14:51, Thursday, 22nd May 2025
Children’s MARS Board Communication
Working Together to Safeguard Children
The Department for Education (DfE) has added new materials to support ‘Working together to safeguard children’, the statutory guidance on multi-agency working in England. This includes an illustrated guide, designed for practitioners to share and use with children, young people and their families to explain how organisations work together to safeguard children.
The new resources can be found here.
#LookCloser: Building positive relationships with children – Yorkshire and Humber
The Prevention Programme will be delivering an online #LookCloser session that will be available for multi-agency professionals across Yorkshire and Humberside on Monday 16th June 2025. Further information can be found below.
We continue to hear from children and young people that the interactions they have with professionals can have a profound impact on how they view their experiences of abuse and the support they receive. We’re often asked for guidance on how to best engage with children and young people, and whilst this should always be an individualised approach, this session shares some general ideas and tips based the voices of victims, survivors of exploitation and children and young people more generally.
In June 2025 we will be launching our new resource ‘building positive relationships with children and young people’ which focuses on a trauma-informed and child-centred approach. This will create the foundation for the session.
In this session we will:
Explore how to embody the key messages within the resource
Consider aspects of identity and why this is important when working with children and young people
Explore what cultural humility can look like when working with children and young people
Identify and celebrate examples of building successful relationships with young people
The session will take place online via Microsoft Teams on Monday 16th June 2pm – 3:30pm
To book your place on this session, please click here.
Spotlight: Domestic Abuse
Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Dame Nicole Jacobs, has published a report: Victims in their own right? Babies, children and young people’s experiences of domestic abuse . The report evaluates children’s experiences of domestic abuse and includes 66 recommendations which focuses on themes such as centring child’s voice, safeguarding, holistic funding and others in which the Government will now respond to the recommendations made in the report in the coming weeks.
For more information, please visit the Domestic Abuse Commissioner page: Home – Domestic Abuse Commissioner
The NSPCC also have a range of research, resources and information available for professionals in respect to domestic abuse, which can be found here.
Child Mental Health
The NSPCC has published a news story on anger issues as a mental health concern among children and young people. Read the report here.
The Department for Education (DfE) has published a report exploring the extent to which students’ poor mental health contributes to school absenteeism in England among 13- to 16-year-olds. Read the report here.
Building Connections is the NSPCC’s new befriending service for children and young people struggling with loneliness, helping them build confidence and resilience. Professionals are able to refer children and young people into this service, in which the child will be offered 11 online text-based support sessions and a one-hour session at an agreed time regularly with a trained befriender who will support them through a 7-step programme. Further information about the service can be found here.
The NSPCC also have a range of resources and information available to support practitioners in respect to child mental health, which can be found here.
Suicide Prevention in the Conext of Domestic Abuse: Full Day Course – 23 May 2025, 9:30am – 4:45pm. The Baths Hall, Doncaster Road, Scunthorpe, DN15 7RG
Domestic abuse significantly increases the risk of suicidality amongst both victims and the perpetrators of abusive behaviours. The trauma and emotional distress caused by abuse can lead to feelings of hopelessness, depression, and anxiety, which are major risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviours.
This immersive workshop explores the suicide risk related to domestic violence and abuse. Participants will learn to address and overcome barriers to engagement and ways to develop collaborative and robust safety plans.
This training offers practice for developing suicide safety plans with survivors, including those with mental health or substance misuse issues. Through engaging discussions, case studies, and practical exercises, participants can refresh or gain the knowledge and skills needed to provide effective support to survivors with complex needs.
Ideal for Professionals and volunteers working with groups at increased risk of perpetration of domestic abuse in various settings, including staff from VCS organisations supporting people who use abusive behaviours, professionals in substance misuse services and criminal justice systems, and primary care and mental health professionals.
Please book your place here: https://buytickets.at/northlincolnshirecouncil/1636617
Public Health North Lincolnshire have commissioned Grassroots Suicide Prevention to deliver a series of training package around Domestic Abuse and Suicide Prevention.
Grassroots are an award-winning charity that has trained over 70,000 people over the last 30 years, their award-winning suicide prevention app, Stay Alive, suicide prevention app for anyone thinking about suicide or worried about someone. The app has been downloaded over 880,000 times and they are an organisation with embedded lived experience.
Domestic abuse is one of the strongest precipitating factors of suicide – yet it’s often overlooked.
