Welfare Seminar helps grow knowledge

Monday 1st April 2019

scottishathletics hosted our first Welfare Seminar at Stirling Court Hotel on Saturday, with more than 20 delegates in attendance.

The seminar was designed to support and develop club Welfare Officers in their roles and also coaches and clubs members with an interest in welfare also attended.

scottishathletics Welfare Officer Angus Macdonald and Welfare Administrator Angie Sutherland led the Seminar, which offered a blend of expert speakers and case studies supporting the role of the Welfare Officers in promoting wellbeing and safeguarding in our sport.

The main aim of the seminar was to raise awareness of the support available and give welfare/child protection officers the tools and confidence to deal with any issue sensitively and appropriately.

The day started with an update on the new safeguarding standards, giving the clubs the opportunity to discuss these in their club context. Clubs were sign-posted to the scottishathletics website to gain access to our welfare tool-kits.

We progressed with the group discussing and considering the recruitment process including the role of the PVG. This offered clubs the chance to share best practice, allowing others to learn from each other.

Part of the Welfare Officer’s role is to address any concerns that are reported in the club environment and during the seminar we considered a number of case studies and appropriate responses.

In the afternoon, Compass Scotland delivered a masterclass on responding to challenging behaviours and how to manage difficult conversations in their role as club Welfare Officers.