5 new funded services join Independent Accreditation Programme for Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence

Thanks to funding from Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, the Male Survivors Partnership in conjunction with LimeCulture CIC, are pleased to announce that 5 new services are participating in the Independent Accreditation Programme for the Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence in 2019 free of charge.

We welcome two Higher Education establishments’ Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) services to the Accreditation Programme for the first time, recognising the value and significance of the Quality Standards being applied across all sectors.

The 5 services who submitted successful applications to receive the funding for a place on the programme are:

1. Circles South East Counselling Service for Survivors
2. RASASC North Wales Counselling
3. Renaissance ISVA service
4. London South Bank University SVLO service
5. The University of Sheffield SVLO service

Background information

Since their launch in January 2018, the Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence have been downloaded hundreds of times, and we already have over forty services that are working towards accreditation.  This means many services are already working to improve consistency, practice and the overall quality of services supporting male victims/survivors.

The Quality Standards and the Implementation Guidance for Commissioners and Service Providers are available online, free of charge: http://www.malesurvivor.co.uk/implementation-guidance-online.pdf

 

For more information about joining LimeCulture’s Independent Accreditation Programme, please email accreditation@limeculture.co.uk

Free ‘Knowledge & Network Event’ for Sexual Violence Service Providers- now open for bookings!

LimeCulture is delighted to be hosting a free Knowledge & Network Event for providers of support services for victims/survivors of sexual violence on Wednesday 17 July 2019 in central London (12noon-6pm).

Places have been funded by the Home Office as part of our Spreading Excellence Project, which aims to improve the capacity of the sexual violence sector, particularly the voluntary sector, through improving knowledge and awareness of local commissioning arrangements.

Local commissioning arrangements are increasingly important for the sustainability of the specialist sexual violence sector and it is vital that service providers recognise – and can respond to – the opportunities that local commissioning arrangements can provide.

This major event will be chaired by Dame Vera Baird, the newly appointed Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, and provides a unique opportunity to focus on improving the provision of sexual violence support services through engagement with local commissioning processes.

Attendees will have the opportunity to:

  • Hear from policy leads about the direction of travel for commissioning sexual violence support services,
  • Share expertise with likeminded providers,
  • Learn about how local commissioners operate and the differing roles and responsibilities for the range of local commissioners,
  • Hear from service providers who have been commissioned to deliver vital support services for victim/survivors in their area,
  • Increase the opportunity to positively engage with local commissioners by ensuring the expertise of the specialist sexual violence sector is understood and valued,
  • Identify solutions to improve responses and raise service standards for victim/survivors,
  • Discuss how to improve service delivery through collaboration and partnership working.

This Knowledge & Network Event is suitable for Managers, Senior Leaders and Trustees of (commissioned and un-commissioned) services providing:

  • Counselling and therapy services
  • Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) Services
  • Helplines & advisory services
  • Support Groups (such as peer support)
  • Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs)
  • Online support
  • Any other support service for victim/survivors of sexual violence.

This event will also be useful to local commissioners who can learn about how victims/survivors are supported in other areas through the commissioning process.

The Knowledge & Network Event will start at 12noon and finish at 6pm to allow for easier and more cost-effective travel to central London. There will be plenty of opportunity to meet and network with other service providers, commissioners and policy leads, as well as the opportunity to hear and contribute to panel discussions made up of speakers representing service providers, commissioners and policy leads. There will also be interactive group sessions to discuss key themes relevant to service providers wishing to engage with local commissioning processes.

Maximum numbers will apply due to the venue restrictions, so early booking is suggested.

To book your place at the Knowledge & Network Event please complete the booking form here

For further information, please email Spreading.Excellence@limeculture.co.uk

 

 

LimeCulture Sponsors Safeguarding in Sport Conference in South Africa

Last weekend (25 & 26 May 2019) in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Jose Foundation hosted an international Safeguarding in Sport Conference in partnership with the South African Olympic Committee. LimeCulture was proud to be an official sponsor of this ground breaking event and delighted to attend to showcase the work we are currently doing to improve the safeguarding responses in sport, both within the UK and internationally.

