Booking Now – Spreading Excellence – Free Workshop Programme 2021

‘Spreading Excellence’ is a Home Office funded project that was established by LimeCulture with the aim of improving the capacity and capability of the sexual violence sector to ensure high-quality and effective services are available for all. The project seeks to achieve this through the influence and engagement of service users, service providers, commissioners and policy leads working together collaboratively.

The project is overseen by a National Working Group.  Membership includes commissioners and service providers as well as leaders from the Home Office, NHS, Crown Prosecution Service, Police and the Ministry of Justice . The first project had a specific focus on improving knowledge around the commissioning process relating to sexual violence support services.  Our guidance document developed from the 2018/19 project is available free HERE.

Our new project fully funded by the Home Office for 2020/21  has a focus on improving services for children and young people who have experienced child sexual abuse.

The Spreading Excellence National Working Group has supported the development of a series of five free virtual workshops. The intention is to bring around 25 stakeholders to each workshop.

The workshops will examine the main themes of commissioning and delivering services for children and young people who have experienced child sexual abuse (CSA).

We have arranged for expert speakers to share their experiences of either providing, commissioning and/or researching CSA. Additionally LimeCulture will be working with service providers to ensure that the voice of lived experienced is reflected during the workshops.

The purpose of each workshop is for participants to work collaboratively to identify the main challenges within these key areas, and to identify solutions and/or best practice.

A printable programme is available to download Spreading Excellence Workshop Programme 2021 (PDF)

Booking 

These free workshops will be delivered virtually via Zoom and can be booked online using the links below.

Workshop Title – Best Practice Case Study Date
Commissioning CSA Services – Lincolnshire OPCC & Centre of Expertise on CSA (CSA Centre) – Book here  9th of February 2021
Providing CSA services – The Green House –Book here  11th of February 2021
Multi-agency support models  – The Lighthouse – Book here 23rd of February 2021
Meeting the needs of victims of CSA  including Criminal Justice Service – Imara – Book here  25th of February 2021
Supporting professionals to respond to victims of CSA – CSA Centre) – Book here 2nd of March 2021

Who should attend?

Providers of CSA support services; practitioners or managers (CHISVA, Children and Young People Counselling Services and Social Care Safeguarding Leads), Commissioners of CSA services and Researchers in Practice.

Report and Symposium

LimeCulture will review the findings from the five workshops and these will published via an online national symposium on the 30th of March 2021. Booking will be available shortly.

Should you require any further information please contact spreading.excellence@limeculture.co.uk

LimeCulture launches new accredited course for Lead Safeguarding Officers in Sport

There is no question that sport plays a vital role in maintaining physical and mental good health for millions of children and adults across the world, but the sad reality is the extensive harm done to children, adults, families, and sporting organisations when abuse in sport occurs.

Driven by the need to professionalise the response to safeguarding in sport, LimeCulture has developed an innovative new accredited training programme for Lead Safeguarding Officers in Sport. Supported by Sport England, LimeCulture are excited to launch the Lead Safeguarding Officer Development Programme.

The accredited 6-module Lead Safeguarding Officer Development Programme is the first of its kind and has been designed to support Lead Safeguarding Officers to develop a strategic and holistic response to safeguarding, whilst embedding the values and principles of safeguarding into the culture, environment and operations of their respective sports. Each of the 6 modules will be taught over 2 consecutive says, over a 6 month period.

We’re absolutely delighted to be able to launch this new training programme specifically designed for Lead Safeguarding Officers in Sport’ says Phil Doorgachurn, Director of Safeguarding at LimeCulture.

Despite some high profile criticisms and calls to improve the handling of safeguarding concerns in sport, until now, there has never been a dedicated training programme of this kind to support sports to move forward in their organisational approach towards safer outcomes in sport”

Designed to equip Lead Safeguarding Officers with the required skills and expertise to provide a consistent, robust and proactive response to safeguarding in sport, the programme will focus on safeguarding in the context of both prevention and response.

This comprehensive innovative training programme has been written in consultation with sporting organisations, the Sport England Advisory Panel, leading sector experts and academics. It considers inclusivity and the human rights agenda, reflecting on lessons learnt and how to implement positive change throughout an organisation.

 “We have worked alongside a whole range of professionals and experts to develop this course for Lead Safeguarding Officers. We are delighted that Sport England have supported us to roll this out nationally across all sports as we believe it will make such a positive difference”.

