Welcome to the new online edition of the TSAB Newsletter

We hope you like the new format, we always welcome any suggestions for improvement, requests for future content or any contributions you would like to make.

Please circulate the information in this bulletin across your networks to help us to continue to raise awareness of safeguarding adults in Tees.

News from TSAB

Since our last newsletter, TSAB has met virtually on 12th June for a scheduled Board meeting.

Agenda highlights included:

Sign off and presentation from the Independent Authors of the Jack and JJ Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR) Reports highlighting the learning across Tees as well as best practice. Read more on these within the Learning from Safeguarding Adult Review Section below
A six monthly update on the High Risk Adult Panel (HRAP)
An update on the Adult Exploitation Strategy Work
Update from the Board’s Sub-Groups

Learning from Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SAR)

Jack was 20 years old. He had been placed in a hotel under the Severe Weather Protocol having been no fixed abode. He sadly died in the hotel from diabetic ketoacidosis.

This Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR) looks at how services worked together to support Jack and highlighted the following themes:

Working with people who have diabetes
Transitional safeguarding
Substance use and smoking
Effective engagement (new Making Services Easier to Engage In Guidance published)
Housing
Cross boundary working
Self-Neglect due to mismanagement of diabetes, substance misuse and homelessness
Mental Capacity and cognitive impairment

Organisations are encouraged to review the SAR Report and Learning Briefing to consider and apply the learning to their own practice.

Please circulate this report appropriately amongst your networks.

JJ was a 23 year old, White British, transgender male who loved arts and drawing. JJ was well known to numerous services due to his physical and mental health conditions. JJ was known to use illicit substances and was at risk of death due to misadventure as a result of self-harm. He sadly died in December 2022.

This SAR looks at how services worked together to support JJ and highlighted the following themes:

Multi-agency working
Engagement
Legal literacy
Risk assessments, safety planning and escalation
Protected characteristics
Professional challenge
Trauma Informed Care including support for staff (vicarious trauma)

Organisations are encouraged to review the SAR Report and Learning Briefing to consider and apply the learning to their own practice.

Following learning and recommendations from the Molly Safeguarding Adults Review, the Teeswide Safeguarding Adults Board (TSAB) launched the Adult Sexual Exploitation (ASE) Toolkit in November 2023. The Toolkit was developed to help practitioners to identify, signpost and support adults at risk of/experiencing sexual exploitation.

TSAB would like to know if professionals/volunteers are aware of and are using the Toolkit, to hear your views on how well it is embedded into practice and any suggestions on how the Toolkit could be improved. The survey is anonymous and should only take a few minutes to complete.

The survey will close on Friday 6 September 2024.

New and Refreshed Guidance Documents

The aim of this guidance is to provide information and strategies for professionals supporting
adults with care and support needs who find it difficult to engage with services. This
guidance seeks to understand the reasons for which adults may find it difficult to engage
with services and to support good practice in engaging with those adults.

Making services easier for people to engage in V1

This learning briefing sets out the legislation and considerations to support work with dependent drinkers. It includes links to resources, including “Identifying and addressing cognitive impairment in dependent drinkers“.

Learning Briefing – Vulnerable, Dependant Drinkers – REVIEWED Aug 24 Download

This animation highlights the unique challenges that older adults face when domestic abuse occurs, to help support practitioners and families start a conversation with an older adult.Please share within your networks!

‘Spotlight On’ Campaigns

Following a workshop with carers hosted by We Care You Care, TSAB developed two new posters to raise awareness of the support available for carers and safeguarding. Please share, print and display the posters in your organisation.

Carers-Safeguarding-poster Download

Carers-Support-poster Download

Service Spotlight: Independent advocacy charity

“People First is an independent advocacy charity. We stand shoulder to shoulder with people across the North of England to champion fairness and equality.

We believe everyone has the right to be respected and to have a say on the issues that shape their lives. We challenge the term ‘vulnerable’ by supporting people to understand their rights and to be heard when they need it most.

We provide a range of services to help people have their say, including:

Independent advocacy, including Independent Mental Health Advocacy, Care Act Advocacy, Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy, and NHS Complaints Advocacy.
Self-Advocacy and representation, groups, projects and activities to support people to live independent lives and provide opportunities to develop life skills and confidence
Direct Payments Support service offers impartial advice and support to people receiving direct payments or a personal health budget.
Inclusive education: The People First Academy deliver a range of courses to help people with learning disabilities achieve their learning, work and development goals.

If you’d like to know more about what we do and how we do it; if you’d like to get involved in our work or if we think we can help you, get in touch.

For more information, guidance and support go to our website or you can call our helpline on 03003 038037 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday”

Training, Workbooks and Further Resources

The Adults & Children Safeguarding Partner Organisations across Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees actively support the ‘Think Family’ approach and are committed to the continuous learning and development of all staff and volunteers working with vulnerable people: adults, children, young people and families.

1271 users registered to access Me-Learning from across the Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise sector during Q1 2024-25, compared to 360 for the same quarter in 2023-24.

This is testament to the commitment of colleagues from across the Tees VCSE sector to safeguarding adults and children.

All TSAB’s E-Learning courses are free of charge for staff and volunteers working within the Tees area in Statutory, Voluntary or Not for Profit Organisations.

Training Courses

To view and request a place on any of our upcoming training courses please visit
our Training Courses and Events page.

Upcoming sessions include:

Adult Safeguarding in a Multi-Agency Context 21^st October 2024
Adult Safeguarding – Essential Legal Legacy 22^nd October 2024
Aftercare under s.117 Mental Health Act 24^th October 2024

A new workbook to support practitioners and organisations to be more Trauma Informed has been developed. The workbook features practical tools that can be adopted in everyday practice to help support the physical and emotional safety of an individual accessing a service.