The conference aim was to bring together a range of sport organisations, including national federations from a range of southern African countries, including South Africa, Kenya and Zambia, to help sport federations identify the policy, procedure and cultural requirements to ensure that sport provides a safe environment for participants.

The event was very well attended and had sessions delivered from the International Olympic Committee, Unicef Africa, International Paralympic Committee, Commonwealth Games Federation and many others including the University of Pretoria with an interest in safeguarding in sport.

LimeCulture’s Director of Safeguarding, Phil Doorgachurn, was there to deliver two sessions on behalf of LimeCulture. The first session Phil delivered was to talk about our organisation’s recent work with the International Fencing Federation to develop a safeguarding framework. “It was an honour and privilege to be invited to this fantastic event to talk about the work we have been doing with the International Fencing Federation in relation to safeguarding” says Phil. “Everyone agrees that safeguarding is so very important to embed in sport, yet there it’s not always easy to ensure that the culture of safeguarding is consistently embedded throughout that sport, allowing for robust responses, with policies and procedures in place to make sure that people can be safe when they participate in that sport. When you add the international dimension – different laws, different customs and cultures – it can seem like an unachievable task to ensure consistency of approach to safeguarding across a single sport in all regions, countries and continents’ explains Phil, whose successful career in sport has focused on safeguarding and improving the responses to safeguarding cases. “However, it certainly is achievable with the right level of commitment and drive to make it happen. Our recent work with the International Fencing Federation shows that with the development of shared goals and common ambitions, an international sport can come together to achieve an approach to safeguarding that is consistent, wherever you are in the world”.

Phil’s second delivery focused on how LimeCulture can assist other federations develop and embed a safeguarding culture. “There has been a shift in recent years to acknowledge that sport must be safe for everyone regardless of where in the world you are. It is simply not good enough for an international sport to provide a gold standard to safeguarding in one country, yet ignore safeguarding in another part of the world” explains Phil. ‘International sports are now recognising the importance of making sure that standards of safeguarding are the same everywhere. Of course, this is extremely challenging, but it can be achieved’ says Phil, whose role at LimeCulture has seen him work both nationally and internationally on improving safeguarding in sport. “Sport has the ability to connect to people across the world in a unique and positive way. The international reach of sport should be embraced – as sport has the ability to reach people everywhere and unite them in a common setting that breaks down differences and barriers in a way that very few other things can. With that comes a huge responsibility to make sure that people are safe wherever they are involved in that sport’ Explains Phil ‘At LimeCulture, we have been developing a method of bringing together international sports to focus on how they can achieve consistency in their approach to safeguarding, working with them to identify their ambitions to keeping people safe wherever they are, supporting them to build on their strengths, overcome challenges and find solutions that will ensure that safeguarding is central to the whole sport, in all territories. Its very exciting to be a part of this”.

The conference was attended by a range of organisations and professionals who have an interest in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. Many of whom expressed concern about the extent of violence against women and children in some part of Africa. “Sport can play a vital role in tackling violence of this kind. From the prevention work that we have seen done so well with young men in sports like football, right through to identifying athletes who may be experiencing or at risk of violence and abuse, and responding to their needs to safeguard them’ explains Phil.

South Africa is in a good position as they are starting their safeguarding in sport journey and LimeCulture is delighted to be able to share their experience and knowledge to support South Africa to build on the good work that has been done elsewhere, and avoid some of the mistakes that have been made in this space.

Following the conference, there has been a general call to action with many attendees pledging to action safeguarding in their organisations. This includes South African Olympic Committee who have already formed a task group to address safeguarding which holds its first meeting today (Friday).

