In this podcast episode, Katy Tomkinson and Rowan Wolfe, who deliver our HSB service, talk about: what denial and shame might look like in children and young people the physical signs and non-verbal cues that children might display when talking about their experiences building trusting relationships and using therapeutic and trauma-informed approaches exercises for practitioners to help understand children’s lived experiences and explore feelings of shame and denial the impact on children of par...
Feb 28, 2022•28 min•Ep. 49
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NSPCC's national helpline saw a 35% increase in contacts about domestic abuse.1 In response to these rising figures, the NSPCC secured funding from the COVID-19 Support Fund to launch a three-year domestic abuse project and extend the capacity of the helpline to support contacts who have experienced domestic abuse. This project included the appointment of two Domestic Abuse Practice Advisors, Lisa Begley and Naomi Hawthorne. In this episode, Li...
Jan 31, 2022•28 min•Ep. 48
Neglect is a form of child abuse that can have serious and long-lasting effects on a child’s life, but it can be difficult to recognise. In the second episode in this two-part podcast series exploring what can be done to support children and families experiencing neglect, Dawn Hodson, the NSPCC’s development lead for neglect, Mandi Tambourini-Moore, a family support worker for Liverpool Children’s Services, Lisa Shannon, the Graded Care Coordinator from Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and Sharo...
Dec 06, 2021•23 min•Ep. 47
Neglect is a form of child abuse that can have serious and long-lasting effects on a child’s life, but it can be difficult to recognise. In the first episode, Dawn Hodson, the NSPCC’s development lead for neglect, Mandi Tambourini-Moore, a family support worker for Liverpool Children’s Services, Lisa Shannon, the Graded Care Coordinator from Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and Sharon Graham, an Early Help Manager at Shropshire Council discuss: what neglect is and some of the harder to spot sign...
Dec 06, 2021•30 min•Ep. 46
TA-HSB is when children and young people use the internet or technology such as mobile phones to engage in sexual activity that may be harmful to themselves or others. Listen to Pat Branigan, the NSPCC’s Associate Head of Development, Emma Hodgson, an NSPCC development social worker and Carol Carson from the AIM Project discuss: the prevalence and different forms of TA-HSB the NSPCC's research into this area the challenges for professionals around the fast-paced nature of technology resources av...
Nov 29, 2021•25 min•Ep. 45
Continuing on from episode 43, social workers and children’s practitioners, Katy Tomkinson and Rowan Wolfe, talk about planning therapeutic sessions and assessing children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviour. You’ll learn more about: preparing therapeutic session plans and helping children explore their life experiences through the use of timelines, family trees and cartoons addressing sensitive topics such as sex and HSB, and exploring children and young people’s unders...
Nov 22, 2021•31 min•Ep. 44
Hear NSPCC practitioners talk about conducting therapeutic sessions with children and young people and understanding how to manage incidents of harmful sexual behaviour. You'll hear us discuss: creating safe spaces in therapeutic session and using different techniques and strategies providing clarity around confidentiality and safeguarding when working with children and young people managing expectations of assessments their own experiences of working with children and young people. This episode...
Nov 15, 2021•28 min•Ep. 43
We spoke to Jahnine Davis, co-founder of Listen Up, about her work into exploring the lack of representation of Black girls’ experiences in research and child sexual abuse services, including suggestions to help improve practice. Ineke Houtenbos, a senior consultant with the NSPCC, and Jahnine discuss: why the experiences of Black girls are missing from research and the impact on policy and practice key findings from Jahnine’s research, including the experiences of participants learning to impro...
Sep 27, 2021•37 min•Ep. 42
A child or young person’s identity and lived experience can affect how they engage with professionals and services. This episode features Jahnine Davis and Nick Marsh, founders of Listen Up , where we explore intersectionality and its application within safeguarding practice. Ineke Houtenbos, a senior consultant at the NSPCC, leads the discussion around: what intersectionality is why intersectional thinking is important in safeguarding the impact of not taking an intersectional approach when wor...
Aug 23, 2021•33 min•Ep. 41
In this episode, we discuss the complexities of domestic abuse and why it is a safeguarding and child protection issue. We talk about the main themes that emerged from our learning from case reviews briefing on domestic abuse and share what we see in practice. Exposure to domestic abuse has a direct impact on children and can affect their physical health and mental wellbeing. Just because it isn’t disclosed, does not mean that a child or family you’re working with isn’t experiencing it. Listen t...
