Are your leaders trained and equipped to ensure your community is a safe place for everyone?
Training leaders and volunteers at induction, as well as ongoing professional development, is an important part of creating a culture of safety, running effective ministries, and developing healthy and strong leaders and teams.
CCVT works to provide Affiliates with a variety of training options throughout the year, and is happy to give recommendations of external training as required.
Consider completing some of the training options below, or for more information please contact the Safe Places team on safeplaces@churchesofchrist.org.au or 03 9488 8800.
CCVT is a recognised Training Partner of the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) Safe Church Program.
Safe Church Program workshops provide affordable, informative, engaging, and interactive training for all staff and volunteers within church and Christian ministries.
This training will raise the understanding and awareness of safeguarding obligations and methods across a broad range of ministry areas and people groups, allowing for each faith community to implement practices in a way that makes sense for their size and shape.
All workshops are conducted in person, facilitated by NCCA endorsed presenters, hosted by local churches, and attendance is recognised by other Safe Church Program members.
Safe Church Program workshops are compulsory training for all CCVT accredited Ministers, as well as the Chairperson, Safety Officers, and head of the Children/Youth ministry at each affiliated church and agency.
CCVT also recommends that all other staff and volunteers attend a Safe Church Awareness Workshop as a minimum introductory training requirement for doing ministry within local churches and agencies. Further training in their particular area of ministry is also recommended.
Please note: Safe Church Program workshops are not suitable for people under the age of 15.
Looking for a Safe Church Program Workshop near you? Click here for more.
Interested in hosting a workshop at your church? Download Safe Church Awareness Workshop Host Information Sheet
Safe Church Awareness Workshops (6.5 hrs)
Safe Church Awareness Workshops introduce participants to a broad range of topics that cover the whole of church. This includes:
- Foundations of safe ministry
- Best practice around duty of care, legal, and health and safety obligations
- Safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults
- Responding to concerns
- Due diligence in recruitment, training and supervision of leaders
- Establishing and maintaining safe ministry programs
Prerequisites: none
Safe Church Refresher Workshops (3.0 hrs)
Safe Church Refresher Workshops are recommended every three years for those who have previously attended a Safe Church Awareness Workshop.
Topics include:
- Refresh and review previous training
- Relevant changes and updates to legislation, policies, and procedures
- New areas of focus and information regarding Safe Church practices
- Review and discuss progress of implementation
- Explore and review key issues
- Explore practical applications
Prerequisites: Participants must have previously attended the introductory Safe Church Awareness Workshop.
Alpha is a series of interactive sessions that explore life faith and meaning. Alpha is a resource churches use to create a space and a culture where people are excited to invite their friends into a conversation about Jesus.
Awareness and prevention of child sexual abuse https://bravehearts.org.au
The ChildSafe M3 Online training module ‘ Keeping Children and Vulnerable People Safe ’ is available to CCVT Affiliates at a reduced rate of $20.00 ($38.50 rrp).
ChildSafe is a harm prevention charity, that provides practical tools to helps community organisations keep children safe. This includes the Safety Management Online (SMO) resource as well as face-to-face and online training options. Online training is a good option for organisations that don’t have resources available to facilitate training and for those leaders working with children who legitimately can’t attend limited face-to-face training schedules.
The ChildSafe M3 online training can be accessed at the reduced rate in two ways:
For Affiliates who are subscribed to SMO: M3 replaces the old M1 and M2 online training and removes the need for the accompanying printed booklet. M3 online training is now available through your SMO site and will appear as an option when current training expires or new users are added. Team members will transition to a payment gateway where they will be asked to pay the reduced rate of $20.00.
For Affiliates who are not subscribed to SMO: Access the reduced rate by contacting safeplaces@churchesofchrist.org.au and requesting an M3 log in and password for each person requiring training. Payment will be via invoice.
Online training that focuses on promoting an awareness of disability and the impact that societal attitudes and inherent stigma and discrimination have on the lives of people with disability.
Safer: A resource to help Australian churches understand, identify, and respond to domestic and family violence. www.saferresource.org.au .
Safe and Equal: https://safeandequal.org.au
AVERT Family Violence: AVERT Family Violence has three online courses for learners who want to update or improve their knowledge about Family Violence. These courses are suitable for anyone who needs to know about family violence as part of their work. www.avertfamilyviolence.com.au/training.
DV-alert: Recognising the signs of domestic and family violence and knowing what to do next. http://www.dvalert.org.au/
CCVT recommends St Johns First Aid for training and equipment, which can be accessed at stjohn.org.au.
CCVT recommends Mental Health First Aid Australia for training in how to recognise and support people with mental health issues. Training can be accessed at mhfa.com.au.
How to handle food safely: dofoodsafely.health.vic.gov.au
Food allergy awareness: https://foodallergytraining.org.au
Anaphylaxis: https://www.allergy.org.au/anaphylaxis
Free online training for those working with older people or who are interested in learning more about elder abuse.
Dept of Health: https://www.health.vic.gov.au/wellbeing-and-participation/elder-abuse-professional-development
The Bouverie Center: https://events.bouverie.org.au/EA Senior Rights Victoria: https://seniorsrights.org.au/resources-education/elder-abuse-toolkit
eSafety Commissioner: https://www.esafety.gov.au
Think U Know: https://www.thinkuknow.org.au