Unbounded Love
London District Safeguarding Conference
Saturday 15 March 2025 | 10am - 3:30pm
The subject of this year's safeguarding conference is 'Unbounded Love'. What is unbounded love? Unbounded love means being there to support others through their struggles without any limits or conditions. It is about helping carry their burdens while honouring their personal boundaries and respecting their autonomy. This type of love allows us to lighten someone else's load, so they can find the strength to lift themselves up when they need it most. Along with the workshops, the conference will explore the following themes:
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Children and Young People’s mental health
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How to handle difficult situations from a safeguarding perspective.
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Effective safeguarding practices
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Survivor Awareness
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Nurturing our emotional connections
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We are delighted to share that, Carolyn Godfrey; Vice President will be delivering the keynote speech.
We warmly invite you to arrive at 10am for registration and refreshments, allowing time for you to connect before the conference begins at 10:30am. In the afternoon, you will have the opportunity to participate in one of four workshops, each designed to explore important aspects of safeguarding. Please note that lunch will be provided.
Below, you will find details about each workshop available. To register for the conference, simply choose one workshop to attend.
Please remember that spaces are limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Please direct any queries to Rachael Pielow, ADSO.
Image by John Hain from Pixabay
SUPPORTING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S EMOTIONAL WELLBEING
This interactive workshop will provide an overview of children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, including exploring adolescent brain development, understanding ‘challenging’ behaviour with a trauma-informed lens, supporting emotional regulation and helping to build resilience.
It will also include some practical signposting and tips for responding when a young person is in crisis.
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It will be led by Lynn Norman, a Development Officer in the Children, Youth, and Family (CYF) Team, with a focus on ministry with youth.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
EMBEDDING DAY-TO-DAY GOOD PRACTICE IN OUR CONTEXTS
This workshop will be focused around thinking about how we deal with low-level concerns, people management, difficult situations and how to handle these, addressed from a safeguarding perspective.
This will be a session where you will be encouraged to think through a range of scenarios in which you might find yourself, within your contexts and how you can use and embed good practice.
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It will be led by Sally Rush a Learning and Development Officer within the Methodist Learning Network who is aligned to the London District.
Image by Sidney Sims from Unsplash
SURVIVORS OF ABUSE​​​
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In this workshop, led by 3 people with lived experience of childhood abuse, you will hear how we as the Methodist Church can respond more sensitively to victims and survivors of abuse.
We will learn about the long-term impact of all forms of abuse and trauma upon people and learn how our response can make things better or worse for them.
It will be facilitated by Vivien Almond, Fiona McIntosh and Andy Strowman with Kate Little from the Connexional Safeguarding Team
Image by Franz Bachinger from Pixabay
SAFEGUARDING AND MARGINALISED COMMUNITIES
This workshop will delve into effective safeguarding strategies, emphasising the importance of protecting and supporting marginalised communities in our churches and circuits.
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It will be led by Peter Baffoe, Executive Director of South London Mission.
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