One of Nadia's relatives was the victim of TMA. This is a form of domestic abuse in which a spouse is intentionally left stranded in a foreign country. Once stranded, the abandoned spouse will usually have no paperwork, no resources, and no means of getting home.

In part two of this series, Nadia discusses the numerous individuals and organisations who supported her relative throughout her TMA experience. She also outlines some measures that could help prevent future instances of TMA.

Note: Nadia's name and voice have been changed to ensure anonymity.

One of Nadia's relatives was the victim of TMA, a form of domestic abuse in which a spouse is intentionally left stranded in a foreign country. Once stranded, the abandoned spouse will usually have no paperwork, no resources, and no means of getting home.

Nadia explains how TMA works, and how it usually follows a long pattern of domestic abuse and coercive control. 

Gavin provides a unique perspective on how safeguarding can work in emergency first response situations. He also discusses how we can apply safeguarding polices and practices to a number of everyday scenarios.

Domestic abuse can affect anyone. But anyone involved in sport and activity, whether they are participants, coaches, staff, volunteers, or supporters, is in a unique position to spot the signs, and provide support where it is needed.

Hannah and Chris discuss the toolkit, and the role it could play in helping sport and activity organisations spot the signs of domestic abuse. They also talk about the various services Broxtowe Women's Project run across the Nottinghamshire area to support women experiencing domestic abuse.

Dementia Carers Count is a UK charity providing information, advice and support to thousands of dementia carers every year. They provide online information, a telephone support line, and they run frequent online support groups.

In this episode of Safeguarding Matters, Helen discusses the challenges that many dementia carers face, and outlines how their support can help them feel less overwhelmed, and less alone.

They discuss the role of the Board Champion, and explore how Board Champions can help their organisations work towards a safer culture for everyone.

Jules advises that, when it comes to safeguarding adults, we should aim to "stay curious rather than reassured", and talks about how this professional curiosity might work in practice.

James discusses his experiences of working with The Ann Craft Trust as part of an external safeguarding audit, and highlights how such assurance can promote best practice, and help organisations focus on achieving their core missions.

They also discuss the importance of centring individuals in all safeguarding practices, and how Making Safeguarding Personal can work in practice.

The Safeguarding Adults in Sport Framework is an online assessment tool that supports sport and physical activity organisations to implement best practice in safeguarding adults. 

The Framework is for National Governing Bodies, National Specialist Partners and Active Partnerships funded by Sport England and UK Sport. Completing the Framework will help to identify any gaps or areas of practice that need development, as well as supporting best practice and continued development in safeguarding adults.

In this episode of our Safeguarding Matters podcast, Louise discusses her experience of completing the Framework as a Lead Safeguarding Officer, while sharing some best practice tips for anyone who is yet to start the process.

Dr Claire Bates' research found that relationships were important to autistic people and people with learning disabilities, but that they often relied on staff support to begin and maintain these relationships.

She founded Supported Loving in 2017 as a national network to promote best practice, with the goal of providing people with the support they need to enjoy the same sexual and romantic freedoms as everyone else.

In this episode, Laura and Claire discuss how research, training, and accessible information on sex and relationships can help to make love a reality for everyone

They explore some insights from the event, highlighting the importance of safeguarding knowledge for hosts of outdoor activities. They also discuss upcoming events planned by Active Cumbria.

Natalie and Karen discuss the possibilities of using AI to assess and provide feedback on safeguarding policies.

They explore how this approach could make the process more efficient, allowing them to provide clearer feedback to more organisations and build relationships. They share the practicalities of the process, along with certain risks, limitations, and best-practice guidelines.

They discuss how their safeguarding roles contribute to creating a world free from abuse. Duncan shares insight into the specialist services provided by We Are Survivors. This includes male survivors of abuse, such as survivors who have offended, with the aim of preventing further harm.

They also touch upon Duncan’s work as a consultant on TV storylines addressing male sexual violation.

The conversation reflects on Duncan’s work with government. They consider this progress made towards recognising men and boys as victims in their own right, and the need of a distinct approach for this.

They talk about the Flag It Active Bystander workshops, which provide practical tips on how people can safely intervene when they encounter potentially abusive situations in a football setting.

