Understand how to promote wellbeing and safeguard people from harm

Promoting wellbeing and safety is a key responsibility, and set of skills, held by all child and adult care workers.

We have a full resource about staying safe and well (available from the main menu) in which you can learn all about types of wellbeing (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social) and explore the different knowledge and skills which support it.

In this resource we explore wellbeing again from a particular perspective: safeguarding people from harm. Everyone has a right to be protected from harm, and feeling and being safe is crucial to wellbeing.

Here’s a definition of safeguarding from the Scottish Charity Regulator.

The first topic in this section is about children and young people’s wellbeing and protection. You will learn about Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) which is the national approach in Scotland to improving outcomes and supporting the wellbeing of all children and young people by offering the right help at the right time from the right people.

The second topic is about adults and you’ll learn about types of harm which put people’s wellbeing and safety at risk, and an important law called the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007.

It is the job of everyone who works with children and young people to ensure that their wellbeing is supported and that they are protected from harm.

In this topic we’ll help you to understand how social service workers and other professionals work together using the Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) approach.

We’ll look at SHANARRI indicators, part of GIRFEC, which are a way of understanding children’s wellbeing. According to this approach, every child has a right to be Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, and Included.

How does GIRFEC help social service workers and other professionals to support wellbeing for all children and young people?

GIRFEC has children and young people, and their families, at its heart. The approach recognises that for children and young people, their wellbeing is best promoted within their natural family unit.

Sometimes, parents and carers will need extra support because their child has temporary or permanent needs. Where there are serious concerns for a child’s wellbeing, a multi-agency child protection approach is taken, which means different professionals like social workers, health workers and teachers will work together. In most cases, they will work alongside parents and carers to improve a child’s wellbeing. In a small proportion of situations, local authorities might use legal measures to remove a child temporarily or permanently from their parents’ care.

Social workers employed by local authorities often have a lead role supporting children and young people, including those who receive compulsory intervention. They use a range of skills to promote their wellbeing and protect them from harm.

The Wellbeing Wheel is a core part of the GIRFEC approach. It means everyone working with children and young people (whether in universal or specialist services) can have the same understanding of what support, if any, is needed to improve outcomes for them.

The wheel is created from the eight SHANARRI indicators. These wellbeing indicators (as they are often called) mean that children and young people, their parents and carers, and others who support them can use a shared language to describe and discuss what the children and young people need from the adults around them.

The Wellbeing Wheel is a holistic tool, which means it has more value when viewed as a whole in which every part is connected. Looking at wellbeing needs in a holistic way means that all aspects of a child’s experience and development are considered. This can help identify areas where support or protection are needed. It can also help identify when a child is already well supported by their parents or carers, or where additional support is successfully helping a child’s circumstances to improve.

Click on the buttons below to reveal some fictional examples of the Wellbeing Wheel being used in different settings.

Click on the rows below to hide or reveal a case study activity and further resources.

Note: the fictional case study below describes domestic abuse and people with lived experience may find it upsetting. Care should also be taken if doing the activity in a group.

In order to provide effective support care workers must take part in training and maintain their knowledge and skills. This gives them the confidence to recognise signs of actual or potential harm and abuse and take appropriate action.

It is important that care workers use their knowledge responsibly, and work respectfully with people in a way which promotes their rights and choices, and helps them to safeguard their own wellbeing.

Care workers have a responsibility for adults they support, but they may also find their training helpful when they meet adults in the wider community who may be at risk.

The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 aims to protect ‘adults at risk’. The Act defines adults at risk as those aged over 16 years and over who:

1. are unable to safeguard their own wellbeing, property, rights or other interests
2. are at risk of harm, and
3. because they are affected by disability, mental disorder, illness, or physical or mental infirmity, are more vulnerable to being harmed than adults who are not so affected.

Care workers are more likely to meet adults at risk than some other types of worker. However it’s important to remember that an adult with a disability or illness who is using a care service is not automatically an ‘adult at risk’.

Play the video below from the Act Against Harm website. The website was created for the general public to help them understand more about adult support and protection.

Harm can be anything that has a detrimental effect on the wellbeing of a person.

If you think a person may be at risk of any type of harm, you must report without delay so it can be investigated. If you are a member of the public you can report to the local authority and they will determine if the person meets the three-point test. If you are already working in a care service you should follow your training and your employer’s adult protection procedure.

Click on the buttons below to open a box with more information about some different types of harm. This is not a complete list.

Take some notes about each kind of harm. Think about whether you have witnessed any of these types of harm, either at home, education or in previous jobs. If possible, describe what you did or could have done. For example, did you tell anyone? We recommend you use MyLearning to record your notes.

The SSSC has an adult support and protection quick guide for social care workers. It was written in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, when we all had to stay at home more and even self-isolate, it was recognised that some people would be at a greater risk of harm. This guide was created as an easy reference to help care workers make sure adults were safe and protected.