 

LimeCulture provides a range of consultancy services for sport, including bespoke support, organisational safeguarding reviews, and training & policy development. For further information contact Phil.Doorgachurn@limeculture.co.uk

8 more ISVA Services join Independent Accreditation Programme

Yesterday LimeCulture delivered an accreditation workshop to 8 new ISVA services joining their Independent Accreditation Programme. These ISVA services will begin working towards achieving the Quality Standards for ISVA Services with the aim of being independently accredited and awarded the Quality Mark.

 

The purpose of the accreditation workshop is to go through in detail with the new services exactly what the Independent Accreditation Programme is, what can be expected as part of the process and how it works” explains Charlotte Bond, one of LimeCulture’s Accreditation Managers.  Charlotte is responsible for working with the services and assessing the evidence submitted by the ISVA services that demonstrates they are achieving the Quality Standards for ISVA Services. “The Accreditation Workshops provides a great opportunity for us to go through each of the quality standards in turn and explain our process for monitoring whether the ISVA service is achieving it’ says Charlotte.

The Accreditation Workshop is structured in a way that allows the ISVA services to consider how they are are going to demonstrate compliance with each of the 20 individual standards that make up the Quality Standards for ISVA Services. “Essentially the workshop allows the ISVA services to focus on each standard, understand the requirements and then create an initial action plan of how they are going to demonstrate that they meet it” explains Charlotte. “It’s also a great forum for ISVA services to discuss how close their services currently are to achieving the Quality Standards or what more they have to do in order to achieve them’.

For some ISVA services, the Quality Standards are already being met and the workshop allows them to focus on what they need to demonstrate compliance. For other ISVA services who need to make changes to the way they deliver the ISVA service in order to meet the Quality Standard, it provides a good opportunity to discuss how they might bring about the required changes operationally. “The benefit of bringing ISVA services together in this way is that they can hear first hand from other ISVA services about how they operate, which is always useful for services who can really benefit from sharing ideas and sense checking solutions with their peers’ .

Attendance at the Accreditation Workshop is the 2nd stage of the 7-stage process that has been developed by LimeCulture’s Independent Accreditation Programme. The next stages require the ISVA service to demonstrate they are meeting the Quality Standards by providing evidence to support each standard and the indicators contained within them. Charlotte explains “Before we will accredit the ISVA service, and award the Quality Mark, ISVA services are required to submit a combination of documentary evidence and observational evidence via a site visit for each of the 20 standards. So it’s a really rigorous process that is kicked off at the accreditation workshop’.

LimeCulture is looking forward to working closely with the 8 ISVA services who have joined the programme. “We’re already working closely with 8 ISVA services –  who joined the programme on our first intake in March – and are already working towards accreditation. Its fantastic to see the enthusiasm there is from ISVA services to meet the Quality Standards for ISVA Services and its been a pleasure to meet the next 8 ISVA services today”.

LimeCulture launched the Quality Standards for ISVA Services at the National ISVA Conference in October 2018 after requests from a range of ISVA service providers and commissioners to develop standards that improve the consistency of ISVA service provision by setting a bench mark to drive standards. LimeCulture’s Independent Accreditation Programme was launched via an application process for ISVA services seeking to achieve the Quality Mark over December 2018 and January 2019. “We could not believe how many ISVA services applied to join the Independent Accrediation Programme, so have developed a model that allows ISVA services to join in scheduled intakes. The first 3 intakes were immediately filled, which demonstrates the importance that is being placed on the Quality Standards for ISVA Services and the independent Quality Mark” explains Charlotte.

Some of the ISVA Services who have joined the Independent Accreditation Programme are there because they want to demonstrate the quality of their ISVA service provision through the independent accreditation process that LimeCulture provides. For other ISVA services, their commissioners have required them to go through the process, while others are getting ahead of the curve in recognition that more commissioners are expecting their providers to achieve accreditation against these Quality Standards for ISVA Services. “At today’s Accreditation Workshop one of the ISVA services attended with their commissioner, which is absolutely fantastic’ says Charlotte “as it demonstrates the commitment of both commissioner and provider to the accreditation process”.

