Safeguarding Policy

1. Our commitment to safeguarding

Calm Pathways is a lifestyle coaching service. We are not a mental health service, crisis service, or a replacement for statutory children’s or adults’ services.

We are here to offer gentle, person-centred coaching alongside other support, not instead of it.

We are committed to keeping children, young people and vulnerable adults safe. We believe everyone has the right to:

• Be treated with dignity and respect
• Be listened to and taken seriously
• Feel safe when engaging with our service

We follow UK safeguarding guidance and work alongside local services to promote safety and wellbeing.

2. Who this policy is for

This policy is for:

• Children and young people who use Calm Pathways
• Parents, carers and families
• Referring organisations (for example schools, CAMHS, social prescribing, charities)
• Professionals involved in a young person’s care

It explains what safeguarding means in our work and what you can expect from us.

3. What we mean by safeguarding

Safeguarding means:

• Protecting children, young people and vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect or harm
• Promoting welfare, safety and wellbeing
• Taking action when there are concerns about risk

Abuse can include (but is not limited to):

• Physical, emotional or sexual abuse
• Neglect
• Bullying or cyberbullying
• Domestic abuse
• Exploitation (including criminal or sexual exploitation)

We recognise that young people with SEND and mental health needs may face additional risks and barriers to being heard.

4. Our safeguarding principles

In all safeguarding work we aim to:

• Put the young person’s safety and wellbeing first
• Listen carefully and take concerns seriously
• Respect privacy and share information only when needed for safety
• Work in a person-centred, trauma-informed and non-judgemental way
• Work in partnership with families and other services where appropriate

5. Roles and responsibilities

Calm Pathways will:

• Make safeguarding a core part of our work
• Take all concerns about safety or harm seriously
• Record and store safeguarding information securely
• Seek advice from, and refer to, appropriate safeguarding agencies when needed

Where required, we will identify a named person responsible for leading on safeguarding within Calm Pathways and for liaising with local safeguarding partners.

6. How we respond to safeguarding concerns

If we are worried that a child, young person or vulnerable adult may be at risk of harm, we will:

1. Listen and offer a calm, supportive space
2. Clarify what the concern is, without leading or pressuring
3. Consider the level of risk and any immediate safety needs
4. Decide whether we need to share information with:
   • Local authority children’s or adults’ services
   • School or college safeguarding leads
   • Health or mental health services
   • Police or emergency services (in urgent situations)

Where it is safe and appropriate, we will:

• Explain our concerns to the young person and/or parent / carer
• Explain what information we may need to share and with whom
• Involve them as much as possible in next steps

We may need to act without consent if:

• There is a risk of serious harm to the young person or someone else
• There are concerns about abuse or neglect
• We are required to do so by law

7. Information sharing and confidentiality

We respect privacy and aim to keep information confidential. However, safeguarding sometimes requires us to share information.

We will:

• Share only what is necessary for safety and protection
• Share with the right people or agencies
• Record what we have shared and why

We will not share information for marketing.

For more detail on how we handle personal data, please see our privacy notices for young people and for parents / guardians.

8. Working with other organisations

We often work alongside:

• Schools and colleges
• Mental health and wellbeing services
• Social care and safeguarding teams
• Community and voluntary organisations

We aim to:

• Communicate clearly and respectfully
• Agree roles and responsibilities where more than one service is involved
• Share safeguarding information in a timely and appropriate way

We expect partner organisations to have their own safeguarding policies and procedures in place.

9. If you have a concern about a child or young person

If you are worried that a child or young person is at risk of harm, you should:

• Follow your own organisation’s safeguarding policy and procedures (if you are a professional), and
• Contact your local authority safeguarding team or the police in an emergency

Calm Pathways is a coaching service only. We do not replace CAMHS, social care, GP or other mental health or children’s services, and we cannot act as an emergency or crisis service.

You can contact Calm Pathways to share a concern related to a young person we are working with. We will:

• Listen to your concern
• Consider any action we may need to take
• Work with relevant services where appropriate

10. Concerns about Calm Pathways practice

If you are worried about how safeguarding has been handled by Calm Pathways, you can:

• Raise your concern with us using the contact details below
• If needed, raise your concern with the relevant local authority or professional body

We take all concerns seriously and will respond in a fair and respectful way.

11. Contact details

For general safeguarding queries or to share a concern related to Calm Pathways, please contact:

Calm Pathways
Email: info@thecalmpathways.co.uk
Location: Based in Derbyshire, UK

In an emergency, or if someone is at immediate risk of harm, please contact:

• Emergency services (999 in the UK), and/or
• Your local authority children’s or adults’ safeguarding team

Calm Pathways is not an emergency or crisis service.