Newsletter February 2019
Dear Visitor,
Hello and welcome to the first Newsletter of 2019 – it’s certainly been a while since we last sent one, although those of you who follow #ProtectiveBehaviours or @PBTrainingUK on Twitter will know that we regularly share information about training and resources both nationally and internationally. We also continue to add to the resource area of our website and to the Forum facility on ProtectiveBehaviours.org (formerly PBPeople.org.uk).
Once again we would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to all of you that have either attended courses or contacted us to share ideas, resources or ask for further information. The number of people now qualified as PBTP Specialist Practitioners continues to grow and we currently have 8 people participating in our bespoke Train the Trainer pathway. Specialist Practitioners have also generously shared resources they have developed, so if you’d like to access some more material and you’ve not logged in to our PBTP resource area for a while, you might discover something new, including a revised PB Mind Map created by Laura.
 Protective Behaviours Around the Country
Since our last newsletter, Fiona Fletcher has completed our PBTP Trainer pathway and is now endorsed as a trainer in Protective Behaviours for workshops, 1-day introduction and 2-day Foundation Training. Fiona is based in Cambridge and works for Cambridgeshire County Council as a Safeguarding Advisor for both schools and early years settings. We feel extremely excited about having Fiona on our network. Those of you who have attended training led by Fiona will already know she brings with her a wealth of knowledge in terms of safeguarding and child protection and is absolutely fantastic at discovering new resources consistent with Protective Behaviours. In conjunction with PBTP, Fiona has organised a 1-day Protective Behaviours Learning Event. This takes place on 1st March 2019 in Cambridge. Further information can be found here.
New Projects
We continue to receive enquiries about how Protective Behaviours can be used as an intervention for the on-going stresses and strains of growing up and living in a modern world.
In our last Newsletter we highlighted how the Department for Education contacted us in relation to the research they were looking to complete entitled Children and Young People’s Mental Health Research and Evaluation Programme. As a reminder, Protective Behaviours is to be evaluated as a ‘light-touch’ intervention alongside Mindfulness and Relaxation & Breathing techniques. After contacting the relevant office to make recommendations and offer support with this evaluation, we were informed that the Anna Freud Centre (AFC) had been awarded the contract to complete the pilot. This caused us some consternation as no one at AFC had completed training in Protective Behaviours! Ann Seal and Sally Ann Hart chose to persist and risk on purpose by asking to be put in touch with the relevant personnel. This resulted in meetings, training observation and feedback on the pilot materials. However, as you’re no doubt aware, all things at a governmental level seem rather up in the air at present, so we’re once again waiting to hear how the pilot has panned out. It was also slightly disconcerting to see that the Anna Freud Centre does not appear to be referenced in the November 2018’s Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools document.
Another project we have been working on for a while now is the development of a professional association that works to champion and protect the authenticity of the Protective Behaviours process nationally and internationally and to provide some protection for future generations. It is with great pleasure and a large dollop of persistence that we can now announce the Protective Behaviours Association, PBA, was launched on 30th November 2017 – for those of you who couldn’t be there, you can find all the information by following this link.
The value of a Protective Behaviours Association, supporting both national and international organisations, was reinforced at our PBA meeting in June 2018 as Holly-ann Martin was able to join us and shared her experiences working in remote areas and communities across Australia. If you're a member of the PBA and would like to read Holly-ann’s feedback, the notes of the meeting can be found here. (Please prepare to discover an alternative body-awareness version of ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’!!!
It also gives us great pleasure to announce that our PB mentor, Di Margetts, continues to provide us with guidance, lively discussion and the wisdom of a PB Elder. Di has also decided to return to training and is taking some of the ideas we’ve developed in the UK to training rooms in a number of Australian states working with Bronwyn Clee. Di will be visiting us again in June 2019 so we’ll try our best to propose a meeting of the PBA to coincide with Di’s visit.
Another project Partners in the PBTP feel excited about is an invitation to attend the most recent PB Australia conference which was held in Brisbane. Sadly, the timing wasn’t good for us as it coincided with the start of the 2018 school year – this is historically one of our busiest training times. We’re hoping the one planned for 2020 will fit better with our training calendar.