The next intake for ISVA services is now full. However, LimeCulture are now accepting applications from ISVA service who would like to join the  Independent Accreditation Programme for the Quality Standards for ISVA services in September 2019 or at other scheduled intakes throughout 2020. Please contact accreditation@limeculture.co.uk for further information.

 

 

Self-Care Training for professionals: now open for bookings!

LimeCulture is excited to launch our new training course for frontline professionals. Self-Care training is now available to book online on our website.

Over the last year, LimeCulture has received a range of requests for training from organsations who recognise that their staff welfare is of paramount importance. For organisations who employ frontline staff it is crucial that their staff are able to work effectively – particularly where they are working in challenging areas or on difficult cases, or with vulnerable people – and LimeCulture has seen an increase in the number of organisations who now recognise that self-care is a critical factor to enable staff to carry out their roles safely.

In response to this demand, LimeCulture has developed a course specially designed for frontline professionals that supports them to ensure they have the tools and techniques to stay fit and well so that they are in the best position, personally and professionally, to carry out their roles and responsibilities.

The course has been designed for those working in support roles (such as ISVAs, SVLOs, counsellors and therapists, wellbeing officers, support workers, crisis workers) and those who work on or have responsibility for managing challenging cases (such as safeguarding leads, case managers, social workers, disciplinary managers, HR advisers) and focuses on providing staff with the skills and competencies to ensure they are able to look after themselves effectively.

This new course enables staff to consider their own mental health and well-being, which is often such a critical factor in relation to work, but also frequently impacts on them outside of work too” explains Phil Doorgachurn, LimeCulture’s Director of Safeguarding.

LimeCulture’s 1-day Self-Care training is based on the principle that staff are the most important asset for any organisation and consequently, there is a need to make sure that staff are happy and healthy, and actively taking steps to stay that way. The course material has been informed by research into self care practices. LimeCulture has utilised some of the operational practices that have been adopted in Australia to bring to life examples of how self care practices can positively impact on staff wellbeing both inside and outside of the workplace. For employers ensuring staff practice self-care will mean they are more content in their roles, are able to manage their workloads more effectively and are less likely to require sick leave or become burnt out as a result of stress. For the professionals themselves, the benefit of practicing self-care is that they are likely to be more confident in their ability to undertake their roles, are less likely to be dissatisfied with work and are less likely to experience vicarious trauma or burn out.

We have piloted our new self care course with safeguarding leads from a range of Premier League Football Clubs and the feedback was outstanding. These Leads all work in a busy and challenging environment, often working with distressing cases, yet most of them do not give much thought to looking after themselves – their priority is the vulnerable people they support, which is understandable. However, self-care is so important to enable them to do their jobs effectively, it shouldn’t be overlooked’ says Phil who has been responsible for developing this course. “We then delivered the training to our own staff at LimeCulture. We want them to prioritise looking after themselves because we know that they are crucial to our success as an organisation. Now every staff member at LimeCulture has an individual self-care plan that they have developed as a result of that training’.  

‘Most of the staff we have delivered the training to acknowledge that their jobs required them to have resilience but they didn’t all immediately recognise that they can take steps personally to contribute to their own resilience’ says Phil.  ‘Everybody will have different approaches to looking after themselves and on this course we look at the different ways that self-care can be practiced – and whether there is any more that could be done – to protect yourself and your mental and physical health to ensure that you are in – and stay in – a good place ’ explains Phil. ‘There have been a few ‘light bulb moments’ in the training room that’s for sure!’.

LimeCulture’s next available Self-Care training course will take place on 27 June 2019 in London. Maximum number restrictions apply so an early booking is recommended. To book a place please click here. The cost of the training is £165 +VAT per person. 

