Training for No Secrets : A strategic initiative

Current Department of Health guidance on multi-agency policy and procedure to protect vulnerable adults from abuse requires the design and implementation of comprehensive training programmes. This paper identifies three issues of critical significance to the development of a local training strategy, namely, language ('vulnerability' versus 'rights'), the relative significance of 'awareness', and the scheduling of training in relation to overall policy development. These issues are illustrated by a local training course which, in addition to imparting basic information on the new agenda and locating the latter within the wider context of adult welfare services generally, actively facilitated practitioners' contributions to multi-agency policy development. The outcomes of this initiative are reported in terms of the Department of Health's radical vision of 'mainstreaming' staff involvement.