to not do Safeguarding training?

[Sausagenbacon]

I belong to a church, and occasionally serve coffee at the end of the service. I am being asked to take Safeguarding training, which I think is utterly pointless.
I have expressed this and been told that it's policy, and I have to do it.
AIBU to just stop doing coffee?

I feel like there's more to this post than you've said. I wonder who asked you to do the training and what that conversation looked like@Sausagenbacon ? Even if you don't feel able to address why this request has made you so angry you have to consider this : if you think that your volunteering is helping people and you want to continue to help, then do the training because it's not pointless if you're doing it for a good reason.

There are some super strange attitudes to safeguarding on this thread. People obviously see it as akin to having to do health and safety or fraud awareness training for work. Disappointing to see on a forum primarily targeted at parents.

@ludocris the issue is that it is a tick box exercise in this scenario,

Anyone can chat to another person who is vulnerable, at church on in any setting. If safeguarding training is so essential than it should be for all.

This is bs though, it isn't what happens at all.

A person working at a cafe, or at Primark, or almost anywhere with members of the public, is in many cases as likely, or more likely, to come in contact with vulnerable people in their work, as someone serving tea and doing washing up at a church. And yet they aren't required to have this training for their jobs. I suspect the reason is because small charitable organizations have little power to object to stupid rules, and because so many within them are generally kind and accommodating.

People volunteering at a church are not all therapists or counselors or ministers. Many are just people lending a hand within their own community. In this case, lending a hand because someone needs to get the tea on and wash up.

@TempestTost I don’t see why not. But my example was because we need to keep up to date when working with vulnerable people. The old people I know would be very sympathetic to far right thugs unfortunately.

I don’t think the op has any intention of doing the training so I don’t know what the point was in posting.
seems like more ticked a box I’m kind I’ve volunteered, I go to church, I’m a good person.
And it’s nothing like a shop assistant, she will be seeing the same people each time and will notice if someone has changed, and the church are taking responsibility for that which is a good thing. I don’t see how this half hour or so of becoming more aware and responsible could be bad.

Why, mainly, do people work in Primark or in a cafe, or with members of the public? What is the main purpose of their relationship with their customers in that situation? If they are employed by an organisation, and found to be, e.g., attempting to coerce, abuse, or defraud people in that environment (either fellow employees or customers), they are/were under contract and they will face penalties and can be removed if they are found out. They do indeed have training for their role: not safeguarding, but training that sets out the expectations of behaviour. Both they, and the place they work for, have responsibilities.

Now what about volunteers, in a place where they will very probably meet vulnerable people? The ethos of a church promises that you will find community, that people will support you and aim to work with the principles of helping people who are distressed, sick, troubled, feeling guilty, struggling sometimes, and there are not all that many churchgoing people who would deny that at times, this could be you, or your kids, or your Gran.

And a lot of the practical stuff offered, including even the cups of tea, will aim to centre this in how it is offered.

There isn't the protection of a contract or 2 sides of a till, or 50 minutes of a therapy hour. There's a toddler group or 2, maybe a youth group - but that's not a nursery or a school, or whatever you want to assume of this place. So yes, the vulnerable will be there.

I'm really glad to read that there are some people who say 'I did make a safeguarding referral but that was because of what had come out of the training'. I don't love training, I'm sceptical about some of it and I can disagree with it, but I do see it as part of a volunteer role of this kind.

I don’t think the op has any intention of doing the training so I don’t know what the point was in posting.
seems like more ticked a box I’m kind I’ve volunteered, I go to church, I’m a good person.
well, you certainly know a lot about me, after two posts!
TBH I'm unpicking the responses, but some are weirdly hostile. Yes, as a long-term user of MN, I should have known better.

Even if you don't feel able to address why this request has made you so angry

? where did I say I was angry? Thinking something is pointless isn't being angry.

Lots of older people will have been on many safeguarding courses.
This - I have already been on a SG course at the church. OK, several years ago, but I can't see why I have to do it again.

Because things change ALL the time. I update my safeguarding training every year and there’s always something new. It can also be location dependent, in some places like where I am, in the last few years we have had more training on county lines and FGM as they’re on the rise here. If something is becoming more of an issue in your area, it’s good to know.