The first Lead Safeguarding Officer in Sport Development Programme will begin in January 2021 and will take place via an online platform due to the current concerns and uncertainty resulting from Covid-19. We expect the demand for the course to be high and will be scheduling more dates for further intakes soon.

To find out more about the Lead Safeguarding Officer Development Programme and how to apply please click here

To find out more about LimeCulture’s Safeguarding in Sport Programme, please visits our website https://limeculture.co.uk/sport/ or drop us an email info@limeculture.co.uk

LimeCulture Expands Training Division to Meet Increased Demand for ISVA Training

In March, when the restrictions imposed as a result of covid-19 were introduced by the Government, LimeCulture Training Division was forced to pause all of our scheduled training for ISVAs.

In any single ‘normal’ year, we have four separate cohorts (of 25 ISVAs each) attending our accredited six-module ISVA Development Programme, and up to five cohorts attending our accredited Advanced Development Programme (ADP) Electives for experienced ISVAs. The reality of this is that at any given time, our Training Division will be working with multiple ISVAs and our training schedule has to be very well planned!

So the restrictions put in place in March were not only a blow to us, but also the 50 ISVAs who were part way through their training with us. A further cohort of 25 ISVAs were due to start their training in May but all of their training was put on hold for the safety of the ISVAs and our staff. Our training schedule went out the window on 23 March 2020 and we struggled to work out how best to manage under increasing uncertainty.

In all honesty, initially we were very resistant to moving our ISVA training online, despite lots of requests from ISVAs to resume training again. LimeCulture has built our reputation through consistently delivering the highest quality training to over 1000 ISVAs since 2011. Our training, developed over the last nine years is continuously reviewed and updated to make sure the content remains relevant and provides a tried and tested method of delivery, which is operational in focus, and equips ISVAs to carry out their complex roles and embed their learning in everyday practice.

High quality training is absolutely key to this, every aspect of the 12-day course has been carefully considered and designed to meet the learning objectives and outcomes crucial to provide ISVAs with the right level of training. This supports them to perform their roles professionally and safely and to support victims/survivors of sexual violence to navigate the criminal justice system, health, social care services and other specialist support services with confidence and competence. 

We are immensely proud of our contribution to professionalising the ISVA workforce and ensure that ISVAs are now recognised as professionals. This means we continue to be the leading provider of ISVA training in the UK, who the vast majority of ISVA Services trust to train their staff.

A significant part of our training is based on the value that is provided by bringing delegates together, from across the country and different types of services – to network, learn from each other and share practice.  Many of the ISVAs we have trained continue their professional relationships beyond their training and throughout their careers. We were concerned that moving the training to online might impact on the quality of those relationships and networking opportunities and so we held firm, possibly rather naively, that we would simply wait until we could return to face to face delivery.

However, in July, due to continued COVID19 risks and associated restrictions it became clear that face to face delivery of ISVA training was not going to be possible any time soon, and with an influx of ISVAs trying to book on to our courses, requests from Managers of ISVA Services for us to start training again coming in almost daily – as well as the backlog of ISVAs who were part way through their courses –  we were forced to reconsider our options….

Throughout late April, May and June, with funding from the Ministry of Justice, our Training Division delivered a series of ‘Coping & Connecting” Sessions to support ISVAs during the first lockdown. Having delivered 38 Online Sessions to 241 individual ISVAs from 77 different ISVA services, our learning from each session, combined with the fantastic feedback that we received, gave us the confidence to look again at how we might deliver our ISVA training in a different format.

Throughout July and August, our Training Division took on the enormous task of redesigning our ISVA training courses for online delivery, working closely with our independent accreditor to make sure that we could retain the quality, and meet their expectations in terms of assessment criteria. For us, the most important thing was ensuring that ISVAs who attend an online training course do not receive a lesser standard of training to those who have attended a face to face course. We’re not going to lie; this has been tricky!

We know the true value of our training comes from the things that happen in the training room – the conversations that take place between ISVAs around a table, the anecdotes the trainers respond with when asked specific questions, the unique characters that make up each cohort and bring light relief to what are often hard subjects to absorb – and we realised that we needed to recreate these opportunities in a ‘virtual’ class room, where people who have never met, feel comfortable and at ease to share their experiences and the professional challenges they face.