• What stops people from coming forward and speaking up?
• How can we prevent harm without endangering ourselves?
• If we can't prevent abuse from happening, how can we offer the right support?

Joanne discusses how she uses workshops, podcasts, and other free resources to help people understand what DBS checks are for, and which sort of checks are required for each role.

Joanne and Jodi also explore how DBS checks can help prevent abuse, and how a check is just one part of a wider safer recruitment strategy.

Dr Alison Gardner shares findings from a two-year research project that explored how cognitive impairments can increase risks for adult exploitation. The study explored how people are targeted for exploitation. It also asked why cognitive impairments might make one more at risk of exploitation.

Emma Thomas is a trustee board member at Safe Sport International. This stems from her experience as a Muay Thai fighter and a survivor of sexual violence in her sport.

She is also the founder of Under the Ropes, an online platform promoting safe and inclusive cultures in Muay Thai, focusing on the elimination of gender-based violence.

Emma recently completed her master’s degree in Sports Ethics & Integrity, and for her thesis, she conducted the world’s first study on women’s experiences of sexual harassment and abuse in Muay Thai. This involved trauma-informed interviews with survivors and an analysis of safeguarding policies implemented by federations.

Bella volunteered with 24-7 Ibiza, a community outreach and support organisation based on the Spanish island. 

In this podcast, Bella talks about how the organisation works to safeguard adults in Ibiza. She discusses the relationships she built with other volunteers and organisations, and the importance of good communication in keeping people safe.

Deborah was the former safeguarding lead at Open University. Unfortunately, she recently suffered a brain haemorrhage. While recovering, she saw a lot of very vulnerable patients. She also witnessed some quite distressing instances where patients were being abused by members of their family, including an instance of cuckooing.

Deborah and Jodi discuss how quickly our lives and our circumstances can change, which means that we could all become more at risk of abuse and coercion at some point. Deborah's experiences highlight the importance of advocacy and speaking out. They also demonstrate the power of people, networks, and communities in looking out for each other.

Grief Disco is an initiative to help people work through grief with the power of music and movement. 

"At Grief Disco, we don’t dance to forget. We dance to remember, to honour, and to reconnect—with ourselves, with joy, and with each other. Music helps us shake off the weight of sorrow, even if just for a moment, and reminds us that life still holds space for movement, laughter, and healing'"

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust runs The National Stalking Helpline, a free service offering advice for victims of stalking. They also run free Bystander Training sessions for all kinds of organisations. These half-hour sessions empower individuals effectively intervene when they see harassment taking place, without putting their own personal safety at risk.

Jodi and Catherine discuss how stalking and harassment can take place, with particular emphasis on sport settings. They also talk about the steps people can take to prevent this form of abuse - whether you're a victim of it yourself, or you suspect that someone you know is being harassed. 

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive, degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive head impacts. In a sport setting, repeatedly heading a ball can eventually lead to CTE. The symptoms can appear gradually, over the course of years. Plus, they can stay the same for years before getting worse.

Jodi and Lou discuss the risks of repetitive head impact in sport, and how footballers are particularly at risk.

They also talk about how cultural changes can help prevent head injuries in sport. Communication can play a big role here. For example, footballers will tell everyone if they hurt their hamstring. But they may not tell anyone if they have a headache, which can be an early symptom of CTE.

You can learn more about CTE on the Head Safe Football site.

Madison hosts the Faithful Safeguarding Podcast with Petros, a not-for-profit offering resilience training and support.

The podcast has explored a number of topics, including the safer recruitment, the importance of proper boundaries, and proactive safeguarding in diverse sectors.

In this podcast, Madison and Laura discuss how safeguarding works in a spiritual setting. They also explore the factors that can contribute to a safer culture in a faith organisation.

As a cricket fan living in Nottingham, it’s hard not to know the history of Trent Bridge, one of the oldest cricket grounds in the world, or about the success of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club.  Nicola and I were interested to hear and see how culture, good or bad, plays its part in the success of one of England’s top sports clubs.

