NSPCC Learning Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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NSPCC Learning Podcast

NSPCC Learning

Government

Education

Frequency: 1 episode/31d. Total Eps: 85

Welcome to the NSPCC Learning Podcast - a series of episodes that cover a range of child protection issues to inform, create debate and tell you about the work we do to keep children safe. At the heart of every episode is the child’s voice and how what they tell us informs the work we do. If you are looking for more safeguarding and child protection training, information and resources, please visit our NSPCC Learning website.

Intro/outro music is Lights by Sappheiros [http://goo.gl/YmnOAx]

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80: How to build emotional resilience in children

Episode 80

Tuesday, April 14, 2026 • Duration 29:12

In this podcast episode, staff from the NSPCC Scotland hub discuss an emotional resilience programme they developed and delivered across seven primary schools in Govan, Glasgow.
The discussion covers what emotional resilience is and why it is important; the benefits of running an emotional resilience programme; and how practitioners can be trauma-informed when delivering emotional resilience work.

You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Jennifer Dixon is a Team Manager at the NSPCC Scotland National Hub.

Jo Grace is a Children’s Services Practitioner with the NSPCC in Scotland.

Prajapa Seneviratne is a Research and Evaluation Officer at the NSPCC in Scotland.

📚 Resources mentioned in this episode

> Read the implementation evaluation report of the Emotional Resilience programme in Govan’s primary schools

> Take our Mental health and wellbeing safeguarding in education training

Intro/outro music is Lights by Sappheiros

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79: An introduction to contextual safeguarding

Episode 79

Monday, March 9, 2026 • Duration 25:13

In 2015, Professor Carlene Firmin coined the term ‘contextual safeguarding’ to describe an approach to safeguarding young people that looks at additional ‘contexts’ for harm outside of the family home and beyond the control of a child’s parents and carers.

In this podcast episode, we speak to Carlene about the concept of contextual safeguarding and how practitioners can incorporate contextual safeguarding practices into their work with children and families.

You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Professor Carlene Firmin MBE is a Professor of Social Work and Director of the Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding at Durham University. She is also Co-Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Social Work, co-convener of a special interest group on Social Work and Adolescents for the European Social Work Research Association, a Global Ashoka Fellow, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a member of the Churchill Fellowship Advisory Council, and an Associate of Strathclyde University’s Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice. Her book, Contextual Safeguarding and Child Protection: Rewriting the Rules, won the Routledge Prize for a Sociology Monograph in 2020.

Shirley Maginley is a Senior Consultant in the NSPCC’s Professional Learning Services, with over 20 years’ experience supporting professionals and organisations across sectors to strengthen their knowledge, policy and practice in keeping children safe. She draws on her experience in youth and community development to help organisations improve their safeguarding arrangements and create safer environments for children and young people across diverse settings.

📚 Resources mentioned in this episode

> Visit the Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding website

> Access further contextual safeguarding resources, including resources on context weighting, safety mapping and safety summits

Intro/outro music is Lights by Sappheiros

78: Male experiences of domestic abuse

Episode 78

Monday, February 9, 2026 • Duration 24:04

Men can be both survivors and perpetrators of domestic abuse, and both experiences present distinct safeguarding challenges.

Drawing on practice experience from the NSPCC Helpline and Childline, this podcast episode centres on male experiences of domestic abuse. You’ll learn about the challenges of working with male perpetrators of domestic abuse, the barriers that male survivors of abuse face when coming forward, and the effects of domestic abuse on parent-child relationships.

You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Emily Harrison is a Domestic Practice Advisor on the NSPCC Helpline, with extensive experience in the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector. Her roles include service management, Specialist Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA), Chair of the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC), and member of the Domestic Abuse Scrutiny Committee. She has also provided training for first responders, equipping them with the skills to support those affected by domestic abuse effectively.

Adrian Somerville has been Helpline Practice Manager with the NSPCC for six years. Before this, he was a NSPCC Helpline Practitioner for over five years. Adrian is a qualified and accredited Counsellor, currently providing support to children and young adults in relation to anxiety and self-esteem issues. He has also previously worked with male survivors and perpetrators of domestic abuse.

Cormac Nolan is a Service Head with Childline. He holds responsibility for certain Childline bases delivering the live service as well as for the Childline website and social media.

Stephen Pilling is a Helpline Practitioner at the NSPCC. Before joining the NSPCC, worked as a Group Leader in residential settings, supporting both adults and children with additional needs and disabilities.

📚 Resources mentioned in this episode

77: Safeguarding in a multi-academy trust

Episode 77

Tuesday, September 9, 2025 • Duration 30:03

This podcast episode is hosted by the NSPCC’s Local Services Director Karen Squillino, who is also chair of the wellbeing and safeguarding committee for Lift Schools.

She spoke to Jill Fuller, Head of Safeguarding for Lift Schools and Habib Hussain, who is Lift Schools’ regional DSL for London and the south.

