The Cost of Caring: Impact of Bearing Witness

The morning session will focus on the well-being of professionals and staff across the system acknowledging the potential impact working across caring professions, public services and emergency services can have.

The session will be delivered by experienced Compassion Trainer Helen Williamson.  Helen has extensive experience in Social Work including substance misuse services and as a Safeguarding Lead for both Children’s and Adults.

Being exposed to trauma all the time and the same or similar issues can have an impact on you as an individual and as a practitioner.  The session will explore what is often known as secondary vicarious trauma and will explore the impacts including;

• Primary & Secondary Trauma
• Compassion Fatigue
• Moral Distress

Helen will support participants to recognise the signs in themselves and others and to identify what can help or support.  The session will also acknowledge the impact working in safeguarding and participating in SARs can have on individuals acknowledging the distressing content of reviews.

Learning from Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs)

Suzy Braye is Emerita Professor of Social Work and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Her professional background is in social work and in the management of local authority social services. Suzy’s  research interests are legal literacy in social work, adult social care policy and practice, adult safeguarding and self-neglect.  Suzy’s research into self-neglect, has been influential on the development of legislation and policy on self-neglect and has been used by Safeguarding Adults Boards, local authorities, NHS organisations and others to inform their work.   Suzy practices as an independent consultant in adult safeguarding, engaging in research, training and practice development, and acting as an independent reviewer in statutory Safeguarding Adult Reviews.  Suzy is currently commissioned to undertake a thematic self-neglect, Safeguarding Adults Review in Cumbria.

This session will explore learning from the 2^nd National Analysis of SARs which identified priorities for sector-led improvements. The analysis builds on the findings of the first national analysis, published in 2020, which considered learning from SARs completed between 2017 and 2019. View the second national analysis: April 2019 – March 2023 on local.gov.uk. 

The analysis found the most common abuse type being self-neglect, which featured in 60% of cases - a marked rise in comparison with its 45 per cent in the first national analysis. 

Self-Neglect in Cumbria – Thematic SAR Learning

CSAB have commissioned a thematic review concerning 6 adults who were experiencing and who died as a consequence of self-neglect.  Suzy will share the early learning from the SAR and a ‘temperature check’ event held in Cumbria to identify what is working well and the barriers and challenges for front line practice. 

Hear Our story: Lisa and Julie

Cumbria Safeguarding Adults Board are grateful to a family, two sisters Lisa and Julie who will speak openly about their brother and share his lived experience of self-neglect which sadly contributed to his death. 

Lisa and Julie will share in their own words their brother’s story, the circumstances which sadly led to his death and the challenges they faced as a family, following his death.

‘Care & Support Needs’: The Care Act 2014

Care and support is the term used to describe the help some adults need in order that they can live in the best way they can, despite any illness or disability they might have. There is no one legal definition of an adult with care and support needs, identifying adults at risk from abuse or neglect who have needs for care and support can often present challenges for frontline practitioners.

Learning from SARs highlights missed opportunities to identify adults with care and support needs and safeguard them from abuse or neglect.  This is particularly relevant to learning from self-neglect SARs.

In this session Suzy Braye will support to improve understanding of the term ‘care and support needs’ in its widest sense as the legislation defines. 

Modern Day Slavery

The session will provide delegates with an understanding of the term Modern Day Slavery (MDS) as an umbrella term for the different types of exploitation.  The session will improve understanding of the types of MDS and how to report concerns.

The session will explore in some detail sexual exploitation to improve awareness as a type of MDS ensuring this is recognised and reported appropriately to safeguard individuals.  This was learning identified in recent published SARs.

It is reported nationally in the media the growing concerns relating to exploitation in the care sector.  This specifically relates to individuals employed by providers and are then exploited in some way.  The session will cover the red flags to look out for and reporting processes.