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Welcome to the first e-bulletin for 2023!

As a Partnership we would like to wish a Happy New Year to you all! We hope everyone had a happy and peaceful Christmas period with good friends and family (and hopefully enough turkey and mince pies to keep everyone feeling full and festive!).

I would like to welcome Kirsty Tuley to the Partnership team. Kirsty starts with us as the new Leadership Support Officer on the 4th January and will play a pivotal role in the team moving forward.

I would also like to say goodbye to Ali Firby our Child Death Review Coordinator who is moving on to work in an exciting new role within North Yorkshire’s Local Authority. Ali has been in the team for eight years and we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to her for all the work she has done in supporting the team, partners and families through some incredibly difficult and sad circumstances. Ali, we wish you all the best for the future!

As a Partnership we know there are going to be some significant challenges being faced in our communities due to the ongoing cost of living crisis. We would welcome any information, ideas, suggestions around how we can reach out to and support our most vulnerable.

We hope you find the information included of use and if you have any contributions you wish to make please email us nyscp@northyorks.gov.uk.

Hannah Ellingworth
Partnership Manager

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Be Aware
New Childline Video
Commissioner Zoë shares progress made to address Violence Against Women and Girls in North Yorkshire and York
How the Cost-of-Living Crisis is Affecting UK Students
Ukrainians as Refugees – challenges, vulnerabilities, and support
Links

Be Aware

“The site would be extremely helpful to signpost parents to. I feel the weight and reflection/discussion points the videos provide will support parents understanding and how best to support their young person. “

“Information is clear and factually accurate; It strikes the right tone. Safeguarding content can sometimes feel dark and off putting. This isn’t, although it doesn’t shy away from hard topics.”

“Be Aware is a fantastic resource with vital information presented in an accessible way. It has been brilliant to signpost parents to Be Aware to raise the profile and enhance their understanding of an important local safeguarding matter and staff have found it an extremely valuable go-to resource for all areas of child exploitation.”

“My children are aged 10 and 12 and a friend forwarded me the link to the be aware site, I’d not seen it before but I thought it was a great resource that would be useful to lots of groups. Some of the messages were very powerful and emotive. Particularly around victim blaming and how the language used by professionals really matters – this is useful tool for parents too in learning better ways to communicate and engage with our children about difficult subjects.”

Above is some of the feedback that has been shared about BeAware since its launch last summer! Please continue to promote and share the site as much as possible across partners, parents/cares, young people and communities.

The site is regularly reviewed and updated with key information and resources, for example a new professionals guide “Debt Bondage in a Criminal Exploitation and County Lines Context” has recently been added on our professionals page.

As always, if you have any feedback, or if there is any additional information or guidance you would like adding to the site please get in touch.

Kathryn.morrison@northyorks.gov.uk

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New Childline Video

Childline is here to help anyone under 19 in the UK with any issue they’re going through. Children and young people under 19 can talk about anything. Whether it’s something big or small, their trained counsellors are there to offer support.

Childline have released a new video for children and young people to explain their service and what will happen if they call. To watch and share the video visit:

Childline is free, confidential and available any time, day or night. You can talk to them:
• by calling 0800 1111
• by email
• through 1-2-1 counsellor chat

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Commissioner Zoë shares progress made to address Violence Against Women and Girls in North Yorkshire and York

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe has today launched a delivery plan detailing the work taking place in North Yorkshire and York to keep women and girls safe and feeling safe.

This work is being led by the Joint Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Delivery Group, made up of representatives from local statutory partners who set six objectives to tackle violence against women and girls back in June 2022, and who are now responsible for ensuring outcomes are delivered.

In the last six months there has been:

• Victim and Survivor focus groups involving over 30 women, and an anonymous open online survey which 332 people responded to, to ensure the voices of women and girls were heard. Participants provided specific feedback on the proposed six objectives and key areas of work, which helped to shape the final strategy
• increased reporting of misogyny, stalking and street harassment to North Yorkshire Police
• increased referrals into VAWG specialist victim support services
• increased engagement with VAWG specialist victim support services
• Improved Outcomes for victims accessing VAWG specialist support services

To support these outcomes, Commissioner Zoë and her team have:

