

REFER (eg telling someone else)

Suggest that people work in twos or threes to reflect on what they personally have done. Then try to identify something they have done, seen, learnt or heard that represents a change in their understanding of, and approach to, safeguarding. A ‘personal record’ template for copying is provided as a separate download from the Methodist Church safeguarding webpages.

Some participants may feel they have nothing to contribute, and that’s OK, but it would be hoped that all can think of at least one thing they did differently, or thought about, as a result of attending the original course. As the trainer, aim to check that every cluster is making some progress, and be willing to offer examples of practice that they may take for granted, such as taking a register; risk assessing an activity; drawing attention to poor practice; recording a concern; seeking advice about a matter.

Take feedback and write on a flip chart examples of what people have done, learnt etc, and see whether there are items that predominate. Collating this information and sharing it with your DSO will also help the Connexion to see where the CSS training is potentially having most impact.

11 Section 5: Obstacles and overcoming them

Slides 21–25 (15 minutes)

Slide 21

Remind the group that in the FM there was a section about why churches sometimes don’t respond well when concerns are identified or specific allegations made. This can also apply when churches are asked to consider measures to prevent abuse occurring in the first place.

Invite the group in twos and threes to think about any obstacles they or their team encountered when trying to adopt a safeguarding approach, or promote good practice, and what they did to overcome them. Collect information on flip chart paper to compare with slides 22 and 23.

Slides 24 and 25 supply some ideas about how people can take steps locally to emphasise the importance of safeguarding and promote good practice.

Slide 22 Slide 23

12 Slide 24 Slide 25

Slide 26

13 Section 6: Recognising emerging forms of abuse

Slides 27–33 (20 minutes)

Slide 27 Slide 28

Slide 29

The purpose of this section is to raise awareness of new and emerging forms of abuse that, arguably, were rarer when the FM was first written. Domestic abuse is included here, not because it is a new phenomenon, but evidence from Restored and other sources suggests a greater prevalence in churches and a fresh willingness to address the issue.

See: http://restored.contentfiles.net/media/resources/files/In_Churches_Too_Marshall.pdf

This particular point needs to be stressed. Its inclusion here is merited because it is concerned with adult vulnerability, physical and sexual violence and emotional abuse, and its significant impact on the well-being of children who are witnesses.

14 Arrange sheets of flip chart paper around the room each with one of the seven headings:

Abuse using social media Child sexual exploitation Trafficking Modern slavery Domestic abuse Spiritual abuse Self neglect (adults)

Ask participants to visit each sheet and list what they know about the different forms of abuse. Remind the group that the forms of abuse discussed in the previous course very much remain important types of abuse, and may well be evident in the newer forms of abuse identified here.

In plenary session, share the contents of slides 30–33, taking comments and observations from the whole group.

Slide 30 Slide 31

Slide 32 Slide 33 15 Slide 31 – possible signs of child sexual exploitation. It might be argued that this is just one type of sexual abuse of children. However it needs separate consideration because of the lack of awareness of child sexual exploitation together with the way it has been understood and dealt with, until very recently.

Do not get bogged down in any discussions about this but if necessary reference the wider social and community context (eg the impact on Rotherham) and the new methods of deception and grooming involved.

This links to p.36 in the Foundation Module Handbook, 2016 Edition where there is more detail.

Slide 33 – possible signs of spiritual abuse may cause some discussion and, depending on your group, you may be challenged on some of the signs as they are presented, or the assumed thinking that lies behind them. The aim here is not to be critical of differing traditions or beliefs, but to emphasise that some people may find some aspects of some churches’ life oppressive and abusive. If this is the case in a particular church, the situation may warrant further attention.

This links to p.27 in the Foundation Module Handbook, 2016 Edition where there is more detail.

Be careful about extended discussions, eg on radicalisation. Aim to keep the focus on Church.

Remind the group that they can find more detail in the Foundation Module Handbook, 2016 Edition.

16 Section 7: Survivors

Slides 34–35 (10 minutes)

Slide 34 Slide 35

The group should be reminded that all forms of abuse, the ones identified in the FM and the newer ones just discussed, create victims who may often – as a sign of striving to overcome a range of traumas – identify themselves as survivors.

The PCR stresses how courageous it will have been for survivors/victims to tell their stories and relive very difficult experiences, and that these experiences were often made worse by not being listened to or believed by people within the Church. One recommendation from the PCR is that better services should be available to meet the needs of survivors and therefore course participants should be encouraged to ‘see’ what the Church expects of them and their leaders through a survivor lens. The aim is to get participants to appreciate fully why the Church makes important demands of them to train and comply with policies and procedures.

‘Safe Spaces’ is a project developed by the Anglican Church to form a network of safe places where survivors can go to access care and support from people trained to deliver such services. The purpose of this section of the course is to encourage participants to think about their own churches being safe for survivors in a more general sense, and in so doing become safer places to prevent abuse happening in the first place.

Continue to emphasise that it may not be at all possible to know whether there are any survivors in our congregations and wider church communities.

17 Section 8: Case studies

Slide 36 (30 minutes)

Slide 36

The course leads to the consideration of new case studies (9 to 15 inclusive) set out in the Foundation Module Trainers’ Notes. Ask participants to bring forward both their prior learning and what they have learnt today and apply them to these new studies. The format follows that of the FM, inviting participants to recognise concerns, respond to them, record key events and conversations and to consider to whom they should refer.

18 Section 9: Reflections and departures

Slides 37–40 (10 minutes)

Because this course is a refresher and addition to the original FM course, it will be important to obtain a wide sense of what additionally has been learnt to gauge the value of the session. The course aims have been to refresh people’s knowledge, raise awareness of newer forms of abuse and deliver some insights from the PCR to show where there are still improvements to be made, and so make the case for a change of culture. As this is the FM and not the Leadership Module, looking for significant or substantial initiatives on the part of all individuals may not be helpful. But it is hoped that everyone will have learnt one new thing and considered an action they might take in their situation.

It is recommended that trainers reserve a few minutes for this activity, which should involve all participants talking in twos or threes about their experience of the course and their learning, with key points recorded by the trainers on flip charts for all to see.

Slide 37

Slide 38

19 After devotions please thank participants for coming, and provide the necessary contact details for Circuit and District Safeguarding personnel.

Slide 39

Slide 40

20