Nod for nurse’s fight against child abuse
Nelson nurse Willow Duffy is on a crusade against child abuse.
Duffy is on a mission to educate people about how to spot signs of child abuse and what to do about it.
This goal has gained her a place as a finalist in the national Women of Influence awards.
Duffy, who is also a child protection consultant, was nominated in the community/nonprofit category for her work with Nelson-based charity Safeguarding Children Initiative (SCI), which she co-founded.
‘‘It’s completely humbling and just didn’t expect it at all, I agreed to be nominated for the award in order to raise awareness about child protection, but I didn’t expect to make it to the finals,’’ she said.
‘‘I’ve had the best support from amazing people, in particular Annette Milligan, she’s the incredible director of INP medical clinic.’’
Duffy said the charity holds free seminars and safeguarding capacity development training sessions, where they work with organisations who provide services to children.
‘‘Increased awareness of the signs of abuse and what to look for and a realisation that the earlier you raise concerns the better the outcome for the child are the biggest single takeaway from our training,’’ she said.
The Safeguarding Children Initiative (SCI) started in 2011 when three nurses and a police detective saw a need to help professionals tackle child abuse and neglect through community training and education.
Duffy said they had done a survey of almost 700 people between June 2016 and March 2017, of which half received face to face training from the Safeguarding Children Initiative.
It showed the biggest impact of SCI training was that 40 per cent of the people had changed their practices or beliefs on dealing with vulnerable children and 40 per cent had reviewed or reflected on how their organisation dealt with child abuse and neglect.
‘‘We need there to be as few barriers as possible to individuals flagging concerns about a child.’’
The Women of Influence winners will be announced in Auckland on September 7.
SCI is funded entirely on donations and is not funded by the government. If you’d like to donate to SCI to help them continue their valuable work https:/ /givealittle.co.nz/org/ safeguardingnz#