Safeguarding – Keeping you Safe
Keeping Safe Online
Online Safety is being aware of the nature of the possible threats that you could encounter whilst engaging in activity through the Internet, these could be security threats, protecting and managing your personal data, online reputation management, and avoiding harmful or illegal content
- Consider what information should be kept private and decide on rules for making and meeting online friends.
- Ensure you know the possible risks of accepting friend requests from strangers online.
- Make sure you are using strong passwords to protect online accounts. It is important that passwords are kept safe. Do not share them with anyone or use the same password for several accounts.
- Do not allow other people to use your devices when using your personal information.
- Safety settings are important when using webcams and any applications or devices which allow voice or video chat. Childnet have useful information for young people about using webcams safely www.childnet.com/young-people/secondary/hot-topics/video-chat-and-webcams
- Ensure that you know how to block and report inappropriate content. Talk to someone about this and where possible do not retaliate or respond to incidents. Keep any evidence you have, should the matter be investigated at a higher level.
- Remember, once a picture, video or comment is sent or posted online, it can be very difficult to remove as other people can forward it and share it with others, without you knowing.
Social media is a great way to keep in touch. Its important to regularly check your privacy settings on all your apps to keep yourself safe online. Follow saferinternet.org to find checklists for Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter to protect yourself while you stay in contact with your friends.
Remember:
- Protect your online reputation and ‘think before you post.’ Content posted online can last forever and could be shared publicly by anyone.
- Report anything that concerns you to service providers and use blocking and deleting tools. If something happens that upsets you online, it’s never too late to tell someone.
- Don’t give in to pressure: if you lose your inhibitions, you’ve lost control; once you’ve pressed send you can’t take it back.
- Respect the law: use reliable services and know how to legally access the music, film, and TV you want.
If you need any advice or support, you can contact our Safeguarding Team for a chat email: safeguarding@derby-college.ac.uk or speak to them in person in College. If you don’t feel safe or have a safeguarding concern about another student, you can call one of our senior safeguarding team (using the numbers in the table above) from Monday – Friday 9am – 4pm.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
Mental Health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. If you are finding it difficult to manage how you think, feel and act with respect to daily stresses, it could be a sign of poor mental health. Mental illnesses are conditions that affect a person’s thinking, feeling, mood or behaviour
Anxiety is what we feel when we are worried, tense or afraid – particularly about things that are about to happen, or which we think could happen in the future. Most people feel anxious at times. It’s particularly common to experience some anxiety while coping with stressful events or changes, especially if they could have a big impact on your life.
Depression is a mental health problem that involves having a low mood or losing interest and enjoyment in things. If you experience milder depression, you might have low mood but still be able to carry on with your daily life. But things may feel harder and less worthwhile.
Eating Problems result from a relationship with food that you find difficult. Changing your eating habits every now and again is normal but if you feel like food and eating is taking over your life, it may become a problem.
Loneliness is felt by all of us from time to time. Feelings of loneliness are personal, so everyone’s experience will be different.
Panic Attacks are a type of fear response. They’re an exaggeration of your body’s normal response to danger, stress or excitement.
Self Harm is when you hurt yourself as a way of dealing with very difficult feelings, painful memories or overwhelming situations and experiences.
Suicidal thoughts and feelings can mean having abstract thoughts about ending your life or feeling that people would be better off without you.
Email Safeguarding@derby-college.ac.uk and someone will get back to you as soon as they can or if you’re on site, you can call and speak to one of the Safeguarding Team face to face.
There are many external organisations working to provide support and strategies for coping; you can access our Mental Wellbeing Toolkit on Moodle for lots of contacts and ideas, talk to an online counsellor anonymously through Kooth or use any of the links below:
- Young Minds
- Anxiety UK
- Every Mind Matters
- The Children’s Society
Visit https://derbyandderbyshireemotionalhealthandwellbeing.uk/child-young-person/emotional-wellbeing-support for all the self-help, support and information resources you need.
In addition, you can anonymously contact the NSPCC via text 88858 for free and they will send an automated confirmation response followed by a specific response from a Helpline practitioner within three hours.
Domestic Abuse and Violence
Domestic abuse encompasses any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.
Domestic abuse can happen between people who are going out together, living together, have children together or are married to each other. It can also happen after a relationship has finished.
