20th March 2020 by Elizabeth Thomas, Young People’s Service Coordinator.
With the pandemic you will be making extremely careful plans and taking actions to contend with this situation, as best as you can. We do not want to suggest one action is better than another, as having many ways to support and work together, even differently, we have an opportunity to learn together. At Respond, we are working with many different agencies and recognise each response to the crisis at hand always must be thoughtful and considered, which we have witnessed as this pandemic unfolds.
Respond specialises in working with people with Learning Disabilities, Autism or both, who have been hurt by people or suffered great loss or trauma. Some may have gone on to hurt other people too. Often our clients have been hurt by people who they lived with or are nearby in their communities, or online communities. With services, such as community centres, schools and colleges shutting, those at increased risk of abuse will have less opportunity to connect in different ways, and may feel more isolated. There are ways to check in to provide opportunities to connect meaningfully to safe adults, professionals and peers.
We have compiled a list of ways we can support those in our communities and each other to make the resources on hand work for the benefit of our most isolated and at risk in society. We welcome more suggestions, so please do add your thoughts to the comments box below. We are all learning in this time of change.
Thinking About Safeguarding
– Update safeguarding guidance to cover periods of ‘distance working’- Find a way to touch base with your clients individually. If your service is closed, and people are working from home, can the client list be shared between staff who have an agreed method of contacting clients? Using named staff to target smaller groups can make a big job feel a lot more manageable.
– If you have not heard from a person you are worried about, is there someone in the network who has? Share your worries with peers and colleagues- even light ones- it might be what someone needs to feel safe.
– If you are worried about a person who uses your service, after what amount of time of no contact would it feel right to start a process of making some checks.
– Offering work/tasks or social games is a useful tool- not only to ensure the learning and development , but it is a positive way to keep in touch and notice any changes that might otherwise go unseen. If it is appropriate, set a game or something fun to do for a family or group home. Offering opportunities to bond positively can also be an effective safeguarding tool. This can also be an online game that you play together.
– Make sure your records of all opportunities of engagement are up to date with as much important detail as possible. Remember to include how it went even if it didn’t go well. Don’t forget to date the entries and record how long you were engaged with your client. If we are in this position for a long time, it is good to start building a profile now of how a person relates in this new way of communicating. We need to be able to see any changes- which could be a sign of something we do not know about.
How we can Communicate and Stay in Touch?
– Use the social media platforms your client group recognises.
– Zoom and Skype are platforms with basic options that are free to use and can be used for video calling. Your client group might not be so well versed with these platforms, but they are pretty easy and we have found doing a practice meeting using a phone call to guide clients has been the best way to introduce this new way of being together.
– Teams is a paid service from office 365. If you have this, check the licence you have as with the right package you can make calls to external emails
– Old-school phone! If all else fails, call the clients/ pupils home number, or even their mobile. Ask carers and parents if you can speak directly to the person after checking in with them. (If your service has a policy in place stating you need to speak directly to the service user, you will feel supported to suggest this, as it would be part of your role.)
Practical Tips
– Stay connected! The internet is a wonderful place when it is used to bring us together positively
– Notice changes in your clients/ pupils and keep notes! What do they look like? Are they dressed appropriately?
– Talk to your team, peers and management – if you have worries, voice them.
– Make sure you talk directly to the person you have been working with, in a language they know and understand. This includes using sign language, pictures, symbols they have used with you before! Do please remember the spoken language they use too.
– Be creative! Find games online with those who do not like to talk directly- you can play easy, fun games, or educational ones too. There are also ways to share a screen to create art even when you are at a distance from each other.
– Be relational. The people who are being hurt are usually being hurt by people they know. When you can stay in a positive relationship with your clients in these times of global crisis, they might realise they really matter to you and therefore will be able to share with you even more.
– If you are reading this as someone who is keen to support your community, and does not work in a professional setting, text and call your family and friends you are worried about? Ask if they would like to play on-line also. Use video calling to see someone and check how well they are. Ask if they need anything or if you can help.
– If you are concerned about someone and need advice on what to do, you can contact the police on 101, or the local social care duty team. You can find your local social care team number by searching on line, use your location- for example, if you live in Birmingham, you would type “social services duty team Birmingham”.
Other useful numbers-
If you have any other ideas that you’d like to share, suggestions for on-line games or any other social network platforms, please add them to the comments below or email Elizabeth.Thomas@Respond.org.uk
