NSPCC Learning Podcast

The first 1001 days of a child’s life are crucial for their development and wellbeing. Having access to caring relationships and support networks can help a child’s brain develop in a healthy way. New parents who experience adversity, such as domestic abuse, may need additional help to build these support networks for their child. This is the second half of a two-part podcast discussion focusing o...

The first 1001 days of a child’s life are crucial for their development and wellbeing. Having access to caring relationships and support networks can help a child’s brain develop in a healthy way. New parents who experience adversity, such as domestic abuse, may need additional help to build these support networks for their child.  This is the first part in a two-part podcast discussion focusing o...

Evidence plays an important role in social work practice. Knowledge gained from research and practical experience should be used to ensure decisions about safety and risk are well-informed and ethical. In this podcast episode, a panel of experts from the NSPCC discuss how social workers can build and maintain an evidence base to support their work. You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSP...

This is the second in a two-part series looking at the future of children’s social care in England. Listen to the first episode, an interview with Josh MacAlister, here . Earlier this year, the UK government published its vision for the reform of children's social care in England: Stable homes built on love. The strategy sets out a number of proposals to family support and early help services, inc...

This is the first in a two-part series looking at the future of children’s social care in England.   Earlier this year, the UK government published its vision for the reform of children's social care in England: 'Stable homes, built on love'.  The Independent Review of Children's Social Care in England, which published its final report in May 2022, provided a cornerstone for this strategy. The rev...

Witnessing or experiencing domestic abuse can have a detrimental effect on a child's mental, physical and economic wellbeing. By recognising when an employee or colleague is experiencing domestic abuse, professionals working in any sector can help keep children safe. In this podcast episode, domestic abuse experts from the NSPCC Helpline discuss what you can do to support and safeguard colleagues...

Report Remove is an online tool that under-18s can use to report nude images or videos of themselves that have been shared online, to see if they can be removed from the internet. Developed by experts from Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation, the tool provides a child-centred and non-judgemental approach to image removal. Listen to this podcast episode to learn more about why a tool like R...

Mental health problems can impact on all aspects of a child’s life, and in some cases can lead to safeguarding and child protection concerns. Education professionals are in a good position to look out for children’s mental health, promote their wellbeing and help prevent any mental health problems from escalating into more serious concerns. This episode examines what education professionals can do...

Together for Childhood (TfC), the NSPCC's place-based approach to prevent child abuse and neglect, was launched almost five years ago.   Listen to Pat Branigan, Assistant Director for Together for Childhood, talk to the panel of development managers from all four TfC sites about the benefits of a place-based and community-focused approach to preventing child abuse and neglect. Read the podcast tra...

In this episode, we hear from Dr Helen Beckett and Dr Debbie Allnock, two researchers from the Safer Young Lives Research Centre (SYLRC), who worked on a study looking at adolescents’ experiences of sexual abuse and how this has affected their mental health and wellbeing.  The discussion covers the purpose of the study, the importance of listening to and learning from young people, and the ‘six pi...

Listen to Katy Tomkinson and Rowan Wolfe who work on our harmful sexual behaviour service talk about the effects of sibling sexual abuse on children and families; how to provide whole-family support; the impact of family dynamics and contributing factors to harmful sexual behaviour being displayed. This episode touches on our practitioners’ experiences of working directly with children and familie...

In this podcast episode, Katy Tomkinson and Rowan Wolfe, who deliver our HSB service, talk about: what denial and shame might look like in children and young people the physical signs and non-verbal cues that children might display when talking about their experiences building trusting relationships and using therapeutic and trauma-informed approaches exercises for practitioners to help understand...

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NSPCC's national helpline saw a 35%  increase in contacts about domestic abuse.1 In response to these rising figures, the NSPCC secured funding from the COVID-19 Support Fund to launch a three-year domestic abuse project and extend the capacity of the helpline to support contacts who have experienced domestic abuse. This project included the appo...

Neglect is a form of child abuse that can have serious and long-lasting effects on a child’s life, but it can be difficult to recognise. In the second episode in this two-part podcast series exploring what can be done to support children and families experiencing neglect, Dawn Hodson, the NSPCC’s development lead for neglect, Mandi Tambourini-Moore, a family support worker for Liverpool Children’s...

Neglect is a form of child abuse that can have serious and long-lasting effects on a child’s life, but it can be difficult to recognise.  In the first episode, Dawn Hodson, the NSPCC’s development lead for neglect, Mandi Tambourini-Moore, a family support worker for Liverpool Children’s Services, Lisa Shannon, the Graded Care Coordinator from Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and Sharon Graham, an...

TA-HSB is when children and young people use the internet or technology such as mobile phones to engage in sexual activity that may be harmful to themselves or others. Listen to Pat Branigan, the NSPCC’s Associate Head of Development, Emma Hodgson, an NSPCC development social worker and Carol Carson from the AIM Project discuss: the prevalence and different forms of TA-HSB the NSPCC's research int...

Continuing on from episode 43, social workers and children’s practitioners, Katy Tomkinson and Rowan Wolfe, talk about planning therapeutic sessions and assessing children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviour. You’ll learn more about: preparing therapeutic session plans and helping children explore their life experiences through the use of timelines, family trees and cartoo...

Hear NSPCC practitioners talk about conducting therapeutic sessions with children and young people and understanding how to manage incidents of harmful sexual behaviour. You'll hear us discuss: creating safe spaces in therapeutic session and using different techniques and strategies providing clarity around confidentiality and safeguarding when working with children and young people managing expec...

We spoke to Jahnine Davis, co-founder of Listen Up, about her work into exploring the lack of representation of Black girls’ experiences in research and child sexual abuse services, including suggestions to help improve practice. Ineke Houtenbos, a senior consultant with the NSPCC, and Jahnine discuss: why the experiences of Black girls are missing from research and the impact on policy and practi...

A child or young person’s identity and lived experience can affect how they engage with professionals and services. This episode features Jahnine Davis and Nick Marsh, founders of Listen Up , where we explore intersectionality and its application within safeguarding practice. Ineke Houtenbos, a senior consultant at the NSPCC, leads the discussion around: what intersectionality is why intersectiona...

In this episode, we discuss the complexities of domestic abuse and why it is a safeguarding and child protection issue. We talk about the main themes that emerged from our learning from case reviews briefing on domestic abuse and share what we see in practice. Exposure to domestic abuse has a direct impact on children and can affect their physical health and mental wellbeing. Just because it isn’t...

The internet can be a useful resource for children and young people to learn, access educational materials and stay in touch with friends and family. Now more than ever, young people are using tablets, laptops and mobile phones to interact with others, especially during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. But with this comes an increased risk of technology-assisted child sexual abuse (TA-CSA), bu...

Volunteers play an important role in helping to engage vulnerable families in a service and can provide ongoing peer support on a one-to-one basis. We commissioned a review that explores current research evidence on involving volunteers in delivering services to support families and examine the outcomes for parents, children and volunteers. In this episode, we’re joined by the authors of the revie...

The past nine months has been difficult for everyone. Lockdowns, social distancing measures and local restrictions meant that adults working with children had to change the way they operate. But how have we adapted and how has COVID impacted on the NSPCC’s priorities? In this episode, we reflect on the past nine months with our CEO, Peter Wanless, discussing the issues and challenges children and...

Our Baby Steps service – a perinatal education programme – has been designed to help prepare people for becoming new parents. Our service ensures the mental health and wellbeing of parents, healthy development of the child and that there’s a positive relationship between the child and parents. We’ve released a new podcast episode that focuses on how we’ve delivered our Baby Steps service with our...