Who Is Looking After the People Who Spend Their Lives Looking After Everyone Else?- A note from our MD Rachael

3 Aug

There is something we don't talk about enough in safeguarding and not because we don't know it exists, but because we've become so used to carrying it that we've almost accepted it as normal. Behind every safeguarding referral, every strategy meeting, every difficult conversation, every child, adult or family in crisis... there is a professional trying to hold it all together.

The designated safeguarding lead who lies awake wondering if they made the right decision.
The manager who has to tell a member of staff they are suspended pending investigation.
The social worker who carries another traumatic disclosure home.
The teacher trying to educate while worrying about the child who didn't come into school today.
The HR manager navigating allegations whilst supporting everyone involved.
The police officer who has seen things they can never unsee.
The healthcare professional who delivers compassionate care whilst absorbing unimaginable pain.

They arrive home and cook dinner. They collect their children or care for their family members and they smile when someone asks how work was.

They try to switch off but often, they can't, they just keep moving forward.

The hidden emotional cost

Over the past 21 years, I have worked alongside thousands of safeguarding professionals. Across social care, education, healthcare, housing, charities, sport, the workplace, emergency services, local authorities, private organisations.

Every sector imaginable, and despite the differences in legislation, governance and organisational structure, I have noticed something remarkably consistent.

The people are extraordinary, not because they are superheroes, because they choose, every single day, to care.

Professional curiosity sounds like a competency, empathy sounds like a value, compassion sounds like a nice quality to have.

In reality, these are emotional investments.

Every concern they notice, every difficult conversation they have, every risk they assess, every decision they make costs them something.

The public rarely sees that part.

We have normalised carrying too much

Somewhere along the way, safeguarding professionals became expected to be endlessly resilient.

To absorb trauma.
To manage conflict.
To navigate uncertainty.
To make decisions with incomplete information.
To support distressed colleagues.
To challenge senior leaders.
To comfort victims.
To manage perpetrators.
To write reports.
To prepare for inspections.
To respond to crises.
To know the legislation.
To remain calm.
To never get it wrong.

To somehow do all of this without it affecting them and let us be honest, that isn't resilience, that's survival. They are NOT the same thing.

The question I often ask leaders

When organisations tell me they want to strengthen their safeguarding culture, I often ask a simple question.

Who looks after the people responsible for looking after everyone else?

Sometimes the room goes quiet because safeguarding systems are often built around protecting others, but not always around protecting those delivering them. Nothing replaces a safeguarding lead or professional who feels supported. I see too many professionals telling me they are not.

People do not make their best safeguarding decisions when they are exhausted, isolated or frightened of getting things wrong and psychological safety isn't a luxury, it is a safeguarding intervention.

What I have learnt over 21 years

There is one thing my career has taught me, it is this, people don't burn out because they care, they burn out because they care without enough support.

The best safeguarding organisations I have ever worked with have one thing in common. They create environments where professionals:

Are allowed to be human.
Know that asking for help is seen as strength.
Understand that supervision is reflective rather than transactional.
Use mistakes as opportunities for learning.
Know professional challenge is welcomed.
Trust that their leaders genuinely listen.
See that wellbeing is not an annual awareness week but part of everyday practice.

Safeguarding is not delivered on just by policies, it is delivered by people and people need looking after too.

This is why RLB exists

People often ask me why I started RLB Safeguarding. The answer has never simply been to deliver training or write policies or complete audits.

Those things matter and we love to do it, but they are not our sole purpose.

Our purpose has always been much bigger than compliance. It is about helping organisations create places where safeguarding genuinely thrives. Where professionals feel confident, leaders feel supported, difficult conversations become easier and people stop feeling like they are carrying the weight of safeguarding entirely on their own.

Because when we invest in the people responsible for safeguarding, everyone benefits.

I have been there… I have experienced the burn out, the toxic management styles, the anxiety, the worry for your clients and colleagues, the poor safeguarding culture running down from the top, the sleepless nights, the ridiculous hours, the blame culture, the trauma, the immediate high alert expectancies, the lack of support, and the isolation.

But I have also experienced what good support can bring, the community, the sharing of good practice, the hope, the determination, the positive outcomes, the life changing conversations, the motivation when you need it the most, and most importantly the part where we build safe and transparent spaces for professionals to come together or ask questions when it feels they have to take action or something needs to change.

I am so proud of our team and the professionals that join us day by day to speak up and take their wellbeing into the highest of priorities.

A final thought

There is a quote I often come back to. "You may never know the difference you made. But to one person, your decision, your courage, your curiosity or your kindness may have changed the course of their entire life."

Safeguarding has never been about ticking boxes, it has always been about people.

The people we protect, the people we support and perhaps the people we forget to thank.

So today, if you work in safeguarding, or alongside those who do, take a moment to acknowledge something.

The work you do matters, the emotional weight you carry is real, and while safeguarding is ultimately about helping others, we should never forget that those who spend their lives protecting people deserve protection too.

The greatest act of safeguarding is not simply recognising when someone else needs help, it is creating a culture where the people doing the helping know that they are allowed to need it too.

Thank you to everyone who has chosen or walked a mile in this career.

I know there have been days when you've questioned yourself. Days when you've carried decisions long after you left work. Days when you've wondered whether you made enough of a difference.

You probably made more of a difference than you'll ever know.

Thank you for noticing what others missed. For asking the difficult questions. For making the phone call. For challenging when it wasn't easy. For sitting with people in their darkest moments. For caring when compassion felt costly.

Safeguarding is not simply what you do. It is often part of who you are.

So, if nobody has told you recently, thank you.

Thank you for choosing to protect others, even when the work is hard.

And I hope that, in return, we continue to build a profession where those who spend their lives looking after everyone else know that they deserve to be looked after too.

Rachael x

Rachael Bishop