A simple idea involving cake, conversation and practical support is helping members of All Saints with Holy Trinity, Loughborough engage with online safeguarding training and DBS processes in a friendly and inclusive way.
The parish's monthly Safeguarding Café, held after the Sunday morning service, offers a relaxed space where volunteers and church officers can receive help completing online safeguarding training or DBS applications, particularly if they lack confidence with technology.
The successful initiative was the brainchild of Gail, who manages the safeguarding training records for the church. She recognised that many people who needed to complete training were struggling, not because they were unwilling, but because the process felt daunting.
"As the person responsible for keeping records of safeguarding training, I was finding it difficult to get people to respond to emails, tell me what training they had completed, or feel confident enough to undertake the online training," she says.
Some people were anxious about the technology, while others found the amount of text-based information overwhelming. Gail knew they needed a different approach.
That approach became the Safeguarding Café, where members can sit down with a cup of tea and a slice of cake, while receiving one-to-one support.
"It's important to say I don't do the training itself, but I help people access it and work through it," explains Gail. "It's informal and friendly. I find that talking through the questions in a group setting before answering helps enormously."
The café does not attract large numbers, but Gail says even helping one or two people at a time has made a significant difference.
As the sessions developed, people started bringing questions about online DBS checks as well as safeguarding training, so they widened the café to help people complete DBS applications - particularly those who find online systems challenging or inaccessible. Team member Angela leads in this area.
Working together, the team has helped ensure that as many people as possible in the parish with safeguarding responsibilities have completed the training and checks required for their roles.
However, Gail acknowledges that challenges remain.
"It's much more difficult if people don't do technology at all. Although we can help people to open their accounts and access the systems, we can't solve the issue that some people struggle with tech and find the online training a barrier.”
The Safeguarding Café is supported by Parish Safeguarding Coordinator, Clare, who believes the initiative is helping embed a positive safeguarding culture throughout the church.
People are encouraged to see safeguarding as an important part of caring for one another and creating a safe church community.
The team believes the café has made safeguarding more visible and approachable, giving people confidence to ask questions, seek guidance and understand the importance of good safeguarding practice.
For Gail, the cafe's success rests not only on the practical support it offers but also on the collaborative approach behind it.
"This idea only really works because we have a safeguarding team," she says. "It would be much harder for a parish that has no safeguarding officer or only one person trying to do everything."
Working together, Gail, Angela and Claire have created a space that combines hospitality with practical support, helping to remove barriers and encourage participation.
"We feel that we have put safeguarding on the map and we have concrete foundations to build on," explains Claire.
"It gives reassurance that safeguarding is becoming inclusive and friendly. People feel that they can speak to us if they need advice and we can help them."
What started as a practical solution to a training challenge has become an important part of parish life, showing how a simple idea, supported by a committed few, can help make safeguarding everyone's responsibility.
Rachael Spiers, Diocesan Safeguarding Officer, said: “This is such a great example of working together, and something other church settings and wider Minster Communities could be encouraged to try, to support people to carry out their safeguarding training.”