Community Discussion Summary – Welfare Officers

A summary of topics discussed at the recent Welfare Officer Community Discussion Events.

Our Community Discussion Events Series has continued with a session devoted to Welfare Officers and their roles at this time.

The first session took place on Wednesday 27th May followed by a second session on Monday 1st June. It was great to see so many of our welfare officers involved and interested in sharing best practice in how we can support our community both now and in the future as lockdown eases.

In the sessions participants shared best practice and challenges in a number of topic areas including;

• Welfare Qualifications. How to gain welfare qualifications and keep them up to date. SPC and BF’s Welfare Officer training can be now be done online. You can find more information on the qualifications recognised by BF and the options to gain these online here.
• Increasing general knowledge and awareness. This is a good time for welfare officers to encourage coaches and other club members to increase their knowledge and awareness. Check out our guidance page here and recent news post here.
• Safe Online Coaching. The safe use/delivery of online coaching and encouraging welfare best practices in this area. See our tips on using online training platforms here.
• Social Media. Using social media to communicate with members – the benefits, pitfalls especially with U18s
• Mental Health. How to support the mental health of club members at this time and going forwards as some continue to isolate and shield. Check out a free development opportunity here. Suggestions included continuing some form of online training and social ‘zoom’ activity. Where mental health ‘check-in’s’ have been in place prior to lockdown these are easier to continue.
• Risk Assessments for Club re-opening – As lockdown eases to make sure that welfare considerations are included in risk assessments
• Welfare Challenges in Lockdown . The welfare challenges that individuals are facing and will face and the key role of the welfare officer in identifying and raising concerns.
• Historic Disclosures. Likelihood of historic disclosures may increase as individuals may have had time to reflect on past issues. Remember there’s information on report concerns here.

This event is part of a series of community discussion events designed to facilitate the creation and sharing of best practice during and after lockdown. A timetable of future discussions, along with sign up information, is available here.

As always, we will continue to update our COVID-19 advice here, with dedicated pages for clubs and coaches. You can also subscribe to our new weekly summary email – The Fencing Digest – featuring the previous week’s latest news and announcements. Sign up here.