There is one constant in Charlotte Wilmshurst’s career – looking after people. Ever since one of her first jobs as a police control room 999 responder, our Area Safeguarding Advisor for Berkshire has been supporting others.
She says: “I think it is about keeping people safe, seeking justice for people, holding people to account when they have done wrong. Treating people fairly and supporting those who have been accused.
“When I started in my role in the Diocese, I had many transferrable skills from my previous jobs like managing high risk offenders, working with victims and perpetrators of domestic violence, working with the elderly and vulnerable, aging generations. This has put me in a position to be able to support a range of people.”
Charlotte has a background in police work, supporting victims of crime as well as managing offenders in the community, and charity work supporting retired people to live independently. Although Charlotte doesn’t have a Christian faith or background in theology, she can relate to the idea of building a safe and caring community and one where safety is at the heart of ministry. She can see that the Christian belief in God and the work that Jesus did inspires people to support one another, to walk alongside each other, and to live in a way that promotes kindness and care.
Much of Charlotte’s day-to-day work is being the first port of call for our network of volunteer Parish Safeguarding Officers (PSOs) to offer support, advice and guidance. She is also a key part of supporting parishes to actively manage risk posed to their congregations. That can include the set-up of worship agreements and monitoring groups in collaboration with our statutory services.
She said: “We offer peer support for our PSOs, regular drop-in sessions, coffee mornings, training sessions and webinars delivered by local charities to help up skill knowledge on specific areas such as domestic abuse and elder abuse. As a team we are working towards establishing a PSO network, to bring them together to create a support community.
“Supporting and empowering our PSOs has got to be the number one because without them we cannot do our jobs. We are so fortunate to have so many skilled, experienced and committed PSOs. I want every one of them to feel they can contact me; I’m here for them.”
Charlotte and her colleagues across our four episcopal areas manage casework for each of their areas as well as supporting our dedicates PSOs. For details of the team visit our Safeguarding pages.