Self-Care training can be delivered by our staff in-house to teams of professionals. If you would like to discuss this with us, please email info@limeculture.co.uk

 

 

 

LimeCulture welcomes 1st wave ISVA Services to Independent Accreditation Programme

LimeCulture recently opened their Independent Accreditation Programme to Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) Services who wish to be independently accredited again the Quality Standards for ISVA Services. These standards were launched at the National ISVA Conference in November 2018 and were developed by LimeCulture after a year-long period of consultation with ISVA Service providers, commissioners and people who have been supported by ISVA Services.

We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the number of ISVA Services who have applied to join the Independent Accreditation Programme” explains Jo Seward, Director of Operations at LimeCulture. “We knew from the development work that we did with ISVA Service providers and commissioners that there was a lot of support amongst the sector for Quality Standards for ISVA Services”

 

The rationale for the Quality Standards for ISVA Services are now well understood by ISVA Service Providers and Commissioners. Their purpose is to ensure that:

  • Every victim/survivor should be able to access a high-quality, well managed ISVA service, wherever they are in the country, regardless of their age, gender, race, sexuality or beliefs
  • Ensure that there is consistency in the quality of the support that is being provided by ISVA Services
  • Bench-mark for individual services to monitor their provision against, and also act as a driver to improve quality and consistency across ISVA services collectively
  • For providers, the Quality Standards set out the expectations for the organisational leadership and staff teams, and the client experience
  • For Commissioners, the Quality Standards provide a framework for the development and monitoring of the ISVA services they commission

There is also a huge amount of support for the independent nature of the accreditation against these Quality Standards. “The vast majority of Providers and Commissioners clearly acknowledge that accreditation against the Quality Standards must be from an external organisation that is able to independently validate the quality of the service provision” explains Jo. “In order to ensure that victims/survivors can access high quality ISVA services without a postcode lottery, we must ensure that the Quality Standards are being consistently applied by ISVA Services, regardless of where they are located or who is providing that service”.

LimeCulture ran an application process between December 2018 and January 2019 inviting ISVA Services to join the 1st wave of services joining the Independent Accreditation Programme for the Quality Standards for ISVA Services. “For planning reasons, we limited the number of ISVA Services who could join in the first wave but we were delighted by just how many ISVA Services applied to join the first wave. The good news is that we have adapted our model to allow for more services to join the programme. We’ll now be running a rolling programme of scheduled intakes, which means that ISVA Services can join at set points throughout this year and next”.

The 1st wave of ISVA Services came together for the first time on Wednesday this week in Manchester where they attended the Accreditation Workshop delivered by LimeCulture’s Accreditation Team. The Accreditation workshop sets out the accreditation process, the timeframe and what is expected from ISVA Services in order to demonstrate that they are achieving the Quality Standards. It provided an excellent opportunity to discuss the Quality Standards in detail and exactly what level of evidence LimeCulture’s Accreditation Team will require in order to issue the ISVA Services with our quality mark, the external validation against the Quality Standards for ISVA Services.

“The workshop was a fantastic opportunity for us to meet the wave 1 services and talk through with them exactly what can be expected from the accreditation process” explains Jo. “Our Accreditation Team have the benefit of already working with over 20 services who are working towards the accreditation process for the Male Survivor Partnership’s Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of sexual violence (with further services due to start that process imminently), so we have utilised the experience of those services of going through the accreditation process, to inform these new ISVA Services about how it works“.

LimeCulture expect it to take around 1 year for the ISVA Services to reach independent accreditation, which includes a 7-stage process, but it is clear than some services may well reach accreditation more quickly than this. “It really does depend on how close the ISVA Services is to achieving each of the individual quality standards and how quickly they prioritise any actions that they might have in order to demonstrate that they have achieved the Quality Standards. Yesterday’s Accreditation Workshop was a fantastic opportunity to explore this in detail with the wave 1 ISVA Services, by working with them to identify exactly what they have to do in order to reach the requirements of our independent accreditation” explains Jo.