Jul 26, 2021•28 min•Ep. 40
The internet can be a useful resource for children and young people to learn, access educational materials and stay in touch with friends and family. Now more than ever, young people are using tablets, laptops and mobile phones to interact with others, especially during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. But with this comes an increased risk of technology-assisted child sexual abuse (TA-CSA), bullying and grooming , which can affect children outside of the online world. We invited practitioner...
Feb 22, 2021•26 min•Ep. 39
Volunteers play an important role in helping to engage vulnerable families in a service and can provide ongoing peer support on a one-to-one basis. We commissioned a review that explores current research evidence on involving volunteers in delivering services to support families and examine the outcomes for parents, children and volunteers. In this episode, we’re joined by the authors of the review, Dr. Louca-Mai Brady and Berni Graham, as well as Dr Georgia Hyde-Dryden, who is a part of the NSP...
Jan 25, 2021•22 min•Ep. 38
The past nine months has been difficult for everyone. Lockdowns, social distancing measures and local restrictions meant that adults working with children had to change the way they operate. But how have we adapted and how has COVID impacted on the NSPCC’s priorities? In this episode, we reflect on the past nine months with our CEO, Peter Wanless, discussing the issues and challenges children and young people are facing; what child protection and safeguarding themes have emerged; delivering serv...
Dec 11, 2020•26 min•Ep. 37
Listen to the episode to hear key learning from the research and how it’ll help develop practice; why we’ve adapted our service delivery models; what families, practitioners, facilitators and external partners think about the changes; and how the voice of the child was captured. Read the podcast transcript on the NSPCC Learning website . 💬 About the speakers Michelle Maybury is a project manager at the NSPCC with a key responsibility for all the services currently within our Scale-Up portfolio,...
Nov 30, 2020•19 min•Ep. 36
Our Baby Steps service – a perinatal education programme – has been designed to help prepare people for becoming new parents. Our service ensures the mental health and wellbeing of parents, healthy development of the child and that there’s a positive relationship between the child and parents. We’ve released a new podcast episode that focuses on how we’ve delivered our Baby Steps service with our external partners during the pandemic and what changed. If you're interested in the research we unde...
Nov 30, 2020•28 min•Ep. 35
Over the last few months, our Speak out Stay safe volunteers and staff have been unable to visit primary schools to help children understand what abuse is and that they have the right to be safe. In order to continue to reach every child during the pandemic, we’ve worked hard to launch an online version of the programme that can be used in the classroom. Hear us discuss: how COVID-19 has affected the Speak out Stay safe programme and children’s lives the development of the online programme and t...
Oct 19, 2020•17 min•Ep. 34
Domestic abuse can both directly and indirectly disrupt the relationship between a parent and their child (Humphreys et al, 20061; Buchanan, 20182). Abuse can happen in any relationship, and both males and females can be abused or be abusers. It’s important to recognise that children are never just witnesses to domestic abuse but they also experience it. For the last ten years, the NSPCC has been running a service called Domestic Abuse, Recovering Together (DART™) which is a ten-week group work ...
Sep 28, 2020•24 min•Ep. 33
The tutoring sector is largely unregulated. However, like teachers, tutors are also responsible for ensuring the young people they work with are protected. Students may open up to them about what is going on in their lives. It could be related to abuse, neglect or any other concerns they have. Therefore, it’s vital that all tutors are aware of their safeguarding responsibilities and what appropriate practices and behaviour are so they don’t put a child or themselves at risk. In this episode, you...
Aug 24, 2020•19 min•Ep. 32
Every young person’s experience of the pandemic and lockdown has been different. Some have been confronted with new challenges during this period and are finding new ways to cope. Others may have limited contact with a trusted adult or someone with a safeguarding responsibility who they can turn to for support. We invited Kirsty Donnelly and Robert Burns who both work for Childline to talk to us about what children and young people have been telling them in counselling sessions and online messag...
Jul 27, 2020•26 min•Ep. 31
Social distancing measures and lockdown has made it difficult for practitioners to provide direct contact to children and families. Other than occasional doorstep visits, check-ins are no longer face-to-face but take place through video and telephone calls. How are practitioners ensuring that children and families’ needs are still being met? You'll hear from a children’s services practitioner about: the pressures of lockdown and the long-term impact, including looking out for concerning signs of...
