ONLINE COURSE SUCCESS

The first two online Chaplains’ Induction Courses have been successfully completed and have been well received by participants.

In total, twenty-five chaplains from thirteen police forces attended the courses which were facilitated by Canon David Wilbraham, National Police Chaplain, and Canon Adrian Gatrill, Training Co-Ordinator for Police Chaplaincy UK.  This was a new departure for Police Chaplaincy UK, who had not run an online course before.  As Adrian explained, “the period of lockdown gave us the opportunity to revise and refresh the course, and really forced us to offer it online.  This meant that we could accommodate chaplains from across the country on a course, rather than relying on people travelling to one geographical location.  It also meant that we could involve others from the policing family.”

Apart from David and Adrian, contributions to the course were made by Olivia Pinkney (Chief Constable of Hampshire and NPCC Lead for Chaplaincy), John Apter (Chair, Police Federation of England and Wales) and Paul Griffiths (President, Police Superintendents Association of England and Wales).  In addition, the Revd Dr Andrew Todd led a session on Critical Reflection and Chief Inspector Jim Upton (Thames Valley Police) introduced a session on trauma, drawing from his own experience.

Over the next few weeks the course content and structure will be reviewed in the light of responses from participants.  Dates for courses covering the autumn and winter will be published as soon as possible, along with details on how to apply.  Whilst it will still be possible for individual forces to arrange ‘in person’ courses for their chaplains, it is envisaged that – for the foreseeable future at least – the Induction Course will primarily be delivered online.

We have received interest from one or two colleagues who would like to assist in the delivery of the course.  If you would like to be involved, and have not yet done so, please get in touch with Adrian Gatrill