After lots of time spent changing lesson plans, moving content, reformatting group exercises and brushing up on our technology skills, we delivered our first online training to ISVAs in late August and…. it went brilliantly! We delivered it to a cohort who were part way through their training when the restrictions were imposed, so we already knew them and they knew each other so that was a helpful starting point. We also incorporated everything that technology could offer – breakout rooms, chat functions, polls, additional screens – and ended up with a fantastic result. The ISVAs loved it and the feedback was fantastic. They were able to share and learn from each other just as effectively, albeit in a different way. One ISVA commented ‘the only downside to online training is that there isn’t the same opportunity to sample the nightlife that Manchester provides!’.

Since then and with more and more ISVAs being recruited nationally, we have seen a huge increase in demand for our ISVA Training with bookings significantly increasing  and resulted in additional programmes being added to our training calendar. We’re working through the backlog of training created by the pause in delivery between March and August and we’ve added a further three ISVA Development Programmes to meet the demand. Our Training Division have done a wonderful job of staying on top of all the requests.

Despite all the ongoing uncertainty created by COVID19, we have our training schedule back in place! We’ve also recruited a new Training Manager to expand our Training division and provide us with additional capacity to allow us do more. We are very grateful to all the ISVA Services who continue to put their trust in us to deliver high quality ISVA training for their staff despite the challenges that COVID19 has put in our way.

We’ve been delivering online training every week since the end of August, and each time we are getting more proficient at using the technology. Its certainly a different experience for ISVAs, but we are assured that the quality that ISVAs expect from LimeCulture has been retained even though we are delivering it differently.

What the ISVAs say about the transition to online training.

‘I think that the training was still at an exceptional level despite the change to an online platform’. 

‘The varied methods used kept me interested and engaged’.

‘Facilitators work well together, the days did not feel rushed.  There was good interaction with the delegates, it felt very inclusive.  An enjoyable course.’

‘It is hard to do training like this over Zoom but you both made it engaging and easy to follow.  Thank you!’

Bernie Ryan, Director of Training, LimeCulture

For more information about LimeCulture’s training for ISVAs, please see our website or contact us by email info@limeculture.co.uk. We’d love to hear from you!

To book a place on our next available ISVA Development Programme starting in January 2021, please use the online booking form here

To book a place on our next available Advanced Development Programme Elective 1 (Supporting Clients with Specific Needs) starting in March 2021, please use the online booking form here

To book a place on our next available Advanced Development Programme Elective 2 (Supporting Children and Young People) starting in February 2021, please use the online booking form here

To book a place on our next available Advanced Development Programme Elective 3 (Supporting Older People) starting in March 2021, please use the online booking form here

To book a place on our next available Workshop for ISVA Managers, starting in March 2021, please use the online booking form here

New members required for a National Working Group to oversee LimeCulture’s Spreading Excellence Project 2020-21

‘Spreading Excellence’ is a Home Office funded project that has been created by LimeCulture to support the sexual violence sector to ensure excellent services are available for victims/survivors.

The Spreading Excellence project aims to improve the capacity and capability of the sexual violence sector to make certain high-quality and effective services are available for all. This will be achieved through the influence and engagement of service providers, commissioners and policy leads working together collaboratively.

We are pleased to announce that LimeCulture CIC has been funded by the Home Office to deliver a Spreading Excellence project in 2020-21. This year the focus will be on improving services for children and young people who have experienced child sexual abuse following the successful delivery of the 2018-19 project.

We are keen to ensure members of the Working Group are representative of those in the sexual violence sector, with a specific focus on Child Sexual Abuse and that service providers, commissioners and policy leads are equally represented.  The creation of the National Working Group presents a real opportunity to ensure that new ideas, thinking and plans are encouraged to flourish and develop to contribute to the spread of excellence amongst the sexual violence sector. As we strive to develop the sexual violence sector, new and emerging voices are actively encouraged to apply to join the National Working Group.

To this end, we are looking to recruit National Working Group members who are:

  • Passionate about developing the sexual violence sector with a focus services for Children and Young People who have experienced sexual abuse.
  • Committed to working collaboratively to bring about meaningful change
  • Dedicated to promoting and sharing excellent practice to raise sector standards

National Working Group members will be expected to attend two virtual meetings, which will take place in November 2020 and February 2021 as well as commenting on draft reports or proposals.

Please note: These are voluntary positions and it will not be possible to remunerate members for their time although a bursary contribution may be accessible for service-users and service providers.

LimeCulture are seeking expressions of interest from individuals who would like to become  Spreading Excellence National Working Group Members for 2020-21. If you would like to Express an Interest, please email Spreading.Excellence@limeculture.co.uk by Friday the 30th of October 2020.