You can also be affected by the abuse you see and hear, you can be hurt or bullied as part of the abuse between people you live with or you may experience abuse in your own intimate relationship.
Domestic abuse can be emotional, physical, sexual, financial, controlling and/or coercive.https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=FvjmpiBscAw
If you’re experiencing domestic abuse or know someone who is, tel: 08000 198 668 and you’ll get help from someone close by.
If it’s an emergency, tel: 999.
You can also email the Derbyshire Domestic Abuse Helpline giving a number you can be contacted safely at derbyshiredahelpline@theelmfoundation.org.uk
If you’re deaf or hearing impaired, or unable to phone, text the Derbyshire Domestic Abuse Helpline tel: 07534 617252. Emergency SMS – text: 999.
For the National Domestic Violence 24-hour help line tel: 0808 2000 24
Peer on Peer Abuse (also known as Child-on-Child Abuse)
Peer-on-peer abuse is a term used to describe young people abusing other young people
Peer on peer abuse can take many forms including:
- Bullying and cyberbullying
- Physical abuse (hitting, kicking, shaking, biting, pulling hair, burning or otherwise which causes harm)
- Sexual violence (a general term we use to describe any kind of unwanted sexual act or activity, including rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, and many others)
- Sexual harassment (unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them, this can include comments and remarks, jokes and online sexual harassment)
- Upskirting (taking pictures under a person’s clothing, without consent or them knowing, with the intention of seeing their genitalia or buttocks for sexual gratification, to cause humiliation or distress)
- Sexting / Youth Produced Sexual Images (sending sexually explicit messages, photos or videos using electronic devices such as phones, tablets and computers)
- Initiation/hazing type violence and rituals
If this is happening to you or another student, Email safeguarding@derby-college.ac.uk or call 0800 028 0289 and ask for someone from the safeguarding team.
If it’s happening to someone outside college, contact The National Bullying Helpline for help or advice or talk a trusted adult
Modern Day Slavery
Modern slavery exists in many forms in the UK, including trafficking into criminal activities like cannabis farming, sexual exploitation, domestic slavery or forced labour on farms, in construction, shops, bars, nail bars, car washes or manufacturing.Criminal exploitation is the most common form of slavery in the UK, followed by forced labour. This includes British children and young people forced into ‘county lines’ drug trafficking. Many people are trafficked into slavery in the UK from overseas, as was recently revealed by Sir Mo Farah, for example. But vulnerable British people are also targeted, especially young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. In fact, statistics from the Home Office show that, in 2021, people from Britain were one of the largest country groups referred to authorities. For the many people who find themselves forced to work in illegal enterprises like drugs manufacturing, there’s the ever-present fear of being criminalised by the UK authorities for the activities that they have been trafficked into. This prevents many victims from feeling able to trust the police, social workers and other authority figures.
If you need help, email the senior safeguarding team on safeguarding@derby-college.ac.uk or the modern day slavery and exploitation helpline
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv1H_fAoOG4
FGM
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is an illegal, harmful practice and a form of child abuse and violence against women and girls. It is defined as ‘the partial or total removal of external female genitalia for non-medical reasons.
FGM is also known as female circumcision or cutting. There is no medical benefit to having the procedure and it can often cause severe damage to the girl’s mental and physical health.
If you or someone you know has been abused or subject to this type of abuse, you can contact the Safeguarding Team at DCG on 0800 028 0289 or email safeguarding@derby-college.ac.uk
For advice, support or to report FGM call the free 24-hour anonymous helpline on 0800 028 3550 or contact the college Safeguarding team on 01246 500688.
For more information on how to spot the signs of FGM or protect those who may be at risk please visit www.nspcc.org.uk/fgm
Prevent
Prevent is part of the government’s Counter Terrorism Strategy. It aims to prevent people from becoming terrorists and/or supporting terrorist activities and to challenge extremist ideologies
It can be hard to know what to do if you’re worried someone is expressing extreme views or hatred, which could lead to them harming themselves or others. Extremism and radicalisation might include interest in violent groups associated with faith, religion, the far-right, animal rights and other causes. Working with other organisations, the police protect vulnerable people from being exploited by extremists through the Prevent programme. If you have concerns about someone, please report it – you won’t be wasting police time and you won’t ruin lives but you might save them. Call the ACT Early Support Line on 0800 011 3764, in confidence, to share your concerns with specially trained police officers. https://actearly.uk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei3LIe7_mj8
Exploitation
Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). Exploitation comes in many forms and can often overlap, it is not discriminatory, and anyone can be subject to this type of abuse.
