Topics for this month:

Ukraine Invasion

Early on the morning of the 24th February 2022 in Ukraine, Russian troops poured over the border, and Russian planes and missile launchers attacked Ukrainian cities and airports. Amid the shock and horror, the attacks spanned much of the country, far beyond the border provinces where there has been sporadic fighting between both countries for years.

Ukraine’s government called it “a full-scale attack from multiple directions. It has triggered Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World Ward II, with more than 3.8 million Ukrainians fleeing the country. The devastating invasion has marked a major escalation of the on-going Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which first began in 2014.

The invasion has been widely condemned internationally, with many countries around the world including the UK imposing sanctions on Russia, which has hugely affected the economy of Russia and the rest of the world. Numerous companies have withdrawn their products and services from Russia and Belarus, and the invasion has been heavily broadcasted through the media and other online platforms as a catastrophic war crime on Ukraine worldwide.

The Russian leader Putin’s, initial aim was to overrun Ukraine and depose of its government, ending its desire to join the Western defensive alliance, NATO.

The ongoing military Russian attacks on Ukraine has disastrously grown to children’s homes, Schools, orphanages, and Hospitals affecting the most sick and vulnerable, and as of the 22nd March 2022 there was 2,571 recorded civilian casualties in the country, 977 of those killed and 1,594 badly injured. Sadly, millions of people have no safe place to call home, and hundreds of thousands of Ukraine people are trapped underground, have no heat or electricity.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the people of Ukraine and the country and would like to support and help this crisis as much as we can.

You can donate to the International Red Cross, which will provide humanitarian relief to Ukrainians affected by the conflict. The aim is to provide food, water, a safe shelter, protection, hygiene kits & physiological support, especially to Ukraine women and children. Red Cross have distributed over 90,000 food, clothes & aid parcels, and set up metro shelter stations in Kyiv helping over 7,000 civilians.

https://donate.redcross.org.uk

‘Ukraine Take Shelter’ is a website that connects Ukrainian refuges with potential hosts of support and housing. The website was launched in March 2022 by two Harvard students, as a way to offer emergency help and to connect people to safe places in crisis as quickly as possible.

https://ukrainetakeshelter.com

Further links

Here are some additional resources to help adults support young people & children with the issues surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine

• How to talk to students: https://key.sc/3vFsVzU
• Parent information and support pack: http://key.sc/3IKqZtw
• How to adapt your curriculum: https://key.sc/3CaUgLD

How to talk to your teenager about the invasion of Ukraine (BBC Bitesize/Anna Freud Centre)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbrdjsg

Worrying about Russia and Ukraine (Childline)
https://www.childline.org.uk/get-involved/articles/worrying-about-russia-ukraine/

Did you know that ‘National Stress Awareness Month’ is coming up in April?

Stress Awareness Month has been held every April since 1992 to raise awareness of the causes and cures for our modern stress epidemic. 

The last two years have been the most challenging we have faced and in 2020 services were overwhelmed by people that are struggling and seeking support. This year the Stress Management Society’s theme is Community.  They have chosen this theme because lack of support can cause loneliness and isolation, which in turn lowers people’s wellbeing, impacts mental health and can lead to mental illness.

The Stress Management Society has identified a number of ways that you can help to reduce stress, which include:

Adopt a positive mindset

Being in control of your thoughts increases your ability to find solutions to challenging situations and to deal more effectively with stress. Master your mind and you will never wonder how to deal with stress again.

The SMS have put together a helpful checklist for you to assess your mindset. Simply answer the questions below to get a picture of your wellbeing.

  1. Do you often find yourself worrying about all that could go wrong?
  2. Do you consider yourself a glass-half-empty kind of person?
  3. Do little things often cause exaggerated emotional reactions?
  4. When stressed do you feel confused?
  5. Do you find constant mind chatter distracts you?
  6. Have you ever become forgetful or suffered from a mental block when stressed?
  7. Do you control your mind or does it control you?

If you answered yes to all or most of these questions, you could do with some help resetting your mindset.

Get a good night’s sleep

A good night’s sleep is incredibly important for your health. Anyone who has had a good night’s sleep know the feeling of waking up well rested and feeling on top of the world. Sleep is just as important as eating healthy and exercising for your overall wellbeing as sleep is nature’s healer.

