Aftercare support following a Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR)

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What we offer

Introduction

Being involved in a Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) can be an intensely challenging and often distressing experience for professionals and agencies. While the purpose of a CSPR is learning and improvement, the aftermath can leave individuals and teams feeling exposed, overwhelmed, and unsure how to translate recommendations into tangible, sustainable change.

Our aftercare offer is designed to support local authority professionals and partner agencies after a CSPR (or local practice review), in a way that holds both the emotional impact and the practical work of implementation. We focus on creating conducive conditions for learning: spaces where people can think well together, rebuild trust, and integrate learning into everyday practice without collapsing into blame, silence, or performative compliance.

Including support with recommendations, implementation plan, learning integration, and partnership trust-building.

Included

    • Scoping and contracting meeting (purpose, audiences, boundaries, risks)

    • Governance set-up (confidentiality, escalation routes, safeguarding boundaries)

    • Comms and assurance alignment (what can be evidenced, how, and by whom)on

    • Team debrief / sense-making session(s) for those most involved or affected

    • Practice reflection session(s) linking learning to live decision-making

    • Leadership holding session (risk, scrutiny, tone, and system anxiety)

    • DescriptioRecommendation deconstruction and prioritisation workshop

    • Action planning facilitation (roles, timelines, dependencies, resources)

    • Embedding into routines (supervision prompts, decision forums, meeting rhythms) text goes here

    • Cross-agency reflective forum(s) to rebuild trust and clarify roles

    • “Lessons learned” dissemination session(s) designed to avoid blame and oversimplification

    • Optional peer learning structure design (light-touch, sustainable)

    • Tailored aftercare plan (sequence, participants, aims, governance)

    • Non-attributable themes-and-conditions note (what helps learning embed)

    • Practical artefacts (prioritisation map, action plan outputs, prompts/templates as needed)

    • Agreed check-ins (to prevent drift and support integration)

    • Light-touch indicators and reflection points (proportionate, not bureaucratic)

    • On-site, online, or blended delivery

    • Optional 1:1 coaching for leaders/managers (bounded, practical, confidential)

Frequently asked questions:

  • We provide proportionate, non-attributable outputs (themes, conditions, and practical adjustments) that support assurance requirements while protecting psychological safety and learning integrity.

  • We put governance up front: confidentiality, escalation routes, safeguarding boundaries, and clarity about what can and cannot be shared. We do not re-investigate the case or re-run the review.

  • Aftercare is not therapy and it is not a disciplinary process. We contract clearly for purpose and boundaries, hold sessions skilfully, and keep the focus on learning, repair, and practical integration.

  • Yes, if it is designed carefully. We typically work at multiple levels (team, agency, partnership), because cross-agency trust and role clarity often determine whether learning travels.

  • Yes, because we combine sense-making with structured implementation support: deconstructing recommendations, prioritising actions, designing realistic plans, and supporting leaders to hold risk and change without narrowing into defensiveness.

What people carry after CSPRs

Professionals involved often experience a mix of emotional and organisational pressure: stress and anxiety, self-doubt, fear of judgement and exposure, and fatigue from prolonged scrutiny. Recommendations may be complex, and the system may be stretched and already overloaded. Under pressure, systems can default to reassurance, control, and evidence-production, which can crowd out the slower relational work where practice actually shifts.

Our offer is built around these realities and around a commitment to supporting recovery, learning, and practical change together.

 What we mean by: aftercare

Aftercare is a planned period of support after publication (or after fieldwork ends), held across individual, team, agency, and partnership levels. It creates space to:

  • process what the review surfaced and what it cost,

  • make sense of learning in real operational conditions, and

  • support implementation that is lived in practice, not only recorded in plans.

“It was a serious violence board meeting when the lightbulb moment clicked. Colin’s approach was open, honest, and compassionate. Partners knew immediately that we wanted to make the most of our time working together. Over six months, we were supported to develop our strategy and implementation plan, align it with actions to reduce serious violence and exploitation, and embed a new way of thinking and practising. We felt heard, seen, and more confident. Colin has a real gift for reading the room, joining the dots, and gently challenging colleagues to reflect. Friendly, professional, and deeply committed to reducing harm for children and young people.”

– Former customer.