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Safeguarding Q&A

In a nutshell, what do your team do?

Jonny: “We look out for student welfare and our aim is to make the College as safe as possible for everyone. As a team, we provide support for anyone with needs relating to safeguarding and welfare which can include mental health, bullying or issues going on at home or in the community. We may refer them to external organisations and charities if we need to as well.”

Where can students find

your offices?

J: “The best thing to do is to visit reception at each of our centres, there they can either contact the Safeguarding lead on site, or arrange a private space for someone to give you a call. My main base is at College Green in Student Services.”

Jonny Elphinstone

Head of Student Services and Safeguarding

Can a student just drop by the office and speak with the team?

J: “The best way to get the right support is by reaching out to us first and then we can arrange a time and date to see you. A student can get hold of the Safeguarding Advisor via teams or phone the general safeguarding number or email

safeguarding@cityofbristol.ac.uk

which goes through to the whole team. We do get some people who come directly to the office and if it’s urgent, we will see them straight away. However, to handle our cases well and to make sure everyone who comes to us gets the right amount of time and support, we arrange a time and date for a student to come and see us so we can give them all of the time they need and don’t try to squeeze them in around other things.”

What advice would you give a student who notices a change in their friend’s behaviour?

J: “I would say the best thing they can do is be honest with their friend. Maybe the friend is less engaged with things and not being their usual self, perhaps they’re sitting by themselves in the canteen. Speak to the friend and express your worry that they aren’t being their usual self and ask if there is anything they’d like to talk about. It might be worth saying to them “did you know there is a safeguarding and welfare team at the college?”. For reference, we have posters in all of the toilets which have the contact details on and lots of information. It’s always good to remind your friend of the support which is available at the college.”

What is the process of the support you offer? If a student comes to you with a concern, how does that move forward?

J: “If students would like to reach out to the Safeguarding and Welfare team, they can speak to any member of staff who will log it on the MyConcern system and the team will pick this up. Or, they can email or phone the team directly. Once a student has contacted the team, they will meet with the safeguarding advisor who is based at the same site as the students. An advisor will speak to them about their concerns and what support they may need and work out what is the best option for the student – this might be referring them to our in-house counselling service or referring them to a relevant external organisation such as Bristol Drugs Project or a family and focus referral.”

Will you ever share who came to you for what reason?

J: “Sometimes we may need to share it. I wouldn’t say to a student that we 100% will not share their worries or concerns, but we will only share information on a need to know basis and only when it is the best thing for the student. If they are talking about potentially harming themselves or someone else, then we would need to share that. Or, if they are talking about something that is going on at home, perhaps we would need to share it with the Head of Department so they would not get marked as absent during a challenging time, such as bereavement. The team will speak to the student about what they will need to share with others.”