Dr Mike Tyler writes about the Diocese of York and York Minster’s Safeguarding Week, taking place 18th – 22nd November 2024.
Designating one specific week a year as ‘Safeguarding Week’ is simultaneously both a help and a hindrance when it comes to our understanding of what ‘Safeguarding’ is all about, and the place that it holds in the life of the church.
On the one hand, it brings with it the benefit of inviting us all to set aside time for reflection, discussion, shared learning, and review. These are of course all critical elements of building and instilling a positive culture of safeguarding into the life of the church and into our daily as we seek to be active within the communities that we are all called to live in and to serve.
Safeguarding Week 2024 has been planned to bring together a range of speakers, offering talks and sessions on a diverse range of topics, each of which focusses on one aspect of the ways in which we can all contribute to growing safer churches and safer communities. The downside of having a Safeguarding Week, of course, is the possible reinforcement of the idea that safeguarding is a ‘fit and forget’ option – something that we can compartmentalise, something that has a start and end date, something that we can rely upon others to do on our behalf.
In Luke 12.35-48, Jesus teaches his disciples about being ready to serve, using the metaphor of the wise servants who keep their lamps burning awaiting the call, ready to light the way for their master however unexpectedly he may return. It is no coincidence that this years Safeguarding Week has taken the theme of ‘Lighting the Way’ – a reminder that our policies and practice, together with the skills that we develop and share, all contribute to lighting the way to a safer church for all, whatever roles we are called to fulfil.
More than anything, we need to grow the understanding that Safeguarding is about being ready and equipped to serve, being ready at all times to fulfil the calling to the ministry of care for our communities, for each other and for ourselves in which we all share.
Sessions include: A Theology of Safeguarding, Talking to someone about mental health, Understanding Neurodiversity, DBS Checks and Eligibility, Trauma-informed responses, Becoming a Dementia Friend, Risk Assessment for Parish Activities, and Parish Safeguarding Officer Forum.
