Safe Church Awareness training workshops presented by the Uniting Church Western Australia (UCWA) are offered across the state throughout the year to help all church members understand their responsibilities and develop policies and practices that create safety in their church.   

Our workshops are facilitated by the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) through the Safe Church Training Agreement (SCTA).

It is a service to Christian churches and organisations resourcing, facilitating and supporting implementation of quality, sustainable, accessible, holistic Safe Church workshops.

In line with the Safe Church Training Agreement (SCTA) the WA Synod offers two different Workshop presentations

• A 5 hour Introductory Workshop

This workshop covers understanding of how abuse can occur; boundary violations and grooming; protecting children and other vulnerable people; types and indicators of abuse; responding to disclosures and reporting protocols; how to ensure safe church leaders and volunteers; and developing safe programs.

• A 3 hour Refresher Workshop

This workshop provides updates on relevant legislative changes and recommendations of judicial inquiries, compliance requirements and review of progress towards being a safe church. The SCTA recommends all Church leaders* and those involved in ministry with vulnerable children and adults attend an introductory workshop in their first year of ministry and a refresher (three hour) course every three years.

*We encourage all members of a congregation to attend this training to be aware of and together actively build a safe church environment around all of its vulnerable people.

As well as the Synod organising Safe Church training workshops, your congregation could also host a workshop.

Follow these steps to help with your planning:

Step 1 Get in Touch: Contact our Safe Church/Royal Commission Officer Cindy Gorton of your intention to host a Safe Church Awareness Workshop. (Preference is for no more than 40 people and space to set up tables of six).

Step 2 Catering: Workshops are 4 to 5 hours long. Depending on the time of your workshop, decide on catering requirements for your attendees such as morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, etc.

Step 3 Sort out Registration Costs. Registration cost is $20 per head to cover costs of training materials and catering. $10 of this is paid to the Uniting Church Centre (link to Contact page) office for supply of the manuals.

Step 4 Publicise your Training Workshop. We have editable template flyers approved by Uniting Church Centre’s Media and Communications Unit which can be tailored to reflect your workshop details. Promote your workshop using these flyers via email, social media or printed hand-outs. The Workshop can also be advertised in News and Notes, our weekly e-newsletter.

Step 5 Presenters: Cindy will organise for one or two Uniting Church presenters to run the training and one of them will be in touch to discuss final arrangements with you at least 6 weeks before the Workshop. Bookmark this date in your calendar!

The presenter(s) will bring out the workshop materials and at the end of the session will hand out an evaluation and collect the registration list with signatures of those who attended.

To find out about upcoming training or workshops related to Safe Church, please visit our Events page.

If you need assistance or have any questions about Safe Church, contact:

Cindy Gorton
Safe Church/Royal Commission Officer
Phone: 9260 9846
Email: cindy.gorton@wa.uca.org.au