Jun 29, 2020•21 min•Ep. 30
Schools have been at the frontline in supporting the wellbeing of vulnerable children since the lockdown began in March 2020. From remote learning and online platforms to taking on a more active pastoral role, how have schools responded to the challenges? In this episode, we speak to Shirley Dunn, a form tutor and head of department at a secondary school about measures her school has taken to safeguard children including: remote teaching and how pupils have responded to this supporting children’...
Jun 22, 2020•16 min•Ep. 29
Some children and young people are starting to go back to school and teachers are preparing to welcome pupils back after a three-month hiatus. But what’s happened in the past few months? How have schools adjusted to the new ‘normal’ and what will change now that these pupils have begun to return? We invited Kay Joel, NSPCC’s Senior Education Consultant to talk about the current situation and provide an insight into the enquiries the NSPCC’s Library and Information service has received from peopl...
Jun 15, 2020•19 min•Ep. 28
During the perinatal period (during pregnancy and up to a year after birth), parents can be under a lot of pressure. They may also be dealing with feelings of anxiety, stress or depression. The effects of social distancing due to coronavirus may also increase mental health issues and without the right support, this can make it difficult for parents to care for and connect with their baby. First up in our coronavirus series, we are joined by a midwife, health visitors and perinatal psychiatry exp...
Jun 08, 2020•21 min•Ep. 27
In this month’s podcast episode we discuss our learning from case reviews briefing on infants with three social workers. Case reviews are conducted when a child has died or been seriously injured due to abuse or neglect. Reviewing the learning from reviews can help us to identify areas of practice to focus on and improve. Infants under two may not be able to verbally express what they see and experience to social workers and practitioners. So how do you decide on whether you need to intervene an...
Mar 09, 2020•26 min•Ep. 26
What is good practice for preventing harmful sexual behaviour? We explore how you can use preventative and proactive measures to protect young people and manage incidents of sexualised behaviour appropriately. In this episode, you’ll learn about: delivering PSHE education programmes and relationships and sex education (RSE) providing the right support for young people in educational settings, the wider community or online what you can do to help staff in dealing with peer-on-peer sexualised beha...
Feb 10, 2020•29 min•Ep. 25
It can be hard to determine what is healthy, problematic, inappropriate or serious sexual behaviour in schools, particularly where there are limited resources available. This is where specialist provision and services can help. They can support you in assessing the young person who has displayed sexually harmful behaviour and help you to understand the nature and extent of this behaviour. However, not all behaviour concerns will require a referral to a specialist service. In this episode, our gu...
Jan 27, 2020•31 min•Ep. 24
Around a third of child sexual abuse is by other children or young people (Hackett, 2014). Educational settings play a key role in identifying and preventing harmful sexual behaviour. However, this can be difficult to manage without adversely affecting the education of both the child and young person that has experienced the abuse and the child who has displayed the behaviour. This episode will help you to understand: the issues schools, colleges and academies are currently seeing and why there’...
Jan 13, 2020•27 min•Ep. 23
The NSPCC developed Love Life in partnership with Dr. El Stannage and Connecting Youth Culture for young people with learning difficulties or special educational needs. The films and resources help support adults in starting conversations with young people aged 11 to 25 about topics such as feelings, privacy and boundaries, relationships and online safety. Listen to our episode to find out: why and how the films and resources were developed how the resources can be delivered the benefits these r...
Dec 09, 2019•24 min•Ep. 22
Listen to this week’s episode to learn about: the Steps to Safety programme, including the research behind the service and its development process what the outcomes were from the feasibility study and what we learnt from the service how practitioners assessed parents, delivered sessions and modules and used Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) the challenges practitioners encountered whilst implementing the pilot programme how children’s voices were considered at each stage to ensure the service was...
Nov 25, 2019•30 min•Ep. 21
Joining us for this episode, Sarah discusses: our report findings including the key issues for parents and carers the need for accessible relationships and sex education for children and young people with disabilities how parents and carers can work with schools to provide children with consistent messages around relationships and sex education involving children, young people and their parents and carers in the development of services and approaches to preventing sexual abuse Read the podcast t...
Nov 11, 2019•31 min•Ep. 20