Please provide a brief summary of your background and why you would like to be a member of the Spreading Excellence National Working Group.

If you would like an informal discussion about joining please call 0203 633 0018.

Update on the Independent Accreditation Programme – September 2020

As we all pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down from lockdown, the Accreditation team have taken the opportunity to reflect on the last couple of years but also look forward with excitement and anticipation of what’s to come. We have now independently accredited a total of 25 organisations with a breakdown of 34 individual services across both the Quality Standards for Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) Services and the Male Survivor Partnership Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims of Sexual Violence. We continue to work with another 37 services who are progressing through the programme and at the time of writing, we have 12 site visits scheduled.

Following a well-received three month break from the programme whilst the world adjusted to lockdown, we hit the ground running early July and worked hard to adjust the programme to work within the current limitations. We are now completing site visits virtually and these have been a great success so far. The positive side of this means we haven’t found ourselves on train platforms navigating cancelled trains and closed tracks because of fallen trees. It does however mean we aren’t getting to meet services in person and at the final hurdle, putting a face to the voice.

We have two Accreditation Managers, Charlotte Bond and Rebecca Lunn who together have years of experience of working in the sexual violence sector and work together on both sets of Quality Standards.

We always knew that services can vary considerably between providers and commissioners, and across geographical areas.  Throughout the process, we have been capturing any learning points identified to keep our published guidance documents up to date and we have also written a Frequently Asked Questions document to address these.

Despite the differences, we have also found some common challenges services experience. Obtaining valuable feedback and wellbeing outcomes are often listed a consistent difficulty, due to the nature of the work and the vulnerabilities of the clients involved.  However, a very positive theme we identify in a lot of services is the commitment to prioritise staff & client welfare.

We are working with Male Survivor Partnership to set up a webinar to bring together services that have completed the pilot MQS programme so we can capture their thoughts and experiences. We are keen to hear how working through the standards and achieving the Quality Mark has impacted on their service design and delivery.   If this is you, look out for your invitation soon!

And with all that said, we are very excited to announce that we are starting a new cohort of services for both the Quality Standards for Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) Services and the Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims of Sexual Violence.

We are now accepting applications for both programmes until midnight Friday 30th October.

The Accreditation workshop will be held virtually using video conferencing on the following dates:

  • Thursday 12th November for the Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims of Sexual Violence and,
  • Thursday 26th November for the Quality Standards for Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) Services. 

Further details can be found at www.limeculture.co.uk/accreditation. To discuss your service in more detail and apply to join the programme please contact accreditation@limeculture.co.uk.  We are looking forward to hearing from you. 

In the meantime, look out for our next blog post which will focus on our plans for Reaccreditation….

 

LimeCulture are recruiting a full time Training Manager

LimeCulture are looking to recruit and appoint a Training Manager to work with us on a full time basis (40 Hours p/w). This is an exciting opportunity to join the LimeCulture Core Team and work within our Training Division.

This is a full time Monday to Friday position where the post-holder is mainly home based but will be required to travel extensively (depending on Covid-19 restrictions) to deliver our range of training programmes to frontline professionals and organisations.

The Job Description and Person Specification for the Training Manager is attached below.

If you would like an informal discussion about this role, please contact Bernie.Ryan@limeculture.co.uk to arrange a suitable time to discuss.

If you would like to apply please send a cv and covering letter explaining why you would be suitable for the role by email to info@limeculture.co.uk. Please include ‘Training Manager’ in the subject line of your email. The deadline for applications is 5pm Friday 18th September 2020.

Training Manager JD & Person Spec

LimeCulture are recruiting a National ISVA Coordinator

LimeCulture are looking to recruit and appoint a National ISVA Coordinator. This is an exciting opportunity to be involved in the set up and launch of an innovative pilot project, working closely with the police and to support victims of sexual violence of hard-to-reach groups.

The National ISVA Coordinator will be employed by LimeCulture for the duration of the pilot (and beyond if extended). However the post will be seconded into a specialist sexual violence service provider who will manage the day to day operation of a National Advice Line, which will be established as part of this pilot.

This is a full time Monday to Friday position where the post-holder is predominantly home based but will be required to travel intermittently to the provider for the purposes of induction and for some face to face supervision. The role will also require limited travel to other venues across the country during the set-up phase of the project.

The Job Description and Person Specification for the National ISVA Coordinator is attached below.

If you would like an informal discussion about this role, please contact Rebecca.Lunn@limeculture.co.uk to arrange a suitable time to discuss.