Continuing Projects
Our training partnership continues to revisit and build an evidence base for the Protective Behaviours process in conjunction with the Protective Behaviours Association. Melanie and Lucy are interested to lead on this and would welcome input from anyone who has relevant experience and is interested in helping by, for example, gathering research, evaluating it, having conversations to discuss and ultimately to write a PB evidence base document that can be shared with the wider PB community. Our most recent research was carried out by Family Matters Institute and focused on the effectiveness of attending training in Protective Behaviours delivered by the PBTP. The results of this can be found here.
PBTP-registered training continues to underpin all training in the Taking Care Scheme in Warwickshire where there are well over 200 schools using the process to enhance proactive safeguarding and self-development of pupils. Over 230 staff were trained in the first three days of the Autumn term by Ann Seal and her team of associate trainers. Training is ongoing through Inset delivery all academic year. Many schools have had whole school training 2 or 3 times to ensure staff are updated and ways of embedding Protective Behaviours across the culture and ethos of the school as well as curriculum delivery are encouraged. Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Board sponsors three multi agency courses a year to ensure all professionals who work with children and families in Warwickshire have the opportunity to learn Protective Behaviours and use the process in their work.
Current Training Opportunities
All Open-Access courses, as well as commissioned courses that people outside of the commissioning service are able to apply to attend, are advertised on the Events page of the website. Updates appear on a regular basis so please remember to check this out and feel free to forward information to anyone you think many be interested in attending.
Our next 4-day Protective Behaviours Specialist Practitioner Course is being held on May 2nd, 3rd, 16th and 17th and will be co-facilitated by Ann Seal and Sally Ann Hart. The venue is The Holiday Inn, Bedford Road, Northampton and the cost remains £525 per delegate. This includes all supporting materials, refreshments (including breakfast, 2 course lunches and a Sweet Bar) and access to further on-line resources upon completing the full course. Spaces are limited to 16 per course – we envisage 8 being booked by the time you receive this newsletter, so please get back to us as soon as possible if you want to attend.
Those of you who completed your Foundation course a while back might benefit from attending 1 day Refresher training. Sally Ann is planning to organise these days during 2019. The morning will be spent reviewing the process and attendees will be invited to contribute to the content for the afternoon. Sally Ann is also considering running stand-alone Statutory RSE and PB courses. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you are interested in attending either. Sally Ann’s next 2 day Foundation Open Access courses are being held in Westminster and Northampton in March and April 2019 – booking information can be found on our Events pages
Protective Behaviours Online
The functionality of the protectivebehaviourstraining.co.uk website continues to develop and new resources are regularly uploaded. As a reminder, on successful course completion, delegates receive log-in details to enable access to course-specific resource databases – these contain materials designed to support people in putting PBs into practice. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have not received a log-in email and believe you are entitled to access these materials. Please also remember to log in and update your email address if it changes from the one registered with us during training. This will not only ensure you receive any future mail from us, but it will also enable use of the 'forgot password' routine should that be necessary.
You might also find it helpful to visit both the Resource and Forum areas of the ProtectiveBehaviours.org website (formerly PBPeople), where PBTP trainers regularly share materials developed during training or discovered during the course of their work. The Resources section of the Forum also has many examples of how practitioners continue to use Protective Behaviours, as well as feedback on resources, home-made or otherwise :)
You could also choose to follow both PBPeople (@PBPeopleorg) and Protective Behaviours Training Partnership (@PBTrainingUK) on Twitter, as well as individual PBTP trainers who regularly tweet items related to the Protective Behaviours process.
PBTP Partner On-Going Professional Development
As a group of independent trainers, one of our commitments is to maintain the quality of training in Protective Behaviours whilst contributing to developments within the process and securing links with other agencies. In order to progress and monitor this work, Partners continue to meet at regular intervals. In 2019, Sally-Ann, Ann and Melanie will be meeting with Di Margetts, Penny Bassett and Simon Sneath: we would like to thank them all for continuing to be on our network and engaging in lively discussions regarding PBs.
