How it works

Early Protective Messages is an approach developed by The Health Improvement Team for Sexual Health in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde

EPM training is targeted at three main groups:-

Early Years staff - council/partnership nurseries and nursery classes
Children's Services - social work, health visiting, speech and language etc
Parents & Carers

Staff – Council Establishments

This training programme is delivered over a 3 hour session and takes a whole staff approach to training through in-service days. The aim is to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of early years staff about early protective messages that deal with keeping children safe. The themes addressed through EPM are core to the Health & Wellbeing early level experiences and outcomes within Curriculum for Excellence.

Intended learning outcomes from the training are to:-

Understand the impact of gender stereotyping on children's development and feel able to appropriately challenge.
Have explored language and be clear on the correct terminology for body parts to use with children in an early years setting.
Implement messages around consent to children and promote children's ownership over their own body.
Have an understanding of why it is important to involve parents/carers and how to do this.

Staff – Partnership Nurseries

The same intended learning outcomes apply with the offer of 2/3 staff attending in-service days or whole staff twilights available. Whole staff training is the best practice model.

Parents/Carers

Parents and carers are the first and lifelong educators of their children and it is important to involve them in this learning at the outset. The EPM approach uses ‘teachable moments’ to deliver key messages and sharing the learning from this with parents and carers allows those key messages to be consistent between the nursery and the home. We acknowledge the existing strong partnership between staff in the nurseries and parents/carers and seek to support this. The following examples provide opportunities to involve parents/carers in this learning:-

Information sessions with the staff in establishments
Workshops
My body belongs to me booklets

Children’s Services

A 1 ½ hour briefing model is now available to ensure that any professional involved in the life of pre-school children and their parents/carers are using consistent language and applying the same key messages as colleagues within the early years sector.