Meet our Safeguarding Team

#HelloHumber

Our Safeguarding team’s role is support practitioners to protect and safeguard children, young people and adults who access our services and are in our communities.

We recently spoke to several members of the team, to get to know more about what they do, what they love about working together and what they would say to others aspiring to work in Safeguarding.

 

Rachael

What is your role in the Safeguarding team?

I am the Named Professional for Safeguarding Adults, MCA and Prevent Lead, and have overall managerial responsibility for the Safeguarding team

What does Safeguarding mean to you?

Safeguarding to me is about protecting people’s rights to be free from abuse and neglect, giving people a voice and opportunity to speak out, promoting empowerment and choice. It’s about promoting a person’s wellbeing and ensuring that this is kept at the centre of all the work we do

Why do you find it important/meaningful to work in Safeguarding?

Safeguarding is key across all organisations and communities, safeguarding can be challenging and complex but also very rewarding. I love working with our service users, families and our partner agencies to ensure that those who are most vulnerable in our communities are given a voice and supported to be free from harm. The learning and experience from each engagement I have with service users is really important to me and helps me to continue to develop in my role but also within the organisation.

If you could give any advice to someone who is hoping to work in Safeguarding, what would it be?

A lot of emotional resilience is needed and the ability to challenge in a positive way, but always keep the service user at the heart of everything you do.

What is your favourite thing about being part of the Safeguarding team?

My Team, their commitment, dedication and hard work, is inspiring in every way.

 

Helen

What is your role in the Safeguarding team?

I am a Specialist Safeguarding Practitioner, who has particular responsibility for overseeing the safeguarding training that is provided by the Trust. 

What does Safeguarding mean to you?

It means ensuring that our patients, their carers and families can be assured that their safety and well-being is at the heart of our services.

Why do you find it important/meaningful to work in Safeguarding?

It can be challenging, frustrating and often distressing, but never boring or mundane! I genuinely feel we are making a real contribution to keeping our patients safe.

If you could give any advice to someone who is hoping to work in Safeguarding, what would it be?

Get as much experience as you can, take advantage of all learning and development opportunities, develop your emotional resilience and make sure you have people to support you outside of work.

What is your favourite thing about being part of the Safeguarding team?

The Team! Without them I would not be able to do my job.

 

Sally

What is your role in the Safeguarding team?

Safeguarding Specialist Practitioner

What does Safeguarding mean to you?

Safeguarding means supporting children and adults to keep safe in a way that does not restrict them or cause them to be unhappy and have an improved lived experience.

Why do you find it important/meaningful to work in Safeguarding?

I started out working as a midwife across the most deprived areas of Manchester, I was exposed to safeguarding from day one in my training. When I started working as a health visitor, I felt safeguarding was more my niche than anything else, there are often many sad and traumatic cases you get involved in, but equally you get to be part of the team who aim to improve outcomes.

I really enjoy trying to make a difference, but supporting in a way that aims to increase independence. There is nothing more meaningful than seeing improvements to the lived experience of those we work with, whether this be a child, an adult or a family unit, it is very rewarding.

If you could give any advice to someone who is hoping to work in Safeguarding, what would it be?

Shadow as much as possible and gain all the experience you can, I regularly have staff members shadow me at MARAC meetings. Empathy is a strong requirement to the role, we need to try and understand what is happening for the individuals we are discussing and making sense of the level of risk. Safeguarding is something you learn that needs to be done with not done to.

What is your favourite thing about being part of the Safeguarding team?

I really enjoy interacting with staff across so many different areas, the team are supportive and always willing to help each other out.

 

Carol

What is your role in the Safeguarding team?

I am a Safeguarding Practitioner.

In our team, we provide both adult and children’s safeguarding advice. My role calls on my adult nursing background, experience as a Community Staff Nurse with Health Visiting and Public Health Qualification - School Nursing.

What does Safeguarding mean to you?

Focusing on the “what if” and providing a challenge from a Safeguarding perspective. Providing support to our frontline colleagues across the wide variety inpatient and community services, whose workload has been unprecedented since I joined the Safeguarding Team in August 2020.

Why do you find it important/meaningful to work in Safeguarding?

As a previous School Nurse I appreciated any supervision discussion provided to me from the Safeguarding Team - especially at that moment when you feel “I could not be more concerned about this situation”. It always felt very helpful to talk it through and gain some perspective and support/advice.

If you could give any advice to someone who is hoping to work in Safeguarding, what would it be?

Keep up to date with any training opportunities available. Prior to securing my current role, I was fortunate to attend separate adult and children safeguarding conferences at the University of Hull; both of which I used in my preparation and presentation during interviews.

Also try to attend our Safeguarding monthly “Lunch and Learn” sessions via MS Teams, which replace the previous Safeguarding Development sessions and feature subjects suggested by our staff. You can contact our Communications team for the joining link.

What is your favourite thing about being part of the Safeguarding team?

All the practitioners in the team take turns to be Duty Safeguarding Practitioners and deal with everything that comes in. It is sheer variety that I find really interesting and keeps me on my toes. I learn and take away something new every day. I especially appreciate the support and camaraderie from my Safeguarding Team colleagues, they are all great!