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Safeguarding expert gets behind leap day campaign

Manchester’s The Athena Programme has welcomed a decision by the NCVYS (National Council for Voluntary Youth Services) to make leap day this year a celebration of improved safeguarding standards.

“Stop, Look and Listen” will mark National Safeguarding Day (29th February 2016) across the country and is expected to be well received in this area, where Sarah Carlick and her team work tirelessly to help organisations improve their work practices for protecting vulnerable adults and children.

Sarah, who is director and founder of The Athena Programme, is really taken with the idea behind the leap day campaign whose message to child and youth workers is: Stop what you are doing, Look at your safeguarding practices and Listen to young people, so that you can empower them to take an active role in managing their own safety.

It was back on 27 February last year that NCVYS first asked fellow team leaders to consider the importance of involving young people in the process of safeguarding by creating a national day for it. One year on, it has decided that February 29th will be the first leap year to mark what’s hoped are significant leaps forward in safeguarding practices.

Many national and local child and youth protection organisations have already shown a real desire to get involved in the campaign. They realise that by allowing young people to speak up, it is highlighting the need for communication between organisations at a local level and authorities at a national level, something which Sarah wholeheartedly endorses:

“At The Athena Programme, we work across every sector and local authority area with a view to giving them the insight and confidence needed to spot potential safeguarding concerns within their particular working or social environment. Not only does that help them implement plans into their everyday activities but instils in them openness and transparency. This campaign starts at grassroots level and that can only be a good thing.”

The campaign is for everyone and encourages those who get involved to pledge an oath very personal to their own circumstances and one that will hopefully have been followed through with by the next leap year! To get involved, log on to http://www.ncvys.org.uk/stop-look-and-listen-national-safeguarding-day where all the ways you can make it your own day are detailed. For more information on The Athena Programme visit http://www.theathenaprogramme.co.uk/

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by FDPR .