Safeguarding Policy
Next review date: 1st September 2025
Talk2Nish Peer Mentors acknowledges the need to protect any young people it works with and will adhere to Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024.
The main goal of this safeguarding policy is to safeguard all young people from harm while promoting their wellbeing across our organisation. This applies to any training given, whether online or in person and Talk2Nish Peer Mentors will always check that any training organisation it works with has a safeguarding policy in place which is subject to regular review in order to keep up to date with the latest statutory guidance. It will also make clear that only appropriately trained professionals should attempt to make a diagnosis of a mental health problem.
Talk2Nish Peer Mentors also aims to:
Establish a safe and secure atmosphere for training sessions where learners and school staff may voice their concerns and are taken seriously.
Ensure that all staff members are aware of their obligations regarding safeguarding.
Establish a clear reporting structure should a concern be expressed, which all trustees are aware of
Establish a whistleblowing process which protects the confidentiality of the person making the complaint
Prioritise safeguarding throughout the training process.
Promote a whole school approach to mental health.
Types of Abuse:
Financial - Can involve misuse or appropriation of property, belongings, or advantages; theft; fraud; internet scamming; coercion in respect to an adult's financial affairs or arrangements; and coercion in connection with wills, property, inheritance; or financial transactions.
Physical - Can involve physical abuse such as assault, hitting, slapping, pushing, drug abuse, restraint, or improper physical punishment. However, there is an awareness that harm can include ill treatment that is not physical as well as the impact of witnessing ill treatment of
others.
Online - such as cyber harassment or abuse.
Neglect - Can include denying access to necessary health, care, support, or educational services, ignoring medical, mental, or physical care needs, and denying access to basic essentials like medication, nourishing food, and heat.
Sexual - Includes rape, indecent exposure, sexual harassment, inappropriate looking or touching, sexual teasing or innuendo, sexual photography, subjection to pornography or witnessing sexual acts, indecent exposure and sexual assault, or sexual acts to which the adult has not consented or was pressured into consenting.
Psychological/Emotional - Can involve the withholding of contact, humiliation, blaming, controlling, intimidation, coercion, harassment, verbal abuse, cyberbullying, isolation, or the unfair and unjustified withdrawal of services or supportive networks.
Organisational - Can involve abuse or subpar care practices within a business or particular care environment or at home. This might include isolated occurrences as well as persistent mistreatment. The structure, policies, procedures, and practices used inside an organisation may result in neglect or bad professional practice.
Discriminatory - Including racial, gendered, age, handicap, sexual orientation, or religious discrimination in the form of harassment, slurs, or similar abuse.
Self-Neglect - This encompasses behaviours like hoarding and a wide range of other behaviours including disregarding your personal cleanliness, health, or surroundings.
Domestic – Can involve psychological, physical violence, financial, power, emotion, or so-called "honour," among other things.
Modern Slavery – Can include forced labour, domestic servitude, and human trafficking. Slave owners and traffickers coerce, manipulate, and force people into a life of abuse, slavery, and harsh treatment using any methods at their disposal.
Peer-on-peer sexual abuse includes the following:
Sexual violence, including rape, sexual assault, and assault by penetration.
Sexual harassment, including sexual comments, statements, jokes, and online sexual harassment, can be isolated incidents or part of a larger pattern of abuse.
Upskirting is the act of secretly photographing a person's genitalia or buttocks for sexual enjoyment or to cause the victim shame, anguish, or alarm.
Sexting (also known as "youth-produced sexual images") is the act of sending or receiving sexually explicit text messages.
Harmful Sexual Behaviour: Sexual behaviours exhibited by children and adolescents under the age of 18 that are developmentally inappropriate, potentially damaging to the kid or others, or abusive towards another child, teen, or adult.
Key Principles
Talk2Nish Peer Mentors will guarantee that:
- Trustees and trainers will treat all individuals with respect and decency in an atmosphere free of harassment and discrimination and will act in accordance with the Equality Act.
- All training rooms, facilities, and equipment will conform with statutory health and safety standards and provide a safe and secure learning environment under the supervision and guidance of qualified personnel.
- Talk2Nish Peer Mentors will make its safeguarding policy available to all those it works with.
- Talk2Nish Peer Mentors will ensure the trainers it works with are educated on the indicators of abuse and the reporting processes, work with students to enhance their health, well-being and safety, especially their online safety and proactively promote awareness of safeguarding, including radicalisation and extremism in order to prevent individuals from being drawn into terrorism.
- Young people the peer mentors work with will receive confidential advice, direction and assistance for a variety of challenges they may encounter. They will be directed to pastoral support in their school or external agencies if they require specialised assistance.
- Talk2Nish Peer mentors will regularly review its safeguarding procedures, taking into account any new government legislation, regulations or best practice documents, to ensure that all trustees are fully informed of their responsibilities and obligations pertaining to the safety and well-being of children.
- Talk2Nish Peer Mentors will handle any complaints of abuse by trustees in accordance with its governance document
Online Learning
Keeping learners and trainers safe during remote education through secure platforms is crucial. Talk2Nish Peer Mentors will check that any training organisation it works with has safeguarding processes in place regarding online learning and that there is clear guidance in place with regard to reporting any safeguarding concerns.
Recording Concerns
The organisation will maintain precise and exhaustive written records of any disclosures and/or claims of abuse. It will adhere to the rules of the Data Protection Act of 1998.