Training Reflections by Matthew Shrine
The topic of child protection and the law is one that has become ubiquitous in society in recent years, with a continuous stream of sensational news headlines about historical child abuse cases involving a variety of high profile figures, to news stories involving children being killed or dying due to being neglected. Many charities and organisations as well as individuals that are involved in these kinds of cases would agree that the Savile scandal marked a distinctive turning point in societal attitudes, legislation and the responsibilities that are put on both organisations and individuals in relation to protecting children from harm.
There has been a wide spread adoption of training programmes and increased awareness around responsibilities and accountability. This has not only taken place in the more traditional setting, such as the education sector, child care services and social and welfare service, but has now been extended across the board. It is now an important topic that everyone needs to be aware of no matter if they work directly with children or not. I feel that you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would argue that it is not vital that as many professions, organisations and individuals as possible are provided with opportunities to undertake informative, interesting and most of all, practically relevant training in the complex area of child protection and the law.
From working in a variety of mental health care settings, I have been required to undertake a number of child protection and vulnerable adults safeguarding training courses. However, unfortunately in my experience most of these have felt merely like a tick box exercise, allowing staff and employers to meet the minimum requirements enforced by legislation and policies. They often involve undertaking online training with multiple-choice questions and often are very general and lack contextual and practical information and advice.
However, when I went to the training from the outset I quickly realised that this was nothing like the other training I have done. In fact, from start to finish it felt completely different. It was not just a person standing in front of a room giving a lecture, it was informative, relevant and beyond all else the trainer knew what he was talking about, had a wealth of experience and was more than willing to answer any questions that we had. The tutor, Richard O’Hagan, is a consultant Solicitor in the Child Care department based in Birmingham. As well as being a member of the Law Societies Children Panel, he is also a part time Judge and assessor for the Law Society. As such, he is the perfect candidate to run this kind of training. I found him to be down to earth, easy to talk to and very much put me at ease when talking about such a complex and often confusing topic.
The day started with an introduction and overview of the legal framework as it relates to child protection. This provided me with an in-depth understanding of the key terms, process and procedures involved in legal child protection cases and processes. This built a solid base on which we were all able to understand the afternoon information that was more specific to the context of counselling. In the afternoon, the training continued with a discussion about how child protection issues are relevant to the work we do as therapists. This really helped me to understand not only the legal framework, but how it related in a practical way to my job role, and how to respond and act in specific situations that counsellors commonly find themselves in. Finally, the day ended with an opportunity to present any questions or discuss any real life cases that we have had experience with, while Richard listened intently and offered advice and guidance where he could.
In summary, I found both the trainer and the training provider [Citizen Coaching: Birmingham Counselling Services] informative and very helpful on a practical basis. I felt that Richard understood the field and the potential situations and issues that therapists have to deal with and was able to offer realistic practical advice and guidance in how to navigate a variety of complex issues appropriately. I felt it has really boosted my confidence and understanding, and made me feel more comfortable to work with clients where such issues could present themselves. I would highly recommended the course and the training centre to any counsellors from any modality. Finally, I feel that it should be made compulsory in contemporary society given the commonality of such issues and situations.
Matthew Shrine, Volunteer Counsellor