50% of all suicide attempts are linked to domestic abuse ( Lancet Psychiatry 2022)
1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime.
Research shows that 30%–60% of domestic abuse victims have thought about suicide.
Between 30-60% of psychiatric in-patients have experienced severe domestic abuse.
Male perpetrators are 23 times more likely to end their life by suicide than men of the same age category.
The courses that have been commissioned are as follows:
Suicide Prevention in the Context of Domestic Abuse: Half-Day Foundation
– 22nd May 2025 – 1.15 to 4.45 pm (UCNL – Fully booked)
https://buytickets.at/northlincolnshirecouncil/1636590/share/5c0d8104606508d50d7a5c758eb3b626
-25th September 2025 – 1.15 to 4.45 pm -Ashby Community Hub: Ashby High St, Scunthorpe, DN16 2RY
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/northlincolnshirecouncil/1636617
Suicide Prevention in the Context of Domestic Abuse: Full-Day Advanced
– 23rd May 2025 – 9.30-4.45pm _ The Baths Hall
https://buytickets.at/northlincolnshirecouncil/1636622/share/2e8660b57478ca2deb14223bfb7a69f9
Suicide Prevention in the Context of Domestic Abuse: Full-Day Perpetrators
– 26th September 09.30.4.45pm – Ashby Community Hub: Ashby High St, Scunthorpe, DN16 2RY
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/northlincolnshirecouncil/1636631
Who should attend?
These courses are designed for healthcare professionals, domestic abuse specialists, police, social workers, mental health staff, early years, housing and safeguarding teams – anyone who works with survivors or perpetrators of domestic abuse in any capacity.
Places are limited, secure your place now and help prevent lives from being lost to the devastating impact of domestic abuse and suicide. Your knowledge and confidence could save a life.
Upcoming cMARS Training
National Referral mechanism (NRM) awareness training and how to make an effective referral whilst identifying exploitation – 29 May 2025 – 1pm – 3pm – MS Teams
Learning Outcomes
• What is Child Exploitation and how this links into the umbrella term “Modern Day Slavery”
• The types of exploitation and how a child or vulnerable adult can benefit from having an NRM
• What is an NRM? What it means to the child
• How to make a referral and how to write an effective NRM referral
• Stages through the process and decision
• What support the Child Exploitation Intervention Team can offer
NEW! Working with cultural and economic diversity and safeguarding children – 3 June 2025 – 1.30pm – 5pm – Ms Teams
Course aims:
• Explore the challenges and opportunities of working with children and families from a range of different cultural, religious, ethnic and economic backgrounds
• Explore different cultural and religious belief systems and child care practices within different groups, the impact of these on parenting and the protective factors that may be associated with these
• Recognise the impact of discrimination on children and families from particular cultural and economic groups
• Consider personal attitudes and beliefs and how these may impact on interventions with families whose backgrounds are different to your own and multi-agency working
• Developed skills in distinguishing between cultural practices that are not harmful to children and those that are
• Developed a basic awareness of a range of practices that are specific to certain communities which may be harmful to children including: corporal punishment
NEW! What is Trauma Therapy? – 11 June 2025 – 10.00am – 12.30pm – Church Square House
Objectives
• Develop a clear understanding of trauma therapy
• Gain knowledge of the variety of approaches within trauma therapy
• Understanding therapy from a families perspective
• Identify when trauma therapy is not suitable or safe
• Recognise when a referral is required for specialist provision (The Kite Project)
Who is the training for?
All professionals working with children, young people and families who have previously attended ARC training
Child Protection Masterclass – 18 June 2025 – 9.30am – 16.30pm – The Baths Hall
This course will develop an awareness of professional’s responsibilities to safeguard children and the key processes that underpin this.
Participants will:
• understand their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children
• understand the role and remit of the Children’s MARS Board
• understand how you apply statutory guidance
• understand the importance of information sharing and interagency
working
• understand private fostering
• understand the principles of Working Together to safeguard children
Early Help – Practice and Process – 18 June 2025 – 9.30am – 12.30pm – Church Square House
You will learn…
• The purpose and process – why and how we help families using Early
Help
• The local context – understanding levels of intervention and support
• Practical skills and process – building confidence about completing a
good quality Early Help Assessment, effective planning with families
and how to be an effective chair of early help meetings
Please note sessions are available to all, but please ensure the suitability of the course for your role before booking a place.
To book a place on one of the above courses please fill in the below form and return to mars@northlincs.gov.uk
Other Resources
