Philip Winterbottom, Head of Safeguarding, David Wilmott, Director of Nursing and Tony Romero, our CEO opened the conference. They each reiterated the importance of safeguarding and encouraged staff to be brave and bold. They asked that we work together to engage staff, service users, residents, family and external agencies to provide the best possible support.
Throughout the day there were personal accounts of abuse, the first from Charmaine Twidale who was a Support Worker at Hope House, and is now co-production artist for Cygnet. Charmaine shared her experience of abuse, highlighting how it can be difficult to recognise. She went on to say how her manager at Hope House became a figure of support, helping her to re-integrate back into work by creating a safe space and encouraging her strengths. Charmaine’s advice to others was “Don’t feel ashamed to talk to someone, ask for help.”
Cygnet’s Freedom to Speak Up Guardians presented on the history of the guardian role, as well as the development of the ambassador role through training and continued support. In a video from an ambassador at Elston House, we saw how positive the role has been in the service not only in educating staff, but boosting team morale and job satisfaction.
We know that Safeguarding processes benefit hugely from a multi-agency approach and with feedback from those at the centre of our care. Ed Hall, Head of Education at Cygnet, shared how the curriculum within Cygnet’s Schools was co-produced with young people and parents in order to deliver the education that matters to them. The young people at Cygnet Hospital Sheffield shared what safeguarding means to them, including not only being kept safe, but feeling safe too.
The first external speaker of the day spoke passionately about transitional safeguarding. Dez Holmes, Director of Research in Practice, shared the important of seeing safeguarding as a verb – something to be done. She emphasised that our processes should be evidence based, using holistic and creative ways of working together.
Opening our afternoon session we had Kenny from NHS safeguarding sharing the message ‘We’re in this together’, a call to action for everyone working in care to share their experience and support safeguarding each other, as well as those in our care. He urged us to ‘learn from our excellence’ and drive improvement together. Three teams within Cygnet then shared some tips and best practise of how they embed safeguarding into day to day business and listen to our service users and residents in order to adapt our safeguarding processes.
Paige Barrs, Early Intervention Domestic Abuse Advisor, presented next on the use of technology in coercive control, and gave some helpful advice on how to talk to someone who may have experienced abuse:
- Listen and believe them
- Language matters and words have power
- Everyone has a right to the future that is not dictated by their past
- Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility
- Signpost to charities
- Don’t be afraid to talk to victims or survivors about staying safe online
Chellee Farnan, Liberty Protection Safeguards Clinical Lead, shared a short but important session on the Mental Health capacity act and the five principles that underpin it. She urged us to use the principles to empower those in our care.
Finally, the event ended with the safeguarding award presentations, the winners are featured below. The conference was a huge success, we would like to thank everyone that supported and those who attended. Congratulations to all the award winners.
Safeguarding Award Winners 2022
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- ‘Innovation in Safeguarding’ and ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’ – Awarded to Cygnet Social Care for their work on making information accessible.
- ‘Family and Carer Involvement’ – Awarded to the Cygnet Education Team for their continuous drive to engage and involve family and carers in the development of the services.
- ‘Staff Development’ – Awarded to Nome Njini at Cygnet Hospital Taunton, Taunton were recognised as a strong example of how safeguarding is embedded in the service.
- ‘Service User Involvement’ – Awarded to Cygnet Hospital Sheffield’s CAMHS Team for placing the young people at the heart of everything they do.
- ‘Spirit of Safeguarding’ – Awarded to Helen Brownhill at The Fields. Helen was recognised for being bold and brave, speaking up and being a role model for others.