The conversation covered:

the safeguarding roles and responsibilities of a multi-academy trust
the importance of DSLs sharing their experiences to support each other
how to ensure DSLs are continuously learning and adapting to new safeguarding challenges
the benefits and challenges of Lift Schools’ regional approach.

You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Karen Squillino has over 30 years safeguarding and child protection experience. She has been with the NSPCC since 2011 and currently serves as the Director of Local Services. In addition to her role at the NSPCC, Karen is a trustee at Lift Schools, where she chairs the Wellbeing & Safeguarding Committee.

Jill Fuller is the Head of Safeguarding for Lift Schools with responsibility for developing and implementing a comprehensive safeguarding strategy across a network of 57 schools, monitoring and supporting safeguarding practices and contributing to the overall educational vision. Her experience spans education, children's social care and multi-agency partners, leading workforce transformation projects and driving rapid performance improvements in children's services.

Habib Hussain has been in education for 21 years and spent 20 years in Lift Aylward. He is currently Deputy Head at Lift New Rickstones and Regional DSL for London and the South, working alongside 11 primary, secondary and special schools. Habib offers support and guidance to all the schools in his region and ensures they are compliant in all aspects of safeguarding and driving rapid performance.

📚 Resources mentioned in this episode

76: Protecting boys from financially motivated sexual extortion

Episode 76

Tuesday, August 5, 2025 • Duration 24:26

Online sexual extortion can be financially motivated sexual extortion and blackmail using both real and AI generated images of boys and young males. Although this is not a new issue the National Crime Agency and the NSPCC has seen an increase in the last two years of boys experiencing online sexual extortion.

In this podcast episode, the NSPCC's Danielle Harris, Childline manager, discusses online sexual extortion with Marie Smith, who oversees the CEOP education programme based within the National Crime Agency.

The discussion covered:

what online sexual extortion is
how to spot the signs
how to support boys who are experiencing online sexual extortion
how to report real and AI generated images.

You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Danielle Harris is the NSPCC's Childline Team Manager. Danielle has been part of the Childline family since 2018, starting out on the night service and moving up to Senior Supervisor before taking on their current role as Childline Team Manager.

Marie Smith is a Senior Manager who oversees the CEOP education programme that's based within the National Crime Agency.

📚 Resources mentioned in this episode

> View the CEOP alert for education settings on financially motivated sexual extortion

> Find out more about the Childline Behind the Screen campaign, raising awareness of the sexual coerced extortion of boys

75: Child criminal exploitation and the importance of early intervention

Episode 75

Thursday, July 3, 2025 • Duration 27:17

Child criminal exploitation (CCE) is a form of child abuse where a child or young person is forced or coerced to engage in criminal activity or commit any type of crime.

In this episode, the NSPCC Helpline’s Service Head, Denise Ellis spoke to Tara Mellowes who is a Detective Constable in the exploitation team with Leicestershire Police.

The discussion covered:

what CCE is and the different forms it can take
why children can be targets for CCE
signs of CCE that professionals working with children should look out for
why early intervention is so important and what that may look like
how the police can respond to CCE.

The episode was recorded in January 2025. Since then, the Crime and Policing Bill has been introduced into Parliament, which would introduce a new specific criminal offence of child criminal exploitation. This would target the adult as the primary offender in causing harm to the child by exploiting them to commit criminal activity.

You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Denise Ellis is the service head for the NSPCC Helpline and has almost 43 years’ experience of working with children and families. She previously worked for Manchester Safeguarding Unit and currently delivers training to professionals on identifying the signs of child criminal exploitation.

DC Tara Mellowes joined Leicestershire Police in 2020 and works in the field of child criminal exploitation helping vulnerable young people caught up in county lines. She is passionate about helping shape how we respond to and tackle child criminal exploitation and is proud to have been part of Leicestershire Police’s first prosecutions against CCE offenders.

📚 Resources mentioned in this episode

> Learn more about Childline

74: Protecting babies from the effects of domestic abuse

Episode 74

Friday, May 30, 2025 • Duration 29:25

Research by For Baby's Sake suggests that domestic abuse was a factor in almost 50,000 babies a year being referred to children's social care in England between 2021 and 2023.

Our NSPCC Helpline domestic abuse project lead, Paddi Vint, spoke with Lauren Seager-Smith, CEO of the For Baby's Sake Trust, about this research and what we can learn from it.

They offered insight into the importance of services for pregnant families and babies being able to identify concerns and provide support. The discussion covered the difficulties with working out exactly how many babies are impacted by domestic abuse, blockers to parents seeking support and how important accurate language is to reduce shame and stigma around domestic abuse.