• Produced a series of short films showcasing the support services available to women and girls locally, including interviews with service users to encourage others to come forward and seek help. These can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/vawg-videos
• Launched a new survey to better understand overall public trust and confidence in North Yorkshire Police, the findings of which will be used to better support women and girls to report VAWG offences: https://bit.ly/TrustConfidence
• Secured £100,000 Safer Streets Funding to raise awareness of how stalking and harassment can manifest in rural communities as well as more urban environments. This will include the production of a short film and campaign resource pack aimed at young people aged 16 to 25yrs.
• Signed up to a pledge with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to increase the number of stalking cases reported to North Yorkshire Police. To support this, her Office have secured funding to commission an independent victim focussed review of current practices linked to stalking investigations and make recommendations where appropriate to improve processes linked to stalking and harassment
• The Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner is now a White Ribbon UK Supporter Organisation committed to raising awareness of the long established and harmful attitudes, systems and behaviors around masculinity that perpetuate gender inequality and helping to prevent violence against women and girls before it starts.

Work to deliver the VAWG strategy in North Yorkshire and York is ongoing and to oversee this progress and ensure a person-centred and trauma-informed approach, a VAWG professionals’ sub-group has been established, made up of representatives from local organisations working with women and girls including the Youth Commission.

Additionally, Commissioner Zoë has established a VAWG Strategic Governance Board to monitor progress against the six objectives to provide transparency and accountability on how police, fire and other local organisations are collectively improving the overall safety of women and girls.

“I’m proud of the progress we are making as a partnership to tackle violence against women and girls in North Yorkshire and York, whilst continuing to have dedicated services to support women and girls at incredibly vulnerable times in their lives – but there is still work to be done – as your Commissioner, I am committed to delivering on each objective set out in our VAWG strategy.

Within six months of work, we have already improved outcomes for an increased number of victims accessing VAWG specialist support services than in the previous 12 months – demonstrating how putting a spotlight on VAWG is making a difference across our community.

By June 2023 I hope we can create further tangible change that makes women and girls feel safe and be safe, wherever they are and whatever they are doing.”

To progress the VAWG delivery plan further over the next six months, Commissioner Zoë and her team will focus on:

• Expanding the Gender- Specific Service Offer
• Work with Educational establishments to raise awareness of VAWG, including Street Harassment
• Facilitate a VAWG Community Champions Network or Forum
• Develop ‘Safe Spaces’ to keep women and girls safe both in person in our city and town centres and online
• Improve the experiences of those going through Criminal Justice processes
• Pilot programmes / interventions for VAWG Offenders to meet gaps in current service provision

More information on what Commissioner Zoë and local statutory partners are doing to address violence against women and girls in North Yorkshire and York can be found on the Commissioner’s website: www.northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk/womenandgirls/

• Read the progress report on our website: https://www.northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk/womenandgirls/vawg_update/
• Read the VAWG Strategy and six-month Delivery Plan our website: www.northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk/womenandgirls/
• Watch our Partnership VAWG strategy video: https://youtu.be/5h1NgKisbRk

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How the Cost-of-Living Crisis is Affecting UK Students

OK Rehab, is a London-based website which aims to help young adults affected by drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health issues.

They have recently worked with young adults, many of whom are students regarding how students’ mental health is being impacted by the recent cost-of-living crisis.

OK Rehab have created an infographic to shed more light on this topic, titled ‘How the Cost-of-Living Crisis is Affecting UK Students’, which you can view
here:

• UK Student Cost-of-Living Crisis

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Ukrainians as Refugees – challenges, vulnerabilities, and support

Following the last meeting of the Learning and Improvement Subgroup, a special masterclass was run in December which examined issues relating to Ukrainian refugees. In this Masterclass we heard from the Anastasyia Dzyakava, founder of #Stop_Texting Educational Project. Anastasiya is the founder of the biggest in Ukraine educational project on child online safety #stop_sexting, author of the first in the region book for parents on children online safety, founder of Harvard Kennedy School women’s network. During the second round of the Russia conflict in the Ukraine (2022) she launched an educational project for teachers, parents, volunteers called “It is time to talk”. The project gives skills and support in leading peer-to-peer social and psychological mini groups. She has also led the field of combating child abuse and initiated reforms for child online safety and led the successful advocacy campaign on child sexual abuse materials watching/possession and grooming criminalization by the national law.

This was a unique opportunity for partners to hear from a Ukrainian charity, discussing the challenges, vulnerabilities and what support is available to families, including those families living in the UK and other countries. The masterclass was well received with approximately 30 delegates in attendance. Due to difficulties in communications between the Ukraine and the UK, Teams was not able to be used and the Massterclass was delivered by Zoom. Therefore, a full register of attendance was not able to be taken. The Masterclass can be accessed from:
• https://youtu.be/zC-a_QJ0xGc

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