Due to the huge demand from ISVA Services to join the Independent Accreditation Programme, LimeCulture has been able to extend the programme beyond the 1st wave. “We’re now able to open this programme to more ISVA Services at scheduled intakes, which we are delighted to be able to offer” explains Jo. “We’ve already got other ISVA Services signed up to start in May and July, which is brilliant news and goes to show how important the sector feel these Quality Standards are”

LimeCulture is now taking applications from providers or commissioners of ISVA Services to join the programme throughout this year and next. If you would like to join the Independent Accreditation Programme please contact accreditation@limeculture.co.uk to discuss which intake you would like to join. Please note, there are a limited number of places for each intake, but we will work with you to identify a suitable intake date.

LimeCulture hosts Commissioners’ Symposium

As part of our (Home Office funded) Spreading Excellence project, LimeCulture hosted a Commissioners’ Symposium in central London last week (20 February).

The Symposium, which was attended by 40 local commissioners, was an invaluable opportunity to bring together local NHS England, Police and Crime Commissioner offices, Clinical Commissioning Groups and Local Authority commissioners to share knowledge and provide a unique opportunity to focus on improving the provision of sexual violence support services through the commissioning process by:

  • Identifying and exploring common themes, challenges and solutions relating to commissioning of local support services,
  • Sharing examples of success stories, as well as areas for improvement,
  • Providing recommendations of how capacity amongst the sexual violence sector can be stimulated to enable better service provision.

The background to this important work is that many sexual violence services, particular in the voluntary and community sector, are increasingly reliant on funding from local commissioners in order to provide their vital services for victims/survivors of sexual violence. However, many services claim that local commissioners do not understand the importance of the work they do, and are overlooking their services in favour of funding other (often bigger and non specialist) service providers.Many providers also claim they do not have the capacity or expertise to respond to complex procurement tenders,and instead rely on central funding pots for survival.

Conversely, commissioners claim some aspects of the sexual violence voluntary sector is not ‘commissioner ready’, lacking the ability to provide services to meet their specifications and are not always well placed to respond to monitoring requirements because of their lack of resources and capacity.

Despite a general acknowledgement that local sexual violence services are an important provision, to date there has been no forum that brings together commissioners, policy leads, and service providers to focus together on building capacity and capability of sexual violence services. Instead at a national level, these key stakeholder groups broadly work in isolation, meaning their expertise, knowledge and skill is not often brought together to jointly focus on improving outcomes for victims/survivors through building capacity and capability of service provision.

LimeCulture’s Spreading Excellence project aims to ensure freely available and focused support focusing on the commissioning process is available to the whole range of sexual violence voluntary sector organisations. This support will be developed through the engagement of local Commissioners, policy advices and other service providers to meaningfully collaborate.

In November 2018, LimeCulture CIC hosted the first meeting of a newly-formed National Working Group. The Working Group identified that the key enabler for this Project is a specific focus on improving knowledge around the commissioning process relating to sexual violence support services. This will be delivered by coproducing a suite of information guides intended for providers. Resources will be shared online and at a Knowledge & Network Event for sexual violence voluntary sector organisations to build capacity through sharing of learning, experience and suggestions from the Commissioners’ Symposium.

The morning session of the Commissioners’ Symposium included three panel discussions focusing on the policy leads’ view, the providers’ view and the commissioners’ view. All three panels prompted invaluable wider discussion about the challenges faced by providers in relation to local commissioning arrangements, with a number of practical solutions identified that would support service providers with this process.

During the Symposium’s afternoon session, the attendees focused on specific elements of the commissioning cycle with a view to making practical recommendations that can support providers with that process.

LimeCulture would like to extend a huge thank you to all those who attended and contributed to this fantastic event. It was a pleasure to observe the clear commitment to improving services for victims/survivors of sexual violence that exists amongst the full range of commissioners that attended the Symposium.

The key outcome of the Symposium will be the development of practical guidance for providers of sexual violence, which will be launched at a free Knowledge and Network Event for providers that will take place in May 2019.

