Victoria Brown spent 13 years within the police and it’s the expertise she realized throughout that point that she has dropped at her function because the safeguarding supervisor of Badminton England.
Having beforehand labored for England Golf and British Biking, Brown joined Badminton England in August 2022, with the problem of growing and delivering a safeguarding technique for badminton in England.
And it was her background within the police that has been instrumental in what she has tried to place in place.
Brown defined: “My skilled background was in policing. I got here out of the police about seven years in the past, I labored in a safeguarding and investigative function within the police. I left there, labored in Nottingham to hitch the game sector.
“I noticed the chance to maneuver into sport in a task I may use the talents I picked up as a police officer over 13 years. It was a chance to enter one thing that was simply safeguarding centered, which was one thing I used to be actually keen about within the police. It was utilizing these expertise to take them into the game sector.
“It’s very completely different however the final 5 years of my profession within the police had been centered round safeguarding and the way different companies can have an effect on that, supporting households and susceptible individuals.
“Seeing it at that stage, working within the police. Everyone has a touchpoint in life, there are individuals with vulnerabilities in sport and there are issues you are able to do there. Should you do it effectively in sport, you’ll be able to have an effect on somebody’s life.”
Below Brown’s management, Badminton England had been nominated for an award on the Lime Mild Awards for Excellent Service for a Safeguarding Staff.
The nomination got here after the safeguarding crew had made big strides, shifting from a deal with case administration to a better emphasis on training and coaching and recognition of the broader worth of specializing in welfare.
Among the many methods carried out, Brown got here up with the concept of Safeguarding and Wellbeing Week, which was held for the primary time in July.
It’s a part of a want to create a constructive tradition round safeguarding.
Brown added: “My function was introduced in to be extra proactive than reactive, exhibiting we’re a sport that cares for everyone, we’ve got no threshold, we wish to assist the place we will, it’s not nearly safeguarding and abuse in its strictest sense.
“We perceive we will assist and have a constructive impression on individuals’s lives exterior sport. Fifty per cent of the issues that are available haven’t any relation to the game in any respect, it’s considerations about individuals’s lives exterior of badminton.
“They arrive to us as a result of the individuals are concerned in badminton. It may very well be a toddler going to a membership however one thing’s not going effectively in school, however they disclose one thing in badminton. We are able to get in contact, present assist and assist them the place we will. It’s about retaining individuals protected within the sport but in addition offering assist for issues occurring exterior in badminton, which we’re made conscious of due to their involvement in badminton.
“You’re the eyes and ears, the buddies, officers, individuals throughout the membership discover modifications or decide up on individuals’s behaviours. You ask them how they’re feeling, what’s unsuitable, and if we will do something to assist, we’ll do – if they need it.”
