Hello all and welcome to the latest edition of our L&D newsletter. As recent Storm Arwen made clear, we are now very much in Winter!

Don’t worry though, we have plenty of learning and development opportunities on the horizon to brighten up the cold, long winter days. Whether you are looking to learn about something new or refresh your knowledge in a particular area, there will be something for you, so why not grab a mince pie and a cuppa and plan your next piece of CPD.

Wishing you all a lovely festive season.

Fiona

I joined the NHS Tayside Adult Protection Team in February 2021 in one of several new roles created, reflecting the increasing NHS Tayside commitment to meeting health responsibilities in adult safeguarding.

My background is in mental health nursing and then Care Management in Angus Integrated Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service (AIDARS) where I focused on adult protection work.

My new role has given me the opportunity to develop my knowledge base in this complex area.  I'm currently in my second year of a MSc in Applied Professional Studies in Adult Protection at Stirling University.

I joined the L&D sub group as part of my new role with the aim of promoting the involvement and engagement of NHS Tayside staff across the range of protecting people topics.

Susan Torrance, Adult Protection Advisor

Angus Child Protection Committee Open Sessions for Third Sector staff in 2022

Tuesday 1 March 2022 at 1pm – 2pm

Tuesday 7 June 2022 at 1pm – 2pm

Tuesday 6 September 2022 at 1pm – 2pm

Tuesday 6 December 2022 at 1pm – 2pm

You are invited to an MS Teams virtual drop-in session to:
• Meet your Child Protection Committee Third Sector Representative
• Hear about the work of the Child Protection Committee
• Share information back and forth between Third Sector Children’s Organisations in Angus and the Angus Child Protection Committee

Hosted by Trudy Doidge, Third Sector Representative and Laura Findleton, Child Protection Committee Development Officer

To reserve a place email ProtectingPeopleAngus@angus.gov.uk or

trudy.doidge@parent-to-parent.org

The role of Development Officer for the Angus Community Justice Partnership with Protecting People Angus

I joined Protecting People Angus on secondment as Development Officer for the Angus Community Justice Partnership in 2019. My role involves supporting and bringing together the various statutory and third sector partners within the partnership to develop our  three-year strategic plan aimed at meeting the needs of our local community and keeping them safe. I provide an annual report to Community Justice Scotland on the work partnership services have achieved together and act as a buffer between Community Justice Scotland and the partnership to meet directives from the Scottish Government.   I help organise and co-facilitate learning sessions to promote workforce/services knowledge around what is going on in Justice and undertake small pieces of research that give people with lived experience an opportunity to have a voice. I work closely with my colleagues at PPA to identify and meet the shared priorities of each other’s partnerships to prevent duplicating work and find new ways of working together to benefit the community.

Prior to my secondment, I was a social worker with Justice, working with males who were in conflict with the law and subsequently becoming subject to a Court Order. The secondment has allowed me to gain experience of our partner services, whilst remaining  involved with Justice services. My secondment has given me a greater understanding of the connections between operational and strategic levels and the importance of the partnerships role within the community. I hugely enjoy the diverse range of tasks I’m involved with, I’m kept busy and keep learning new things, although often felt out of my ‘comfort zone’ – all part of the learning process I suppose!!

Angie Pert, Development Officer (Whole System Approach & Community Justice Collaboration)

Angus Council’s Glen Isla and Glen Clova Project who support women affected by domestic abuse are piloting an initiative, with the support of Police Scotland, to offer vulnerable people in Angus the opportunity to access Hollie Guard Extra, a personal safety service through their own mobile phone.

Hollie Guard Extra’s core function is helping to keep people safe through its 24/7 monitoring service on their mobile phone. If an alert is raised the 24/7 service can see the person’s location in real-time. Audio and video evidence is created by the alert, allowing a suitable response, for example the police, ambulance. This evidence also assists police pursuing criminal prosecutions.