Here are 5 ways that sleep will improve your health:

  1. You will be ill less frequently

Even a small loss of sleep has been shown to impair immune function and your ability to fight off infection.  Study after study shows that if you skimp on sleep, you are likely to get ill. The more sleep you get the more you create the optimum environment for your natural defences to work well.

  1. You will be more relaxed

You will be able to cope better with the pressures of the day if you get enough sleep. You will help yourself avoid building up high libels of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline – then they are present you are unlikely to get a good quality deep sleep.

  1. You will be able to maintain your weight

Poor sleep is strongly linked to weight gain. Your body needs sleep to normalise weight-control hormones. In fact, short sleep duration is one of the strongest risk factors for obesity.

  1. You will improve your memory

Deep sleep dramatically improves how your brain works. It affects how nerve cells in the brain connect, governing everything from how the brain controls behaviour to the ability to learn or remember.

  1. You will be at greater risk of heart disease or stroke

It’s known that sleep quality and duration can have a major effect on many health risk factors. These are the factors believed to drive chronic diseases, including heart disease.  A review of 15 studies found that people who don’t get enough sleep are at far greater risk of heart disease or stroke than those who sleep 7–8 hours per night.

Get moving to combat stress

When your body goes into a state of stress, it is expecting some kind of physical activity. One way to take control of stress is to give your body what it was anticipating i.e. physical activity.

Have you ever engaged in exercise after a stressful day? Ask yourself how did you feel once you had finished?

The SMS have put together a helpful checklist for you to assess your exercise levels. Simply answer the questions below to get a picture of your whether you are doing enough exercise to combat stress.

  1. Do you get out of breath climbing the stairs?
  2. Do you NOT exercise to the point of perspiration at least three times a week?
  3. When you bend down then stand up, do you feel light-headed or see spots?
  4. Do you feel that exercise takes more from you than it gives you?
  5. Do you feel exhausted after exercise instead of exhilarated?

If you answered yes to most or all of those questions, you need some help. Click here to explore many practical suggestions on improving your fitness and getting enough exercise to build your resilience to stress:

https://www.stress.org.uk/category/10-step-stress-solution/get-moving-to-combat-stress/

Prioritise your health

It can be hard to constantly think about prioritising your health. Life is busy and most people have lots to juggle with work and home life. In order to prioritise your health, consistently and longer term it is critical to make a plan and hold yourself accountable.

Here are five simple steps for accomplishing this:

  1. Don’t try to change everything at once

It is completely unrealistic to change everything at one time. Sometimes the more we try to do, the less able we are to make any of these changes, and everything suffers. Pick one thing that is your priority and stick to it. If you are struggling to pick something make a list of everything you want to change. Think about how each item on the list affects the other, and which makes the most sense to start with. Once you have chosen set a tangible and achievable goal you know you can attain and look at this commitment each and every day.

  1. Change your environment

Depending on the goal you set this will mean different things. In order to achieve the goal it is highly likely that you will need to change something in your environment to help you achieve this. For example if your goals is weight loss, why not go through your cupboards and remove the unhealthy foods.

  1. Small changes add up

It doesn’t always have to be huge changes that you make, small things really do add up. It could be as simple as taking the stairs rather than the lift at work. Parking further away at the supermarket. Drinking more water rather than tea, coffee or fizzy drinks.

  1. If you lapse, get right back on the wagon

We are all only human. There will be times when we make poor choices and we do things that we know are not good for our health. Put that out of your mind and get back on track as soon as possible. You don’t need to overcompensate to try to undo what has already been done. This only makes getting back on track harder.

  1. Make time for your new habits

Ensuring you follow through and are committed to make long term change takes time. You are changing behaviours that you have had for years so it will take time and dedication to stay on track. Take time out every morning to note all the positive behaviours you are committing to for the day. Maybe it’s wake up earlier to work out, or make a healthy breakfast or walk a mile during your lunch break. If you do this every day your thoughts will be come your actions, and your actions will become your habits.

For more tips on how to prioritise your health, visit:  https://www.stress.org.uk/prioritise-your-health-in-5-steps/

The 30 Day Challenge

The Stress Management Society are encouraging a 30 Day Challenge for April where you pick one action each for your Physical, Mental and Emotional Wellbeing to carry out every day.

