So this month began with a very productive practical working day to progress the Say Something if you See Something campaign (SSSS). Having gorged on a mountain of Easter eggs over the bank holiday weekend, I was buzzing on sugar and raring to go. With the assistance of the Sheffield Safeguarding children’s board and the forum chair from the Children’s Society, we were able to develop a very comprehensive draft campaign pack, which will assist the leisure industry in protecting their businesses and more importantly protecting young people from harm.
The following week saw me travel to Rochdale to assist as an independent critical friend in their serious case review process. A very productive day despite driving round and round in circles, lost in Rochdale town centre, I arrived feeling a little disorientated thanks to my incompetent sat nav!
The week ended on a high with my supervision session with ‘the boss’. I was whisked away to a lovely countryside quaint coffee shop in the beautiful hills of Derbyshire, and to my relief was informed that my contract was to be extended, so I’m here to stay for a little while longer, yay! A lot of work to be done though in the next 2 years, but I am looking forward to the challenge and eager to get cracking, as they say!
The following week began with a day and a half of interviewing for 2 new specialist team members, we were privileged to meet with so many highly qualified and dedicated professionals. We are excited to announce the appointment of 2 new members, details of which will be officially published.
Interviews were followed mid week by a very productive team meeting, with the inclusion of a new member of the team which is very exciting! The addition of cakes, fruit, biscuits and juice of course added to the productiveness of the meeting, thanks boss!
My week ended with a much deserved day of annual leave which was spent in our beautiful capital of London, where I reverted back to my youth and watched The Lion king at the west end, amazing, amazing, amazing!
So, with one week to go before the end of the month, we focused again on the Say something if you see something campaign. Our forum allowed for practitioners working in this field to come together and preview the campaign package and gave practitioners the opportunity to consult on and contribute to the resources, a very exciting day with the knowledge that we are almost at the stage of launching, brace yourselves people, it’s going to be good!
The following day began at the crack of dawn with a loooong drive to Slough to attend and present at their LSCB CSE and Trafficking conference. I was privileged to be able to deliver the keynote speech and even more privileged to be in the company of so many other great professionals including local projects and a survivor of CSE. The morning of presentations was followed by a yummy networking lunch and market stalls. I was encouraged to see so many professionals interested in the work of the NWG and to see so many signing up to our newsletter. The day was a huge success, despite clumsily forgetting my display banner, I should be blonde!
This week will end with another long but surely productive trip to Portsmouth to visit their strategic sub group CSE workshop. I’m hoping my sat nav will be reliable this time and I will be looking forward to a well-earned takeaway on Friday night!
Next week will see me introducing the boys and young men’s forum and also see me training the team at Missing People, but more details on these events next month…
Till then…
NWG Network 