Individual Trainer Updates
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Ann Seal
Ann has been running Protective Behaviours courses across Warwickshire since 2000, supported by the local safeguarding children board and Education Safeguarding Service. Ann supports a team of Protective Behaviours trainers in Warwickshire who help her support schools with large numbers of staff and help run staff Inset training days concurrently in different schools. Ann is also available to lead open access courses (she has most recently been training in Coventry, Leicestershire and Oxfordshire as a freelance PBTP trainer) and provides vital trainer network support for the Protective Behaviours Training Partnership developing resources, mentoring trainees and supporting open access courses upon request.
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Judith Staff
Judith is a qualified teacher, and a PBTP endorsed and registered trainer. Training she can offer includes Protective Behaviours workshops, 1-day introduction and 2-day Foundation Training. As well, Judith has developed a Voice of the Child practical session which is based on enabling the child’s voice using a range of strategies based around Protective Behaviours. Judith is a qualified teacher, a trained designated safeguarding lead, with a current DBS, and can provide commissioned work with children in schools or settings, either individually or in small groups. Judith has special interest in the areas of child trauma, and sexual violence resulting in co-organizing conferences, including Speaking Out to End Sexual Violence in March 2017 and Working Towards Trauma Informed Practice 2019.
Those of you who have attended training led by Judith will already know she brings with her experience of safeguarding, child protection, child sexual exploitation, domestic abuse and serving for 4 years on the local safeguarding children board. Her energy and enthusiasm for developing ideas, resources and activities that empower and enhance relationships feels endless. Further information about Judith’s work and her blogs can be found at www.judithstaff.co.uk
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Lucy Holbrook
Lucy has worked with the voluntary sector for the last 20 years and has over 15 years experience working with organisations, groups and individuals offering training, coaching and Body Mind therapy around what enables people to be at their best. Protective Behaviours plays a key part in this and she has been delivering PB training in projects across Merseyside for over 10 years. Most recently she ran a PB based pilot programme for women from BME communities who experience domestic abuse and harmful practices and women seeking refuge and asylum. This was well received and she will be extending this work with both groups of women through 2019.
A growing interest of Lucy’s is supporting people who have experienced trauma and she is now qualified to deliver the psycho-educational ACEs Combined Recovery Toolkit (for both adults and young people). This complements the existing work she does around emotional resilience, well-being and sustainable change both personally and organizationally. Alongside the 2 day Foundation training Lucy has developed a model for organisations that uses Protective Behaviours to increase organisational effectiveness as well as developing a safe environment for all. Lucy is experienced at designing and delivering programmes that combine brain information, body-mind techniques with Protective Behaviours, all of which are underpinned by the importance of feeling safe.
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Melanie Pearson
Melanie’s many years of experience in a mental health role alongside her professional development as a trainer in Protective Behaviours provides a wonderful opportunity to develop PB-based programmes for use with young people who are experiencing difficulties. For many years Melanie co-delivered PB courses for people who self-harm and is looking to develop this area as a bespoke course for professionals. We would also like to thank Melanie for maintaining our growing archive of PB materials and literature.
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Sally Ann Hart
Sally Ann continues to work as a freelance trainer in Protective Behaviours and feels excited about the future of PBs closer to home. She has recently been able to re-connect with Helen Longstaff, the first PB trainee she mentored back in the days of PBUK. Helen and Sally Ann are keen to find ways to re-engage with local areas where PBs seems to have slipped off the radar.
Sally Ann also regularly travels further afield and has now made contact with schools in a number of London boroughs – the first course covering Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham is planned for March 2019.
Sally Ann’s passion for ‘joining the dots’ and establishing PB-based initiatives nationally continues to grow. This means she still spends a lot of her week writing emails, travelling and talking with people with a view to building consistent PB networks that work towards creating non-violent individuals, families and communities. Sally Ann has a number of Open-Access 2 day Foundation courses planned for 2019 and will ensure details of these are included on our Events page. Sally Ann also plans to run a number of 1 day Protective Behaviours Refresher courses.
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Well, that’s about it for now other than to wish you all a 2019 that feels happy, healthy and safe enough to risk on purpose. As ever, please do not hesitate to contact us to share your news or to ask for any further information.
Yours in safety and adventures,
Protective Behaviours Training Partnership
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