We recently had the real pleasure of delivering two half-day safeguarding training sessions to the team at New Key Support.

The two sessions were designed to build on each other. The first half-day focused on the legislative framework, unpacking the legislation that underpins both children’s and adult safeguarding and ensuring the whole team had a solid, shared foundation to work from. The second brought that legislation to life by applying it directly to the context of supported accommodation, looking at what makes a meaningful referral and exploring the roles of professionals after a referral has been made, including the impact of shame on the people we work with and the importance of repair and reconnection.

We always strive to make safeguarding training feel real rather than theoretical, and that is so much easier when a team shows up the way New Key Support did. The level of engagement in the room was brilliant – people asked honest questions, challenged their own thinking and weren’t afraid to sit with the complex parts. That created exactly the kind of rich, meaningful conversations that bring the subject to life in a way no slide deck ever could on its own.

Because safeguarding is genuinely complex work. It is not just about knowing the legislation, it is about understanding how it applies in the messy, nuanced reality of supporting people day to day. It asks a great deal of the professionals who do it, which is why we always want to leave space in our training not just for the content, but for the reminder that teams need to look after each other, lean on each other and sustain themselves in work that can be heavy to carry.

Thank you to New Key Support for having us back. It was a privilege and we hope to be in the room with you again soon.