The workbook can be accessed via TSAB’s training resources page.

TSAB, in conjunction with Hartlepool and Stockton Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships, South Tees Safeguarding Children’s Partnership, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland and the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, recently held an event on “Prioritising Child Sexual Abuse”.

The Centre of Expertise host a range of free resources on their website in relation to child sexual abuse, including “Supporting parents and carers” and their “Child Sexual Abuse Response Pathway” – an interactive online resource to guide professionals through how they can protect and support children and their families when there are concerns of sexual abuse.

Dates for the Diary

Listed below are details of recent and upcoming awareness campaigns. Follow us on Social Media @TeeswideSAB to keep up to date with resources and information we share as part of key campaigns. Email us at [email protected] to let us know how you get involved.

Honour based abuse is a crime or incident which has been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family and/or community.

Honour based abuse can include:

Domestic abuse perpetrated by family members including coercion, psychological abuse and threatening behaviour
Forced marriage
Female Genital Mutilation
Sexual abuse/harassment
Preventing a person’s freedom or restricting their contact with others / isolating from others

There are an estimated 12 ‘honour’ killings each year in the UK, although the exact number is unknown.

Karma Nirvana (a specialist charity supporting victims and survivors of Honour Based Abuse) hosted a Week of Memory between 8th -14th July. Visit their website for more information.

Local Specialist Support Services – The Halo Project

The Halo Project provide safeguarding and culturally appropriate confidential advice, help and support to Black and Minoritised Women and girls who are at risk of and/or are survivors of domestic and sexual violence and abuse. This includes searching for safe accommodation, outreach support, safety planning and ongoing support to those at risk of harm and abuse.

Their Specialist Safeguarding Support Hub not only provides tailored advocacy to victims and survivors of abuse, they also provide expert support to professionals for enhanced safeguarding and better outcomes for victim and survivors.

Visit Halo’s Website more information.

Local Domestic Abuse Support Services

Harbour Support Services (Hartlepool, Stockton, Redcar THRIVE)

My Sisters Place (Middlesbrough)

Eva Women’s Aid (Redcar & Cleveland)

Clare’s Law

The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (also known as Clare’s Law) allows an individual to ask Police to check whether a new or existing partner has a violent or abusive past. This is the ‘right to ask’. If records show that an individual may be at risk of domestic abuse from a partner, the Police will consider disclosing the information if it is legal, proportionate and necessary to do so. ‘Right to know’ enables an agency to apply for a disclosure if the agency believes that an individual is at risk of domestic violence from their partner. The Police can release information if it is lawful, necessary and proportionate to do so.

How to request information under Clare’s Law (Cleveland Police)

Read TSAB’s Clare’s Law Guidance

TSAB also have a useful leaflet on Domestic Abuse and Honour Based Abuse.

World Suicide Prevention Day takes place on 10th September. The theme is Change the Narrative and there is a call to action to “Start the Conversation“.

This call to action “encourages individuals, communities, organisations, and governments to engage in open, honest discussions about mental health and suicide. By starting conversations, we can break down barriers and raise awareness, check in with a friend or loved one, share personal stories and advocate for mental health resources and support services. Every conversation, no matter how small, contributes to a more supportive and understanding society.”

The Samaritans provide some helpful information and resources on their website including supporting someone with suicidal thoughts and how to support someone you’re worried about. You can view their “Little tips” poster.

Autism and Suicidality

“Here to Help is a new project from SJOG which aims to raise awareness and provide information, advice and guidance regarding autism and suicidality across the Northeast.

People with autism are 9 times more likely to die by suicide than non-neurodiverse people. We work across all 5 Tees Valley regions (Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool, Darlington and Redcar and Cleveland). We work with autistic people 14+, and those who support them, including parents, carers and professionals.

We have a web platform filled with resources and support which can be accessed at: Here to Help (here2help.uk). We are not a crisis service and instead aim to empower individuals to feel able to support their own mental health and find the support that they need during crisis. We are planning on taking our sensory bus ‘Magic Space’ around with us to raise awareness of this project. We are also delivering workshops to support each group, which we will target to the needs of each community.

Our sessions are free and can be accessed virtually or in-person depending on need, all of which are co-produced where possible:

For more information please contact Rachael and Lynn, the Here to Help Project Team on [email protected]“

National Safeguarding Adults Week is taking place from 18th November to 22th November 2024.

This year, the themes will encourage us to consider how we can work together to establish safer cultures within our workplaces and communities.

TSAB have already started planning our activities and events for the week in conjunction with our partners. If you would like to be involved or have any ideas for activity or promotion please get in touch.

Further Information

Our Communication and Engagement Annual Report is now published. The report features awareness raising activity and the findings from our annual consultation.

Don’t forget that TSAB has a dedicated webpage hosting details of local and national services.

Can’t see your service/ another service on there and think it should be added? Please send the details to [email protected].

Do you have concerns that an adult is experiencing or is at risk of abuse or neglect?

Visit https://www.tsab.org.uk/report-abuse/ to find out how to report your concerns. The page hosts the TSAB Concern Form which should be completed and submitted to the relevant local adult social care service or alternatively you can contact them by using the contact numbers listed on the page.

As a reminder you should report abuse when:

· The adult has needs for care and support (whether or not the authority is meeting any of those needs)

· And is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect

Hartlepool & Stockton-On-Tees Safeguarding Children Partnership Newsletter

South Tees Safeguarding Children Partnership Website

If you have any suggestions for future Newsletters, or any comments on the new format, get in touch with us using one of the communication methods below.

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 01642 528237

Or visit our Website Teeswide Safeguarding Adults Board (tsab.org.uk)