It takes 30 days to turn actions into habits, which is why this is a month-long programme.  The 30-day challenge will maximise your chances of turning useful knowledge and techniques into positive behavioural change.

Click below to gain the access to their free resources specifically created for the month of April. You can download the 30 Day Challenge, a Daily De-Stressing Planner, a Stress Guide, 7 Steps Achievement Plan, useful infographics on stress and much more!

What else could you do for Stress Awareness Month?

Talk about stress and its effects – work together to reduce the stigma that is associated with stress by talking about the topic openly and freely with friends, family and colleagues.

Share your coping mechanisms – if something has worked for you why not share it. It might benefit someone you care about and in the meantime, it might help you take your focus off your own challenges.

Be nice to those who are stressed and anxious – we are all undoubtedly going to experience stress and anxiety in our lifetime so treat others going through it with compassion and empathy.

Look after yourself – we all need to think more about self–care. Take time out of your day to relax or do something that you enjoy. Don’t forget to exercise and eat well, even when you feel too stressed.

The most crucial thing you can do when you are stressed or anxious is to make sure you are continuing to look after yourself. Make time to relax when you need to and learn to say no to requests that are too much for you.

For more information, visit: https://www.stress.org.uk/

International Trans Day of Visibility – 31st March 2022

What is Trans Day of Visibility?

TDOV takes place on March 31st each year to celebrate trans and non-binary people and raise awareness of discrimination faced by trans people worldwide.

Increasing media backlash towards trans people has begun in the wake of the NHS GIC consultation in 2017 and the upcoming consultation on the reformation of the Gender Recognition Act expected in Spring 2018.

At LGBT Foundation, they are aware that there is a lot of pressure on trans and non-binary people to conform, change and prove their gender to others. They believe that all trans people, regardless of identity, expression, or orientation, are enough just as they are. Therefore, for TDoV they would like to help empower trans people to celebrate who they are, and encourage allies to voice solidarity with the trans community.

The ‘I am Enough’ campaign aims are as follows:

Affirmation and Empowerment – For trans people, a message of strength, resilience and community. The aim of the campaign is to provide a message that ties together the following themes:

  • Acceptance of individuals in their chosen gender, just the way they are without the need for change/treatment/qualifying factors.
  • Promotion of self-deceleration of gender Identity
  • Visibility of non-binary identities.

Awareness Raising and Allyship – For non-trans/cis people to be able to stand up and show solidarity and support for their trans family, friends and colleagues.

To find out more about international trans day of visibility, visit the LGBT Foundation’s website: https://lgbt.foundation/who-we-help/trans-people/trans-day-of-visibility

Is there something on your mind?

LBGT Foundation are there to offer support and advice on a range of topics. Their service is non-judgement, and they are there to talk through whatever is on your mind:

  • Struggling with your mental health?
  • Feeling lonely or isolated?
  • Thinking about coming out?
  • Questioning your gender identity?
  • Want some information about sexual health or where to find sexual health testing?
  • Being harassed at work because of your sexual orientation or gender identity?
  • Need to report a hate crime?
  • Want to know about our services or what support is available in your local area?

LGBT Foundation understand how anxious you might feel reaching out for support. When you call, you will find someone on the other end of the line with a friendly voice and a listening ear.

Call them on 0345 330 3030 or email: helpline@lgbt.foundation

Online Safety Bill introduced into UK Parliament

Internet users are one step closer to a safer online environment as the UK government’s new world-leading online safety laws were brought before parliament on 17/03/22.

The Online Safety Bill marks a milestone in the fight for a new digital age which is safer for users and holds tech giants to account. It will protect children from harmful content such as pornography and limit people’s exposure to illegal content, while protecting freedom of speech.

It will require social media platforms, search engines and other apps and websites allowing people to post their own content to protect children, tackle illegal activity and uphold their stated terms and conditions.

The regulator Ofcom will have the power to fine companies failing to comply with the laws up to ten per cent of their annual global turnover, force them to improve their practices and block non-compliant sites.

Once the bill has been debated and then approved by each House of Parliament, and has received Royal Assent, it will then become law.

For more information, see: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/world-first-online-safety-laws-introduced-in-parliament

New Protect UK app

The UK’s National Counter Terrorism Police have recently revamped and relaunched their Protect UK app, the counter terrorism and security information sharing platform. The app gives a useful overview of counter terrorism guidance, including details on the current national threat level, incident response action cards, how to report incidents, plus news and updates from the NCTP.

