Resources

Problem gambling is a condition which can include periods of recovery and relapse and can impact on mental health and emotional wellbeing, as well as having a financial impact. It is a hidden problem with high stigma and impacts on a person’s behaviour and their relationship with others such as family, friends and colleagues. The following resources will take you through what it means, what makes a person vulnerable, and what support is available.

Team Talk - Harmful Gambling

Gambling Harm Toolbox Talk - YouTube

The written word is the way we communicate facts and information. If we don’t write information down, how do we expect someone else to know what we have done or what has happened. Read our Team Talk on defensible documentation which takes you through what it is, why it is important as well as some top tips.

Team Talk - Defensible Documentation

Cuckooing is a practice where people take over a person’s home and use the property for some form of exploitation.

Properties can be targeted for many reasons, which may include: using the property as a base to deal, store or take drugs; using the property for sex work or sex trafficking; taking over the property in order to financially abuse the victim; and/or using the property as a place to live. The term comes from the behaviour of cuckoo birds who take over the nests of other birds.

The following cuckooing toolkit has been created by Leeds University. It is a useful resource for professionals and contains checklists which can help you recognise cuckooing and the warning signs.

Cuckooing Information Booklet for Professionals

The following video talks about Professional Curiosity, what it is, what skills it involves and why its really important that we are all professionally curious.

Professional Curiosity - YouTube

Predatory Marriage is the practice of intentionally targeting and marrying a vulnerable (often older) person in order to gain access to their estate and assets upon their death. Predatory Marriage relies on grooming and coercion to exert control over another person to persuade them to marry for financial, material or other gain. The following 7 minute briefing will take you through what is predatory marriage, legislation, what the signs are and what to do if you are concerned someone is a victim of this type of abuse.

7 Minute Briefing - Predatory Marriage

In October 2023, SASP conducted Multi-Agency Case Audit William. William appeared well presented to the few agencies he had contact with, he worked, and he owned his own property. However, William had been living in a severe state of self-neglect in a home that was in a derelict state, was described as uninhabitable with no source of heating and there were extremely concerning levels of hoarding. The Multi-Agency Case Audit recommended that a briefing focusing on self-neglect be produced which would cover some of the common myths around self-neglect and learning from the case.

Self Neglect Briefing - Learning from Multi Agency Case Audit William

Learning Brief 

Sharing the right information, at the right time, with the right people, is fundamental to good practice in safeguarding adults but has been highlighted as a difficult area of practice. Read our briefing for key messages on information sharing, reasons why information should be shared, and the 7 golden rules for information sharing. 

Wigan Safeguarding Adults Board have pulled together a helpful briefing on the topic of consent when it comes to sharing information and referring to safeguarding. They have given us permission to put this on our website. The leaflet covers consent, overriding refusal to give consent, and considering risk. 

Information Sharing - SASPB Briefing

Safeguarding adults: sharing information - SCIE

Consent Briefing

We have a dedicated page for professionals with lots of information and guidance in relation to Domestic Abuse. This includes Mental Capacity and Coercive Control Best Practice Guide and Dementia and Domestic Abuse Briefing for Professionals.

Information on Domestic Abuse for Professionals.

FASD stands for Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. It can only be caused by alcohol exposure in pregnancy which can affect the developing brain and body of the baby before they are born. Prevention and Increasing Professional Knowledge and Awareness are at the core of the Sheffield FASD Strategy.

It is now known that there is no safe time, no safe type, no safe amount of alcohol to drink when pregnant.

FASD is a life-long neurodevelopmental condition causing cognitive, emotional and behavioural challenges. Each person with FASD is affected differently and has both strengths and difficulties. They and their families need support to learn FASD-informed strategies to support them in their daily lives.

To meet the long term aims of the strategy, 4 Strategic Priorities have been identified alongside an action plan.

1. PREVENTION
Reduce Alcohol Exposed Pregnancies in Sheffield through raising public awareness. No Safe Time No Safe Type No Safe Amount - avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

2. INCREASING PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE and AWARENESS
Increase enforcement services and education, health and social care practitioners understanding and confidence in identifying FASD and understanding that it is a lifelong condition.

3. DIAGNOSIS
Increase identification, assessment and diagnosis to ensure the individual and family get the support that they need.

4. SUPPORT
Develop pre and post diagnosis support for individuals and families.

Read the Sheffield FASD Strategy here

Recognising, understanding, safeguarding, and improving the health and well-being of children and families living in households with drug and alcohol misuse, mental ill health, parental conflict, domestic abuse, and gambling harm, is at the core of the Hidden Harm Strategy 2025 - 2028. To achieve this the following five key Strategic Priorities have been identified. 

1. Collaborative Working Between Services

2. Being Compassionate and Trauma Informed.

3. Whole Household Approach.

4. Universal Prevention and Early Intervention.

5. Commissioning and Governance.

This strategy commits Sheffield’s services to making things better for whole households where drug and alcohol misuse, gambling harm, domestic abuse and or mental ill health is a feature. It is therefore relevant to all services working with children, young people, adults, and families.

Read the Sheffield Hidden Harm Strategy (2025 - 2028) here.