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November 2024

The louder the echo, the louder the message

Estimated reading time 4 minutes.

The other day I had a walk with a good friend and his two young daughters around Sweet Briar Marshes. This 36 hectare nature reserve is now part of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and is in the northwest of Norwich in the Mile Cross and Wensum wards, about two miles from the city centre. It forms a ribbon of green through an otherwise urban environment. It is a fabulous mosaic of wetland habitats, including grassland, tall-herb fen, veteran hedgerows and scrub.

On the way to the reserve, we walked under a road bridge and with excitement the five year old shouted to her sister:

‘Can you hear my BIG voice?’

The echo bounced around for a second and then dissipated, but it was clearly audible. We have all done this; shouted in a large or vacant space, and the sound wave reflects back as it bounces off the hard surface. This little girl enjoyed making her voice boom.

A few days later I happened to walk back under the same bridge and shouted out my name to hear it echo. Making our voice louder for safeguarding adults and helping it to travel further is vitally important. Just like when a few football supporters chant it only carries so far, but lots of fans chanting together makes the voice BIG.

Let’s try this for Safeguarding Adults Week this year.

Safeguarding Adults Week 2024 (SAW24) takes place from Monday 18 – Friday 22 November.

The week acts as a key point in the calendar for all organisations from across Norfolk to come together to raise awareness of important safeguarding issues. The core theme for 2024 is ‘Working in Partnership’. We believe that partnerships are critical to help build a movement against the abuse and harm of adults with care and support needs.

Safeguarding Adults Week is an opportunity for organisations from a range of sectors to join forces to:

  • raise awareness of key safeguarding issues
  • start important conversations about safeguarding
  • learn how to recognise signs of abuse and neglect
  • develop confidence in recording and reporting safeguarding concerns

Now in its seventh year, Safeguarding Adults Week continues to go from strength to strength. The aim of the national event is to create a time when we can all focus on safeguarding adults. Because we want to be better, together.  The week is facilitated by the Ann Craft Trust.

During SAW24, NSAB is collaborating with its partners to explore a number of topics. These will encourage us to consider how we can work together to establish safer cultures within our workplaces and communities.

All the events are FREE to attend, and they're all taking place online. Spaces are filling up fast, so book your place today, to avoid missing out! We have a dedicated page on the NSAB website with all the information about SAW24.

Nationally, to help support the week, the Ann Craft Trust has created resources that you can download for FREE. These include social media graphics, post templates, and posters you can print out and pin up. 

Here are 6 ways you and your organisation can get involved with SAW24:

  1. Book your place on one or more NSAB events - see Safeguarding Adults Week 2024

  2. Use the hashtag #SafeguardingAdultsWeek on social media to share your safeguarding initiatives or NSAB resources. There is always lots of material produced by ACT (see above) and NSAB has created pre-written tweets you can share. Be sure to tag us @NorfolkSAB whenever you share anything on social media!

  3. In each meeting you are in between now and Monday 18 November, tell people about SAW24 (if it is an online meeting, post this link in the chat - Safeguarding Adults Week 2024

  4. Share our free materials and resources with your colleagues

  5. Sign up to receive your FREE e-newsletter, Safeguarding Matters from NSAB (from the Homepage, scroll to the bottom to sign up)

  6. Don’t forget to take some time for yourself, too, during this week. Making time for self-care and working on your own wellbeing will empower you to help others. Also be sure to look out for your team, colleagues, friends and family.

Just like an echo makes our voice sound big, passing on information about SAW24 to our colleagues and friends helps to ‘echo’ this message across Norfolk. And please show your support by joining us at one or more of the events.

Thank you.

Walter Lloyd-Smith

Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board Manager