New Resources for Trainers

Peace and grace to you in these unsettling times.

For many years, we have used CDs from Praesidium to train in Safeguarding God's Children and in Safeguarding God's People. Fortunately, people are much more aware now of the need to prevent sexual abuse and sexual exploitation in churches than they were when those videos were created. Although the need to prevent sexual abuse and sexual exploitation remains as compelling as ever, the videos too often trigger past sexual trauma in viewers and are increasingly anachronistic in their approach. The model Safeguarding policies of The Episcopal Church no longer focus exclusively on sexual misconduct. Rather, they address the need to protect vulnerable members of our communities from all sorts of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. While we continue to wait for new training materials from The Episcopal Church, our Master Trainers have created PowerPoints that are to be used in place of the CDs in live SGC and SGP trainings, whether virtual or in person. Our Master Trainers have honed these presentations through virtual trainings during the pandemic, and the response has been gratifyingly positive. Now we are ready to share them with you for your use.

These new PowerPoints and training Sign-Out Sheets can be found in the Trainer's Corner and include notes that accompany the slides. We will continue to add additional resources to help you make the best use of the materials, including instructions for holding virtual trainings on Zoom. Trainers are encouraged to join an upcoming Trainer Talk for specifics on how to access and begin using these resources. (Please note that for now, re-certifications will continue as before, using the Armatus portal.)

As always, we welcome your questions and comments as we continue to improve our training offerings.