There’s also a free version of the app called Hollie Guard which is available for anyone to download onto any Android phone or iPhone, turning their phone into personal safety device that can be triggered if the user is ever in danger. The app was created by the Hollie Gazzard Trust, which was formed following the murder of 20-year-old Hollie Gazzard in 2014 by her ex-partner. Hollie had experienced domestic abuse and stalking prior to being fatally stabbed at her place of work.

https://hollieguard.com/

Learning Bite - Coercive Control Explained

What if survivors stories could help professionals understand how abusers entrap their victims…

Watch this short 5 minute video of survivors Luke and Ryan Hart explaining what coercive control meant to their family and how their fathers pattern of behaviour impacted on their lives.

Our Promise to You
#AngusPromisePlan

Getting it right for looked after children, young people and care leavers in Angus

Please see the links for the corporate parenting young person’s progress report for 2017 - 2020 and the Angus Promise.

Hard copies of the report and promise will be send out in due course to our care experienced children and young people.  

It’s really important that all our care experienced children, young people and care leaves are able to see the progress made by their corporate parents and importantly the corporate parents promise for the next few years.

If you know of any care experienced children, young people or care leavers who would like to get involved in corporate parenting events or would like to share their views and suggestion on how the care we provide can be improved please contact the C&YPManagers mailbox (C&YPMANAGERS@angus.gov.uk)and we will get back to the young person.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

Karen Ross, Senior Practitioner - Children, Families and Justice

What difference can using Safe and Together principles make?

The language that we use can have an impact on the outcomes for families and the engagement from survivors to partner with us. We must hold the perpetrators behaviour to account while highlighting the strengths of the survivor. Below is a case example from Safe and Together showing how changing the language used can give a better insight into the family circumstances.

Case note pre Safe and Together:

On 24 February 2017, David assaulted Margaret.  David was arrested, charged and remanded in custody.

Case note after Safe and Together training:

On 24 February 2017, David assaulted Margaret by punching her on the face, causing two black eyes and a swollen jaw (perpetrator pattern).  Margaret called the police (protective effort), and David was detained, charged and remanded in custody.  David has three convictions of domestic abuse against two previous partners (perpetrator pattern).

Margaret said they began arguing because David was unhappy that she had allowed Connor to go to the shops on his own in the dark.  Margaret also said she had sent Connor to the shops because David had come home drunk, and she wanted Connor out of the way in case David “kicked off” (protective effort).  

Connor was kept awake due to the police being in attendance at his house. Connor slept in for school the next day, so was late.  Connor was already on a behaviour card, and got in trouble from his guidance teacher, who had not yet been made aware of the police incident (impact on the child). 

This incident happened two days before Connor’s 13th birthday.  Because Margaret had visible injuries to her face, Connor asked that she cancel his birthday trip to bowling, as he was too embarrassed to let his friends see his mum’s face (impact on the child).  

Because Margaret had called the police on David, David’s family fell out with Margaret.  Connor was therefore unable to see his paternal grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins around the time of his birthday, nor did he receive presents from them. Connor was made to visit his dad in prison on the day of his birthday (impact on the child). 

As David controlled the family finances , Margaret did not have full access to money while David was on remand (perpetrator pattern).  Margaret was unable to purchase Connor the computer game he wanted for his birthday (impact on the child).  

Connor said he had “the worst birthday ever”, and that he was angry with his mum for calling the police.

‘Good Practice in Domestic Abuse and Safe & Together Principles’ learning sessions will be available for multi-agency partners in Angus throughout 2022! Further information will be available in the January newsletter.

Angus delegates attended White Ribbon Speaker training in November 2021 to learn about Gender Based Violence and how to be an active bystander.

Further sessions will take place in the New Year and further information will follow about how you can invite a speaker along to your team, community or event to discuss the White Ribbon Campaign in Angus.

You can also sign your own pledge to “never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women in all its forms” on the

Angus Campaign page 

The campaign video will be available in the January newsletter.