As you'll hear in the podcast, Nottinghamshire Cricket Club places a lot of emphasis on building a positive culture. As soon as Nicola and I stepped through the gates at Trent Bridge, you could feel and see that staff were happy in their work. The person working on the gate gave Nicola a brief history of the ground, and we could tell that he enjoyed coming to work.

This continued as Luke came to greet us with a box of new kit, excited about his new stash for the upcoming season.  After 15 years, ‘Fletch’ could be forgiven for taking his stunning work surroundings for granted. But you can still see the excitement as he walked down the steps of the pavilion and took us out to the pitch. He stopped briefly to see how the ground staff were before talking us through what a good cricket pitch looks and feels like.

The impromptu tour continued to the kitchens, where Fletch and the chef had a light-hearted exchange about what was on the lunch menu for the upcoming pre-season friendly. We could sense a culture based on mutual respect, where everyone was comfortable and appeared happy in their work. 


As we discuss in the podcast, a good culture means encouraging everyone to be the best version of themselves and to have fun in their work. But, if anyone sees, hears, or feels anything isn't right, they call out the poor practice early so that it doesn't become "the norm".  

Thanks to Luke, Paul and Nottinghamshire Cricket Club for their wonderful welcome and openness to sharing with us what a safe culture means for them. Good luck for the season ahead!


- Stuart Sale, CEO, Ann Craft Trust

The conference took place over two mornings on 19 and 20 January 2022.

From Learning Lessons to Taking Action, the conference challenged attendees to create a safer place for all children and adults in your organisation, whatever their role.

The conference explored:

• How you ensure that your organisation is operating a safer culture for participants of all ages, abilities, race, cultures, sexuality, sex, and gender
• Protecting and safeguarding the wellbeing of those taking part
• How you ensure that everyone feels able to share any concerns at an early stage
• How you ensure that everyone feels confident to interrupt or question poor practice or behaviour.

The keynote presentations and workshops addressed:

• The learning from recent reviews about safeguarding and welfare concerns in sport and other settings
• New strategies from government and sports councils
• Initiatives to embed best practice in safeguarding
• The response to the voices of those with lived experience within sport and physical activity
• How we can develop safer cultures in our organisations

In this podcast, Nicola and Denise reflect on the conference’s themes. They also discuss some of the key messages from the presentations and workshops.

From 2007-20012 he chaired the Independent Safeguarding Authority prior to its merger with the Criminal Records Bureau to form the Disclosure and Barring Service. He has been the Government’s Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children; interim chief executive of the children’s charity, Lumos; and the interim Director of Safeguarding at the Church of England.

Speaking about Safeguarding Adults Week, Sir Roger said:

"The safety and well-being of people, especially those with very special needs, continues to give rise to serious concern.    Do take the opportunity of Adult Safeguarding Week  to update your knowledge of the signs of abuse and neglect and what can be done to create safer cultures.   Each day of the week focuses on a different aspect of safeguarding and free resources to support the week are available from ACT."

The campaign aims to support the sport and activity sector to develop their safeguarding practice. This will involve learning from poor practice while recognising and celebrating successes.

ACT CEO Dr. Deborah Kitson recorded this short introduction to the campaign. She explains what we're doing it, why we're doing it, and what we hope to achieve. 

• Listen
• Learn 
• Lead

Abra's surveys also helped us see just what participants want from their sport and activity organisations during lockdown. What are sports and activity organisations doing well? And what sort of needs are they currently failing to meet?

In this podcast, Abra talks about her methodology, and discusses what her findings reveal about the UK sport and activity community. Even as the country comes out of lockdown, there are still many invaluable lessons here!

The project was funded by the Lloyds Bank Foundation as part of a series of projects looking at domestic violence.

It explored gaps in domestic abuse service provisions and awareness of practitioners working with disabled young people, as identified by SafeLives and Women’s Aid. ACT, in partnership with Anita Franklin at Coventry University, carried out work that specifically addresses the needs of young disabled people.

We Matter Too – National Launch Event

To officially launch the We Matter Too project, we’re hosting an open event. Our event is for anyone working with young people and disabled people. It’s also aimed at anyone working in police, healthcare, and social care to support young people, disabled young people, and adults at risk – both in the statutory and voluntary sectors.

Date: 09 December 2019

Time: 10:30am – 4:30pm

There are 60 free places at this event.