If you would like to know more about LimeCulture’s Spreading Excellence programme, please email spreading.excellence@limeculture.co.uk

 

10 new services join Independent Accreditation Programme for Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence

Earlier this year, thanks to funding from the Home Office, the Male Survivors Partnership in conjunction with LimeCulture CIC, announced that 10 new services would be able to participate in the Independent Accreditation Programme for the Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence in 2019 free of charge!

The services who have successfully applied for a place on the programme starting in March are:

1. RASA Merseyside Counselling Service
2. RSVP Counselling Service
3. The Green House
4. Blue Sky Centre SARC
5. PARCS Counselling service
6. The Birchall Trust
7. St Mary’s SARC ISVA Service
8. Harbour Centre SARC ISVA Service Harbour Centre Norfolk Logo
9. The Sunderland Counselling Service
10. Kinergy

 

 

 

Background information

Since their launch in January 2018, the Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence have been downloaded hundreds of times, and we already have over thirty services that are working towards accreditation.  This means many services are already working to improve consistency, practice and the overall quality of services supporting male victims/survivors.

The Quality Standards and the Implementation Guidance for Commissioners and Service Providers are available online, free of charge: http://www.malesurvivor.co.uk/implementation-guidance-online.pdf

 

There are 24 Quality Standards across four domains; Leadership & Governance, Access & Engagement, Service Delivery and Outcomes & Evaluation. They set out the expectations of the organisation’s leadership, staff and also the client experience.  The Quality Standards create a framework and benchmark that can be used to develop and improve service provision for male victims/survivors, in particular recognising their gender-based needs.

Sitting alongside the Quality Standards is the Independent Accreditation Programme, delivered by LimeCulture CIC.   The programme will award a Quality Mark to services that demonstrate they meet the Quality Standards through a robust and independent accreditation process of documentary evidence review, interviews and site visits.

The length of time for a service to reach accreditation will vary from service to service and will depend on a number of factors including, for example, how far the service has to go to meet the Quality Standards, and/or how quickly the service can provide evidence to the independent accreditation team to show that they meet the Quality Standards.  The independent accreditation team work with services to identify the appropriate timescales, based on initial self-assessment, service capacity and functions and location of the services being accredited.

Ordinarily, the cost of joining the Independent Accreditation Programme is £3,500 + VAT which covers a service, which is based at a single site.  However the Home Office funding has enabled us to offer 10 services the opportunity to join the Independent Accreditation Programme free of charge!

For further information or an informal discussion please contact the Independent Accreditation Team on 0203 6330018 or email accreditation@limeculture.co.uk and we will be happy to discuss your requirements

LimeCulture Promotes ‘Self-Care’

This week has seen the LimeCulture staff come together in Manchester for our regular planning  & update meeting. As an organisation that works nationally, our core team members live in different locations across England, so we regularly make time to come together to update, share and plan our work collectively as a team. Our busy schedules and the demands of our work mean that we are all often working in different locations from week to week. By coming together, we are able to share our successes, raise our concerns and highlight any themes that impact on our work as a team.

Our team meeting this month focused on ‘Self-care’ – an important topic that is so often overlooked by many employers. LimeCulture has recently been asked to develop self-care training to frontline professionals working in safeguarding roles. As part of the development of this new course aimed at frontline professionals working at the sharp end of difficult cases, we recognised that while self-care is crucial for them, it is also important for everyone else too. “Self-care shouldn’t be seen as be as exclusive for those who have difficult jobs, or as an afterthought for those who are already stressed out by their jobs” says Phil Doorgachurn, LimeCulture’s Director of Safeguarding in Sport. “taking care of yourself is what enables you to do your job…regardless of your role, your grade, your responsibilities,”

“At LimeCulture our staff are our most important asset. Our organisation is only as good as the people we employ so we want to make sure that they are happy and healthy, and actively taking steps to make sure they remain that way” explains Phil, who developed the training alongside Bernie Ryan, LimeCulture’s Director of Training and Development. “Our work lives are demanding, we work hard to deliver for our clients, often with pressures and conflicting demands on our time” says Phil “We wouldn’t be so effective if we weren’t all looking after our selves properly”.