@Sausagenbacon accusing someone of being angry seems to be a common approach on MN - especially if you object to something.
I agree this is pointless.
And you have a lot of people commenting who have obviously never been to church and do not understand your role. They think you have time to chat to people and notice changes. To be honest a worker in a cafe where they do get the same regular customers has more opportunity to do this than you do.
I have been to church and there is never an opportunity to chat to the women serving tea and washing up.
It is ridiculous red tape that achieves nothing. As if someone in the two seconds you hand over the tea is going to say thanks, my husband beat me last night and walk away. That is all there would be an opportunity for.

@starlight889 not at all relevant to OP.

Why would it not be? She is directly with vulnerable people and should be aware of every issue that may arise. I’ll say it again but I am genuinely confused why anyone wouldn’t give up a couple hours of their time (maximum) to enhance their knowledge and understand to help the vulnerable.

No.
The cashier in Primark is less likely to offer to call round the vulnerable elderly person's house or swipe her purse when she's not looking than the woman handing the custard creams out at the drop in centre.

People who have access in a position of "authority" to the vulnerable need to be trained. None more so than the wilfully ignorant.

Because she is not working directly with vulnerable people in any meaningful sense. After the service people queue up for tea and coffee. She makes it, gives it to them and washes up. There is no time to chat to people. It is the preacher and other church staff and volunteers who circulate and chat.
So why would knowing about county lines or FGM be at all relevant?

And this tick box exercise would annoy me. Why should OP spend 90 minutes going through training that is nit at all relevant to what she actually does.
And nobody sees the person making tea and washing up as in a position of authority in the church. Lay preachers and ministers yes, but not the tea makers.

So yesterday you weren't going to do it because you were on the barricades kicking back at authority. Today it's because you've already done it and don't need to do it again.

Which one is the truth?

Ok, here's a situation that doesn't need any words, just eyes.
Young and rather monosyllabic mother who is otherwise well turned out, doesn't talk all that much, doesn't say anything when she collects her coffee except 'Thanks.'
You see her around so you know she is probably fairly local.
When you glance at her on this Sunday in the queue, you can see she's got tear stains on her face.
She reaches out for her cup and by chance, her sleeve rides up. You can't miss the livid red razor marks criss crossing her inner arm and she pulls her sleeve down fast.
Thanks, she whispers, as usual, and goes away after her active child.

Any help, none of your beeswax, someone else's problem, pointless, because what is she to you? Or do you just do the washing up and think your duty's done?

I didn’t mean she specifically needed to know about those issues. I gave an example of how things are always changing so her stating she had safeguarding years ago wouldn’t be up to date now. I’m not sure if you do it often but I would take things quite so literal.

It’s ALWAYS good to be up to date with safeguarding. It might even help her in her daily life also.

BlindurErBóklausMaður
ooh, you got me banged to rights there.

@Ormally even if you report self harm in an adult little will happen. Do you know how common self harm is? Incredibly common.
But what the OP would do is let the minister or other staff know so they can deal with it. That is all OP needs to know, tell someone if you have any concerns.

@starlight889 I have to do regular safeguarding for my volunteer role, similar situation where it is a tick box. I have never had to use it either in volunteering, work or daily life. I have reported a safeguarding issue, but I would have done it without any training. It was obviously concerning, not at all subtle, and I googled who to report it to.
This kind of safeguarding training is all a bit of a nonsense.

You are coming across as weirdly hostile, to be fair, and not like a keen volunteer who wishes to help. I don’t know you but my impression is of you being quite angry about this too. I agree with others that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and I am delighted that the church and other organisations are emphasising that everyone working/volunteering make this a priority. Of course if you’re not interested you should just volunteer somewhere else where you agree with their policies.

OK. and yes, incredibly common. But it might just make that difference. Nobody, nobody else in her life, might have seen it for what it may be. You are maybe making the start of a better difference to both a mum and a tiny child here. You are not walking by on the other side (see, well, Good Samaritan; about 1,0000 other verses in the Bible, most of which will get an airing at least once a year in the sermons you will have sat through minutes before the coffee, if we're talking church).