You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Lauren Seager-Smith is the CEO of The For Baby's Sake Trust, pioneering trauma-informed and therapeutic support to break cycles of domestic abuse and give babies the best start in life. Lauren is an experienced charity leader, with previous roles as CEO of Kidscape and the National Coordinator of the Anti-Bullying Alliance. Lauren is a regular media spokesperson specialising in domestic abuse, online safety, and bullying. Lauren has held numerous board positions and currently serves on the Action for Children England Committee. Lauren is an Associate of the Institute of Responsible Leadership (IRL).

Paddi Vint is a Quality and Development Manager overseeing the NSPCC Helpline domestic abuse project. She has been with the NSPCC in Belfast for over five years, joining as a Helpline practitioner and then working as a practice manager.

📚 Resources mentioned in this episode

> Read the For Baby’s Sake research revealing almost 50,000 babies are referred to children’s social care in England with domestic abuse as a factor

73: Supporting Black mothers facing perinatal mental health challenges

Episode 73

Thursday, May 1, 2025 • Duration 25:31

Mental health difficulties can have a big impact on parents’ ability to provide responsive care for their babies, especially if parents aren't getting the support they need. Black mothers are disproportionately affected by mental health difficulties and are less likely to receive adequate perinatal mental health support.

In January 2025, Alexis Golden and Chi Mumbi from the NSPCC’s Pregnancy in Mind service spoke to Sandra Igwe Founder and Chief Executive at The Motherhood Group about the experiences of Black mothers and the importance of providing inclusive support for maternal mental health.

You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Alexis Golden has been with the NSPCC since 2022 and is a Project Development Manager. She develops evidence-based services for families within the Prevention of Abuse and Neglect in the Early Years Theme. Recently, she led the redevelopment of the Pregnancy in Mind service. With a background in education and early childhood development, Alexis is passionate about the wellbeing of children and young people and is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Sandra Igwe is a trailblazing thought leader in Black maternal health, TEDx speaker, and founder of The Motherhood Group and Blackmums. She leverages community engagement, technology and advocacy to improve outcomes for Black mothers. Sandra is Co-Chair of the National Inquiry into Racial Injustice in Maternity Care, a Trustee of Birthrights Charity, and author of 'My Black Motherhood: Mental Health, Stigma, Racism and the System'. Her work has been recognized by Vogue UK and Forbes as an 'Influential Woman of the Year', and she has received the National Lottery Game Changer Award and Santander Social Entrepreneur of the Year.

Chi Mumbi is a Children’s Services Practitioner and Social Worker at the London and South East Hub and is the Lead Practitioner for Pregnancy in Mind. Chi is passionate about the intersection of perinatal mental health and race.

📚

72: The work of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel – part two

Episode 72

Thursday, March 13, 2025 • Duration 23:11

At the end of 2024, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published a national review exploring the challenges in identifying, assessing and responding to child sexual abuse within the family environment. They also published their annual report for 2023-24, which covers the Panel’s work from April 2023 to March 2024.

This is the second half of our discussion with Annie Hudson, the Chair of the Panel, and Jenny Coles, a Panel member, about what these reports mean for anyone working with children and young people.

In this episode, you’ll hear about how the Panel translates the learning from its reports into improvements to safeguarding practice.

If you haven't done so already, listen to part one, covering the findings of the two reports.

You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers

Annie Hudson is the Chair of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. A social worker by profession, Annie has held a range of practice, leadership and academic posts, including Strategic Director of Children’s Services for Lambeth London Borough Council and Director of Children’s Services for Bristol City Council.

Jenny Coles has been a member of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel since December 2021. Jenny is a qualified social worker and has been a senior manager in local authority children’s services since 1997. Jenny was the President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services from April 2020 to April 2021.

📚 Resources mentioned in this episode

> Read our CASPAR briefing summarising the National review into child sexual abuse within the family environment

71: The work of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel – part one

Episode 71

Thursday, March 13, 2025 • Duration 25:49

At the end of 2024, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published a national review exploring the challenges in identifying, assessing and responding to child sexual abuse within the family environment. They also published their annual report for 2023-24, which covers the Panel’s work from April 2023 to March 2024.
In January 2025, we spoke to Annie Hudson, the Chair of the Panel, and Jenny Coles, a Panel member, about what these reports mean for anyone working with children and young people.
In the first half of the discussion, you’ll learn about the findings from the two reports.
Part two covers how the Panel translates the learning from its reports into improvements to safeguarding practice. Listen to part two.

You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.

💬 About the speakers
Annie Hudson is the Chair of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. A social worker by profession, Annie has held a range of practice, leadership and academic posts, including Strategic Director of Children’s Services for Lambeth London Borough Council and Director of Children’s Services for Bristol City Council.
Jenny Coles has been a member of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel since December 2021. Jenny is a qualified social worker and has been a senior manager in local authority children’s services since 1997. Jenny was the President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services from April 2020 to April 2021.

📚 Resources mentioned in this episode
> Read our CASPAR briefing summarising the National review into child sexual abuse within the family environment

NSPCC Learning Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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