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What is on your mind these days?
I have just returned from a tremendous two-week vacation in Europe visiting my daughter and son-in-law. We visited France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Portugal. We were at Notre Dame taking pictures just hours before the fire broke out. We watched candles being lit, quietly marveling at the beauty of the...
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For the past six summers, I have been the Sports Camp Coordinator for a week-long day camp. Each year, we have approximately 60 campers ages 7 to 12 years old participating in various sports, including soccer, ball hockey, basketball, volleyball, as well as many large group games – all on varying terrain. With the heightened...
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Criminal background checks and/or vulnerable sector checks are only one step in the screening process.
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One of the things I love most about being a leader in the youth group of my local church and at a youth center is relationship-building. I love meeting teens, listening to their stories and testimonies, discovering their personalities, understanding their families and friends, learning about their hobbies and dreams.Often, our conversations are...
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As a young girl, I spent many summer weeks in camps (day or sleepaway). I enjoyed the local pool or lake, arts and crafts workshops, soccer games, outings to the water slides or the science center, and a few archery classes (thankfully, my counselors deemed it better for me to stick with drama workshops given my terrible aim). When came the time...
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Nov9Fri
Crisis Management -- Preventing a Fiasco
Guest Blog: Barrie Doyle, Crisis Management Consultant November 9, 2018Two stories popped up this past week that illustrate the need for heightened sensitivity and realization around crisis management and training. Both happened in Ontario but could have just as easily happened anywhere. -
I was recently interviewed by Faith Today magazine and they asked, “how many organizations and churches have a plan to protect?”
My hope is that every organization and church that serves the vulnerable sector, would have some sort of a plan to protect but not all plans are the same, nor do they all adhere to the same standard.
As we review and customize hundreds of policies and procedure manuals a year, we see such a wide variety of policies including:
- Policies which range from one page to 500 pages;
- Policies which addressing only sexual abuse, to policies that cover all types of abuse and neglect; and
- Policies which are designed only to protect children, to policies that protect all vulnerable persons.
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We are often asked if schools follow the same standard of protection that Plan to Protect® recommends. Often the standards schools follow are the objections that Board members and leaders use to refute the best practices that are laid out in policies and procedures. How safe are our schools?
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Who do you reach out to when you need care and support?
Last week I was interviewed by a young journalist from Huffington Post and asked why victims of child abuse reached out to clergy to disclose their abuse. The interviewer was writing in response to recent disclosures of abuse: #MeTOO and #ChurchTOO.
As I responded to the questions, I thought of many individual cases of abuse where each individual disclosed their abuse to someone they trusted. Some of the names have been changed to protect the victims.
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A Toronto not-for-profit that specializes in providing inclusive sports and recreation programs has strengthened relationships between staff and clients by increasing its abuse prevention.
Variety Village runs inclusive fitness, sports and recreation programs for people of all ages. People of all ages use Variety Village. Programs range from activities for parents and infants to fitness classes for seniors. Elite athletes train there. Children return each year for summer camps and day camps.
This familiarity creates a family atmosphere, so the organization has to be diligent to avoid anything that could lead to allegations of abuse. Today, staff, volunteers and campers congratulate each other with high fives and fist bumps. All participants must check in and check out for camp programs, regardless of how long staff or volunteers may have known the campers.
