Our annual Clergy Safeguarding Training Conference was held on Tuesday 19th November at Buckfast Abbey. We had 120 clergy attend from across the diocese. A small number of our Parish Safeguarding Representatives were also in attendance. The training was led by Sebastian Caro from the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) who presented their new safeguarding training programme.
During the morning the training covered topics including: the CSSA’s 8 national safeguarding standards, how to respond well to low-level concerns, the cost-of-living crisis and developing a pastoral pathway for survivors of abuse. In the final session of the morning, Martin Christmas-Nelson, the Team Manager of Safe Spaces talked about working with victim-survivors. Martin gave some guidance to the clergy about how they could communicate helpfully and support someone who shares that they have been abused.
The training topics in the afternoon included Safer Recruitment and understanding grooming. The final session of the day gave an opportunity to the clergy to ask the Safeguarding Coordinator/Team questions.
At the conclusion of the training, the clergy were asked to write down their reflections about the day and consider what they intend to change in their safeguarding ministry.