We’ll provide lunch and refreshments.

What to Expect From Your Day

This is a great opportunity to network, and to reflect on numerous challenging areas of practice. We’ll discuss the best ways to reach out to young people facing abuse and harm in relationships.

The agenda includes:

• Feedback and presentations exploring how disabled young people and adults experience domestic abuse,
• Why do disabled young people face higher risks of domestic abuse?
• The challenges of practice: How do young people understand domestic abuse? How do practitioners understand domestic abuse? Do practitioners fully understand learning disabilities and ASC?
• What role can we play in making a difference? How can we make a difference in practice?

Book Your Place

As part of this project we have been holding discussion forums (focus groups) with sports participants and staff to develop shared understandings of what safeguarding means and what individuals, clubs and organisations can do to keep people safe.  Amongst other things we discuss possible safeguarding risks, whose responsibility it is to keep people safe and explore good practices for ensuring this happens.

The data we collect from these discussions is being collated in order to provide the evidence base that will inform and support the development of effective policies and procedures to ensure all of those involved in sport are empowered to keep themselves and others safe.

We are still running discussion forums all over the country with all sorts of sporting groups. We would like to hear from anyone interested in hosting a forum.

As part of this project we have been holding discussion forums (focus groups) with sports participants and staff to develop shared understandings of what safeguarding means and what individuals, clubs and organisations can do to keep people safe.  Amongst other things we discuss possible safeguarding risks, whose responsibility it is to keep people safe and explore good practices for ensuring this happens.

We are still running discussion forums all over the country with all sorts of sporting groups. We would like to hear from anyone interested in hosting a forum.

To organise a forum in your area, please contact Nicola Dean: n.dean@nottingham.ac.uk

Don’t have time for a full participation group? We are also launching a survey during National Safeguarding Adults Week. These will be available online, as paper copies, and in an easy-read format too. These will be available at the ACT conference on the 21st November, or we can arrange to send them out to you if you let Nicola know your address.

There are two surveys.

For Sport Participants: Find it here

For Sport Staff and Volunteers: Find it here.

Forced marriage is:

• An abuse of human rights.
• A form of domestic violence.
• A form of violence against men and women.
• Against the law.

Forced marriage of people with learning disabilities often concerns the ability, or capacity, to consent. It also concerns the willingness to consent.

Research indicates that forced marriage of people with learning disabilities is likely to be vastly under reported. The motivators and consequences are also likely to be different from how forced marriage would usually present itself.

In this episode of Safeguarding Matters, Nicola talks to associate professor Rachel Clawson about the forced marriage of people with learning disabilities. They discuss why forced marriage might happen, and why people with learning disabilities are particularly at risk.

In this episode of Safeguarding Matters, Laura Thorpe talks to ACT's adult safeguarding lead Lisa Curtis about Making Safeguarding Personal. They explore the thinking behind the concept, and talk about how these principles might work in practice.

They'll then arrange an assessment of the person's care and treatment to decide if the deprivation of liberty is in the best interests of the individual concerned.

If it is, the local authority will grant a legal authorisation. If it isn't, the care and treatment package must be changed – otherwise, an unlawful deprivation of liberty will occur. This system is known as the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

In this episode of Safeguarding Matters, Laura Thorpe talks to ACT's adult safeguarding lead Lisa Curtis about DoLS. They talk about situations that could constitute DoLS, and the sort of factors to consider when making a decision.

It covers decisions about day-to-day things, like what to wear or what to buy for the weekly shop, or serious life-changing decisions.

In this episode of Safeguarding Matters, Laura Thorpe talks to ACT's safeguarding adults lead Lisa Curtis about the MCA. They talk about the key principles of the act, and who it applies to. They also discuss more detailed aspects of the MCA, such as lasting powers of attorney and the need for the "least restrictive" option in every decision.

• Nicola Dean (Host) - Safeguarding Adults in Sport and Activity Manager
• Ieuan Watkins - Safeguarding Adults in Sport and Activity Manager, Wales
• Lisa Curtis - Safeguarding Adults Manager
• Laura Thorpe - Safeguarding Adults in Sport and Activity Manager