Young people can be tricked or groomed into believing they are in a loving, consensual, trusting relationship. They might be invited to parties and given drugs and alcohol, or given gifts and generally treated as an adult to gain their trust. They might be asked to do things that make them feel uncomfortable and asked to keep it a secret from supportive adults, such as being asked for inappropriate (sexual) images on or offline, stealing, transporting drugs (being a mule) or passing on messages or information.
Young people can be exploited in different ways, sometimes on a 1-1 basis and sometimes in groups.
People take advantage of naivety and youthful inexperience to exploit them. Sometimes it is about status, money, abuse, financial rewards, power and more.
Sexual exploitation may be carried out by adults against young people or in peer on peer contexts and is not gender specific, as both boys and girls can be exploited.
If this is happening to you or another student, Email safeguarding@derby-college.ac.uk, speak to the Safeguarding Team in college or call 0800 028 0289 and ask for someone from the safeguarding team. You can talk to the Safeguarding Team about someone outside college, contact the exploitation helpline for help or advice, or talk a trusted adult
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnTYFeZNLkQ
Forced Marriage
A forced marriage is where one or both people do not (or in cases of people with learning disabilities or reduced capacity, cannot) consent to the marriage. A forced marriage is not to be confused with arranged marriage.
Nobody has the right to force you to do something you don’t want to do. You can talk to a Welfare Officer any time about how you feel and if you’re having problems with your family. Some families force their children to marry because they:
- think it’s an important part of religion or culture
- are worried about the family’s reputation and honour (in some cultures also known as ‘izzat’)
- want all of the family’s money to stay together
- want to marry their children off in exchange for money
- don’t approve of their child being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender
- don’t want their children to have relationships or sex
- feel pressured by the community or other family members to follow traditions
- want to keep family values and honour.
But none of these reasons are okay. And nobody has the right to force you into marriage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvLvohL9btQ
Advice and Support:
Call 999 and a trained professional will give you free advice on what to do next. They will also help you find a safe place to stay and stop a UK visa if you’ve been forced to sponsor someone.
You can also contact the Forced marriage Unit on: fmu@fcdo.gov.uk Telephone: 020 7008 0151 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Out of hours: 020 7008 5000
Neglect
Neglect is the ongoing failure to meet a young person’s basic needs and the most common form of child abuse
Suicide Awareness
People who experience a stressful life event may feel intense sadness or loss, anxiety, anger, or hopelessness.
Sometimes, a person’s negative feelings can become so deep and intense that they don’t know what to do about them and the only solution they can see at that point in time is to end their life.
It is important for anyone going through this to know that they are not the only one; many people feel suicidal at some time in their life and that there are many ways of dealing with the feeling and overcoming it. Suicide is preventable and it is possible to come out the other side of a crisis and feel better again.
There are lots of organisations, helplines, chat rooms and advice online for anyone who is experiencing thoughts of suicide or wants to help and friend or loved one who is in crisis.
HOPELINE247 (0800 068 4141) advisers want to work with you to understand why thoughts of suicide might be present. They also want to provide you with a safe space to talk through anything happening in your life that could be impacting on your or anyone else’s ability to stay safe. Their advisers are all trained to help you focus on staying safe from suicide. Their training enables them to provide advice and support that may help you to move forward and stay alive. https://www.papyrus-uk.org/papyrus-HOPELINE247/
Samaritans. To talk about anything that is upsetting you, you can contact Samaritans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can call 116 123 (free from any phone), email jo@samaritans.org or visit some branches in person. You can also call the Samaritans Welsh Language Line on 0808 164 0123 (7pm–11pm every day).
National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK. Offers a supportive listening service to anyone with thoughts of suicide. You can call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK on 0800 689 5652 (6pm to midnight every day). https://www.spuk.org.uk/national-suicide-prevention-helpline-uk/
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). You can call the CALM on 0800 58 58 58 (5pm–midnight every day) if you are struggling and need to talk. Or if you prefer not to speak on the phone, you could try the Calm webchat service.
