Sexual Safety Collaborative Workshops

How to talk about sexual safety on a mental health inpatient ward

Sal Smith

I am currently the trauma-informed approaches locality lead for Durham and Darlington in TEWV foundation trust. Having worked previously as an Expert by Experience, I am really passionate about the voice of lived experience driving much needed changes in mental health services. Trying my best to be kind to myself and others (she/her).

Rachel Luby

Mental health nurse, survivor, service user. Working in East London Foundation Trust with experience in PICU, forensic, crisis services. Passionate about sexual health, sexual safety and empowering others. Believing in the beauty of my dreams.

• SSC Workshop 2 - Agenda
• SSC Workshop 2 - Slides

SSC Workshop 3 - Agenda

SSC Workshop 3 - Slides

Louise Gill, Acting Head of Clinical Service, at Cheshire & Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust shared how the Trust have benchmarked themselves against the national sexual safety standards. The template Louise created and refers to is available to download here (Excel).

SSC Workshop 4 Agenda

SSC Workshop 4 Slides

Clinical Psychologist, Joao Botas, on Phoenix Unit at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust shares how the unit are using their reflective practice group to discuss how they can best support patients with their sexual safety.

SSC Workshop 5 - Agenda

Presentation 1 – Alt Ward, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Alt Ward share their learning on reporting sexual safety incidents and how their Trust has made changes to their Datix system to include the Collaborative’s operational definitions of sexual safety. In this setting, the programme has helped create additional focus around the impact of sexual safety incidents on staff and patients, as well as the person involved in the behaviour. In their experience, keeping these issues on the agenda is vital to continuing the work and embedding it into future ways of working.

SSC Workshop 5 – Alt Ward Slides

Presentation 2 - Dragonfly Unit, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

Dragonfly Unit – a Tier 4 CAMHS mixed ward - provided an overview of their sexual safety project from a CAMHS perspective, including sharing change ideas they have tested. Some of the initiatives at Dragonfly include:  

• having their Sexual Safety Charter displayed on their notice boards
• working with the Education Manager from the nearby school
• daily safety briefings include sexual safety
• a flowchart system developed to guide actions to be taken in relation to staff/service users, e.g. what to do if:
  • service user reports an allegation of penetrative assault
  • allegation is in respect of a staff member as the perpetrator
  • staff are subject to a disclosure of sexual abuse or harassment.
• a survey to gauge views/concerns and identify issues for participants of a sexual safety/sexual health group
• Red/amber/green assessment tool implemented to identify individuals at risk of being sexually unsafe. Further work is planned for this assessment tool to include producing a leaflet overview summary and adding a date field – this will indicate when the next assessment should be as well as prompting other staff to re-assess.
• Regular training to maintain awareness.

SSC Workshop 6 - Agenda