 

LimeCulture decided to take a whole team approach to self-care, by making it the focus of our team meeting. Bernie and Phil delivered the new ‘Self-care’ training to the rest of the LimeCulture team, focusing on the things we do to look after ourselves individually and how this is working for us.

“Everybody has competing demands in their lives, whether this is family commitments, financial constraints, social events, anything else that means you are pulled in different directions. When you add the pressures of your job to the mix it can be difficult to make sure that you look after yourself properly’ says Phil. ‘Taking a bit of time to prioritise yourself each day is key to staying on top”.

Everybody will have different approaches to looking after themselves and so the LimeCulture team looked at the ways they practice self care individually and whether there is more that they could be doing. “For some people, a walk round the block can be all it takes to clear their head, for others a full workout at the gym will recharge their batteries’ explains Phil, “It might be that making a bit of time to read a book, or write a list, or see a friend will contribute to a more balanced life”.

The feedback on the “self-care’ training from the LimeCulture team was excellent. Joint Chief Executive Kim Doyle commented “It was absolutely fantastic to take time out to focus on our self care. We could have been a tough audience – all of the members of our team are very able professionals who operate at a high level in the field of sexual violence and safeguarding – but the team absolutely recognised that looking after ourselves properly is a key contributor to our individual and collective success’.  Each member of the LimeCulture team now has an individual ‘self care plan’, which were discussed and developed as part of the training. “I am really proud that at LimeCulture we have enabled each member of our team to take responsibility for prioritising taking care of themselves. This is good for each member of the team personally, but will also makes us stronger as a team’.

 

LimeCulture’s Self Care training is now available for delivery to teams of professionals.

If you are interested in this 1-day interactive workshop contact info@limeCulture.co.uk for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Applications now open for 10 new services to join the Independent Accreditation Programme for the Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims / Survivors of Sexual Violence

Following funding from the Home Office, the Male Survivors Partnership in conjunction with LimeCulture CIC, has announced that 10 new services will be able to participate in the Independent Accreditation Programme for the Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence in 2019 free of charge! Since their launch in January 2018, the Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence have been downloaded hundreds of times, and we already have over thirty services are working towards accreditation.  That means many services are already working to improve consistency, practice and the overall quality of services supporting male victims/survivors.

The Quality Standards and the Implementation Guidance for Commissioners and Service Providers are available online, free of charge: http://www.malesurvivor.co.uk/implementation-guidance-online.pdf. There are 24 Quality Standards across four domains; Leadership & Governance, Access & Engagement, Service Delivery and Outcomes & Evaluation. They set out the expectations of the organisation’s leadership and staff and also the client experience.  The Quality Standards create a framework and benchmark that can be used to develop and improve service provision for male victims/survivors, in particular recognising their gender-based needs.

Sitting alongside the Quality Standards is the Independent Accreditation Programme, delivered by LimeCulture CIC.   The programme will award a Quality Mark to services that demonstrate they meet the Quality Standards through a robust and independent accreditation process of documentary evidence review, interviews and site visits.

Ordinarily, the cost of joining the Independent Accreditation Programme is £3,500 + VAT which covers a service, which is based at a single site.  However the Home Office funding has enabled us to offer 10 services the opportunity to join the Independent Accreditation Programme free of charge!

If you would like to join, please ensure you submit your application and self-assessment before 5pm on Friday 25th January 2019 and we will notify services as soon as possible if they have been successful. Please note, as the Home Office funding allows for 10 new services, submission of an application does not guarantee a place on this intake. 

The application form including self-assessment are available from our website here.

For further information or an informal discussion please contact the Independent Accreditation Team on 0203 6330018 or email accreditation@limeculture.co.uk and we will be happy to discuss your requirements.