If you would like to apply please send a cv and covering letter explaining why you would be suitable for the role by email to info@limeculture.co.uk. Please include ‘National ISVA Coordinator’ in the subject line of your email. The deadline for applications is 5pm Friday 24 July 2020.

Interviews will take place during the week commencing 27 July 2020.

National ISVA Coordinator (Advice Line) Job Description and Person Specification

LimeCulture Completes Series of (MoJ Funded) Coping & Connecting Online Sessions for ISVAs

LimeCulture has now completed the series of “Coping & Connecting’ Online Sessions that were funded by the Ministry of Justice, as part of their initiative to support frontline services respond to victims/survivors of sexual violence during the coronavirus outbreak. LimeCulture recognised the need to ensure that professionals were also supported during this challenging time, many of whom have had to completely adapt the way they provide support to their clients as a result of the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic.

Our Training Director, Bernie Ryan says “I want to say thank you to all the ISVAs and ISVA Managers who participated with our Online Sessions. We’ve been overwhelmed with the demand and the uptake of the sessions’

The LimeCulture training team have been delivering 5 Online Sessions per week to ISVAs since the end of April, and throughout May & June. “We’ve connected with more than 240 ISVA from more than 60 ISVA Services, which is incredible. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive throughout and it is in no small part down to the ISVAs who were willing to connect with us and share their personal and professional experiences with their peers”. 

Its has been a privilege to connect with so many ISVAs during this challenging time – so thank you for joining us! The ISVA workforce is truly incredible & LimeCulture will continue to support & champion you and the vital support you provide.

LimeCulture Update – Our Planned Return to ‘Business As Usual’

Since the restrictions put in place to manage the Covid-19 outbreak, LimeCulture has been continuously monitoring the situation to ensure the safety of our staff and our clients. Although some of LimeCulture’s work has continued throughout this period, much of our work has been paused or postponed since the end of March 2020.

Naturally, at LimeCulture we are keen to get back to supporting our clients and return to ‘business as usual’ as soon as we are safely able to do so. In light of recent announcements, it is our intention to resume all of our work from 1 July 2020, wherever it is possible to do so. This includes working with the services enrolled on the Independent Accreditation Programme, continuing our Projects and Consultancy work, and resuming our schedule of training programmes.

We believe the majority of our work can either be delivered remotely or through practicing social distancing wherever necessary. We are currently working hard to embed risk assessment and ‘covid-safe’ plans to support us to deliver our work moving forward.

In relation to our schedule of training, we took the decision at the end of March (when the restrictions were first put in place) to postpone the majority of our training courses, with the exception of a small number of our courses suitable for online/virtual delivery.

We remain committed to delivering the following (postponed) courses as quickly as it is safe to do so:

  • ISVA Development Programme
  • Advanced Development Programme Electives for accredited ISVAs
  • Workshop for ISVA Managers
  • Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) Development Programme
  • Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence
  • Crisis Worker Development Programme

We are currently working closely with our independent awarding body, NCFE, and our training venues to ensure the safety of our staff and delegates and assess whether alternate methods of delivery could reasonably be employed in the short term. Crucially, however, we are not willing to compromise on the standards of quality that our delegates have come to expect from LimeCulture training programmes. We are also determined to ensure that our delegates should continue to be guaranteed a rich and supportive learning experience, with the opportunity to interact meaningfully with our expert trainers and fellow delegates throughout the duration of our courses. As such, we have agreed that we will only deliver training using methods that allows delegates to authentically explore the content, embed the learning to shape operational practices and create relationships that continue to support them as professionals.

We will be making contact with delegates already booked onto the above (postponed) courses over the coming weeks to discuss new dates for the training courses. However, if you have any questions in the meantime then please do not hesitate to contact us via info@limeculture.co.uk

Best wishes from the LimeCulture Team

18 May 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to Sir Keir Starmer

 

The team at LimeCulture Community Interest Company would like to extend their congratulations to Sir Keir Starmer, who was elected on Saturday as the new Leader of the Labour Party.

Keir is the Chair of LimeCulture CIC’s Independent Advisory Board and has undertaken this voluntary role since January 2018. During this time he has provided us with invaluable support and strategic advice, helping us to become the organisation that we are today. Keir has been a longstanding supporter of victims/survivors of sexual violence, and a passionate advocate of the need to improve the professional response to sexual violence.

Congratulations Keir, from all of us at LimeCulture!