NSPCC Learning Podcast

In this podcast episode, staff from the NSPCC Scotland hub discuss an emotional resilience programme they developed and delivered across seven primary schools in Govan, Glasgow.  The discussion covers what emotional resilience is and why it is important; the benefits of running an emotional resilience programme; and how practitioners can be trauma-informed when delivering emotional resilience work...

In 2015, Professor Carlene Firmin coined the term ‘contextual safeguarding’ to describe an approach to safeguarding young people that looks at additional ‘contexts’ for harm outside of the family home and beyond the control of a child’s parents and carers. In this podcast episode, we speak to Carlene about the concept of contextual safeguarding and how practitioners can incorporate contextual safe...

Men can be both survivors and perpetrators of domestic abuse, and both experiences present distinct safeguarding challenges. Drawing on practice experience from the NSPCC Helpline and Childline, this podcast episode centres on male experiences of domestic abuse. You’ll learn about the challenges of working with male perpetrators of domestic abuse, the barriers that male survivors of abuse face whe...

This podcast episode is hosted by the NSPCC’s Local Services Director Karen Squillino, who is also chair of the wellbeing and safeguarding committee for Lift Schools.  She spoke to Jill Fuller, Head of Safeguarding for Lift Schools and Habib Hussain, who is Lift Schools’ regional DSL for London and the south. The conversation covered: the safeguarding roles and responsibilities of a multi-academy...

Online sexual extortion can be financially motivated sexual extortion and blackmail using both real and AI generated images of boys and young males. Although this is not a new issue the National Crime Agency and the NSPCC has seen an increase in the last two years of boys experiencing online sexual extortion. In this podcast episode, the NSPCC's Danielle Harris, Childline manager, discusses online...

Child criminal exploitation (CCE) is a form of child abuse where a child or young person is forced or coerced to engage in criminal activity or commit any type of crime. In this episode, the NSPCC Helpline’s Service Head, Denise Ellis spoke to Tara Mellowes who is a Detective Constable in the exploitation team with Leicestershire Police.  The discussion covered: what CCE is and the different forms...

Research by For Baby's Sake suggests that domestic abuse was a factor in almost 50,000 babies a year being referred to children's social care in England between 2021 and 2023. Our NSPCC Helpline domestic abuse project lead, Paddi Vint, spoke with Lauren Seager-Smith, CEO of the For Baby's Sake Trust, about this research and what we can learn from it. They offered insight into the importance of ser...

Mental health difficulties can have a big impact on parents’ ability to provide responsive care for their babies, especially if parents aren't getting the support they need. Black mothers are disproportionately affected by mental health difficulties and are less likely to receive adequate perinatal mental health support.  In January 2025, Alexis Golden and Chi Mumbi from the NSPCC’s Pregnancy in M...

At the end of 2024, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published a national review exploring the challenges in identifying, assessing and responding to child sexual abuse within the family environment. They also published their annual report for 2023-24, which covers the Panel’s work from April 2023 to March 2024. This is the second half of our discussion with Annie Hudson, the Chair of...

At the end of 2024, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published a national review exploring the challenges in identifying, assessing and responding to child sexual abuse within the family environment. They also published their annual report for 2023-24, which covers the Panel’s work from April 2023 to March 2024.  In January 2025, we spoke to Annie Hudson, the Chair of the Panel, and Je...

The online world is constantly changing, and young people are often more informed about online trends than adults. Young people are equipped with their own knowledge and understanding of what they need to know and do to stay safe online. It’s important to listen to their thoughts and opinions, and try to incorporate their voice into your online safety work.  In this podcast episode, you’ll hear fr...

Mental health is as important to a child’s safety as their physical health; mental health issues can sometimes lead to safeguarding and child protection issues. By recognising when a child is struggling with their mental health, and intervening to provide appropriate support, professionals working with children can help prevent mental health problems from escalating into crisis.  A mental health f...

The voices of people with lived experience of child sexual abuse play an important role in understanding how to respond to and prevent this form of abuse. Conducting participatory work with victims and survivors can move the conversation around CSA forward and create positive change.  In this episode, you’ll learn about the benefits of involving victim-survivors including the impact of an IICSA Ch...

We speak to Anne Longfield, the Executive Chair of the Centre for Young Lives, about what needs to be done to improve the safeguarding support available to teenagers in the UK, the topic of her new book Young Lives, Big Ambitions. In the interview, Anne explains some of the problems facing vulnerable teenagers, and presents the solutions she would implement to give every young person the best chan...

Being exposed to domestic abuse is a form of child abuse and children don't need to be directly involved for this to be the case. They may have seen or heard or experienced the effects of domestic abuse in the family and this can have a big impact on their behaviour, development, education and wellbeing.  In this podcast episode, experts from the NSPCC Helpline and Childline talk about that potent...

Safe and effective sex and relationships education (SRE) plays a vital role in preventing abuse. However, teaching SRE can be challenging. According to a 2022 NASUWT and NSPCC survey , 46% of teachers say they don’t feel confident teaching sex and relationships education. In this podcast episode, actor and Childline ambassador Natalie Dormer is joined by two teachers to talk about what it's like t...

It is important for social workers to consider the voice of the child — their experiences, their worries and their wants — when undertaking their work, particularly when conducting assessments. This improves professionals’ abilities to act in the child’s best interest.  In this episode, three consultant social workers from the NSPCC’s Quality and Practice team discuss: what we mean by ‘the voice o...

Language and communication barriers faced by d/Deaf children and young people can manifest in a way that increases safeguarding risk. It's important that there are professionals who can understand and communicate with a child or young person if they need to report or disclose any issues they are experiencing. In this podcast episode, a panel of experts from the Social Workers with Deaf Children an...

Education is a vital part of ensuring children get the best possible start in life, and there can be safeguarding implications for children who are absent from school. If children miss school, the ability that schools have to offer them the support they need is compromised. And missing school may be an indicator of broader child protection concerns. In this podcast episode, experts from the NSPCC...

Pre-birth assessments help social work professionals to identify strengths, needs, risks and protective factors in the lives of expectant families. They play an important role in safeguarding babies; effective pre-birth assessments can ensure that families get the support they need before issues escalate. In this podcast episode, In this podcast episode, Sophie Bell, Associate Head of Development...

The criminal and civil justice systems play an important role in the way the State responds to child sexual abuse. However, many of IICSA’s investigations featured details of inadequate responses from the police, Crown Prosecution Service and courts. The final episode of the series looks at how the IICSA recommendations might improve victims and survivors’ experiences of the criminal justice syste...

Being online is an integral part of children’s lives, but it can expose them to risks, including sexual abuse. The past five years has seen a proliferation in child sexual abuse material online, and IICSA’s investigations into the problem found that law enforcement is struggling to keep pace. In this episode of Recommendations for Change, we explore the scale of the online abuse problem and how th...

Many children enter care because they have been abused or neglected. IICSA found that, rather than being protected, many vulnerable children who entered care were subject to further abuse. This episode of Recommendations for Change looks at the IICSA findings relating to children in care. How did institutions fail to protect looked after children, and what changes – through IICSA or other reform –...

Gathering and analysing data plays a key role in understanding the extent of child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSA and CSE). The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) final report suggests one of the reasons that the true scale of CSA in the UK is not fully understood is poor data collection. In the second episode of our series looking at the IICSA final report, we explore the top...

Recommendations for Change is a new five-part podcast series from NSPCC Learning, exploring the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) final recommendations. The series breaks down why the recommendations are needed, how they’ll work if implemented, and what impact they might have on the prevention of child sexual abuse. This first episode of the series provides the background to the...