The app is free to download and available from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store and you don’t require an account to use it.

Supporting young people with SEND on line

The internet can be a great place, but we need to be aware of the risks involved with being online. For children with SEND, they may encounter further challenges and therefore additional support may be required.

There is a lot of tailored information available to parents and carers and the following links are a great starting point:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/online-safety-families-children-with-send/

Supporting children and young with SEND online | Internet Matters

Supporting young people with SEND online | Childnet

The above sites cover topics such as helping children browse safely online, setting appropriate parental controls, activities to help discussions about being online and the steps which can take to help protect children online.

Safeguarding Soundbite – Young Carers, Child Sexual Exploitation and Safeguarding News

Safeguarding Soundbites – Young Carers, Child Sexual Exploitation and Safeguarding News – Ineqe Safeguarding Group

Additional information

Young Carers

The lifestyle of being a carer is often a lonely one and for young carers any isolation can be tough to cope with.

In honour of Young Carers Action Day 2022, here’s a guide on how to spot, support and stand with the young carers in your communities!

Young Carers and Isolation – Ineqe Safeguarding Group

CSE Awareness Day

 To marked CSE Awareness Day which was on Friday 18th March 2022

 We all have a role to play in raising awareness about all forms of exploitation to enable safeguarding professionals, the public, parents and carers, as well as the children and young people in our lives, to recognise the signs of exploitation.

CSE Awareness Day 2022 – Ineqe Safeguarding Group

Child Q – Safeguarding Practice Review

Child Q who was strip searched by two female Metropolitan Police Officers in a school, even whilst being on her period. The review report by City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership makes dreadful reading. There are a number of shocking aspects to the case, not least that no-one from the police or the school spoke to a parent. Child Q was so distressed about what had happened that her mother took her to the GP, and it was the GP that contacted Children’s Services.

Strip search of Child Q should never have happened

The review report is ‘clear that the strip search of Child Q should never have happened and there was no reasonable justification for it.’ The report found that the school was fully compliant with expected practice standards when responding to its concerns about Child Q smelling of cannabis and its subsequent search of Child Q’s coat, bag, scarf and shoes. ‘This demonstrated good curiosity by involved staff and an alertness to potential indicators of risk.’

School staff ‘deferred to the authority of the police’

The review found that the school staff ‘deferred to the authority of the police on their arrival at school. They should have been more challenging to the police, seeking clarity about the actions they intended to take. All practitioners need to be mindful of their duties to uphold the best interests of children.’

One member of staff from the school concerned to the review, ‘In hindsight I put my trust in the law; I know now that I need to understand the law better… For example, insisting on staying with a student at all times.’

Appropriate Adult

Appropriate Adults are there ‘to safeguard the interests, rights, entitlements and welfare of children and vulnerable people who are suspected of a criminal offence, by ensuring that they are treated in a fair and just manner and are able to participate effectively.’ Appropriate Adults are not merely passive observers, they are ‘expected to be an active participant. In order to be effective, they need to be assertive and speak up.’

Racism

The review evaluated the actions of professionals involved on the day of the strip search in the context of Child Q’s ethnicity and whether she was treated differently because she is Black. The report concluded: ‘the disproportionate decision to strip search Child Q is unlikely to have been disconnected from her ethnicity and her background as a child growing up on an estate in Hackney.’ As complex as racism is, one significant feature here is ‘adultification bias’ – where children from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities are perceived as being more ‘streetwise’, more ‘grown up’, less innocent and less vulnerable than other children. This particularly affects Black children, who might be viewed primarily as a threat rather than as a child who needs support’.

Full review

https://chscp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Child-Q-PUBLISHED-14-March-22.p

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace?

Sexual harassment at work is something that can happen to anyone regardless of their background or identity

According to a 2019 survey 38% of women and 14% of men report having experienced some form of sexual harassment at work

Click here to read. If you have concerns for yourself or someone else in relation to any form of harassment or bullying, including on-line , please speak to your line manager or contact JTM’s Safeguarding Lead: gina.stephens@jarvis-eu.com or JTM’s Pastoral Support: janine.ridley@jarvis-eu.com