With over two decades of experience in prisons, foster care, elder care, and higher education, Jo brings a rare and unique perspective. Safeguarding, she reminds us, is about people. It is nuanced, complex and emotionally demanding, and simultaneously, is one of the most important responsibilities we carry.
In this blog, I want to share three core ideas Jo explored in our conversation, and offer a glimpse of what else you’ll take away by listening to, or reading, Jo’s interview.
1. Safeguarding is Human and Therefore Complex
Jo opened our conversation by challenging the reductionist notion that safeguarding is ever simple. While definitions often begin with the idea of protecting vulnerable people, she emphasizes that vulnerability is fluid—shaped by relationships, context, emotional state, and a range of other shifting factors.
Safeguarding, then, is not just about children or those with clear vulnerabilities. It’s about how we relate to one another in systems where power, trust, fear, and connection all intersect. The most effective safeguarding isn’t technical, it's relational.
Jo explains that safeguarding asks us to notice and recognise power imbalances, and understand the human behaviours that make speaking-up difficult. This includes a sensitivity as to why people hesitate to report concerns, even when something feels wrong.
This theme connects closely with our work, where we regularly see how safeguarding fails or succeeds based on culture, not checklists.
2. Building a Culture of Safeguarding: The Five Domains
One of the most practical contributions Jo offers in this episode is a simple but powerful framework for safeguarding in organisations particularly relevant for faith communities, charities, and volunteer-led groups.
She outlines five key domains that help organisations move from reactive safeguarding to preventative, values-led practice:
● Culture - Fostering transparency, daily conversations, and shared responsibility.
● Recruitment - Hiring and promoting people whose values align with safeguarding.
● Training - Making safeguarding a continual learning journey, not a one-off course.
● Reporting - Building trust and ease into the ways people raise concerns.
● Recovery - Supporting everyone affected when something goes wrong.
This model offers faith organisations a practical way to evaluate where they are strong and where they may be falling short at an organisational level. Importantly, it avoids blame and encourages honest reflection. At Petros, we’ve used this five-domain approach to support our clients and partners in safeguarding self-assessments.
Jo’s perspective is both rigorous and deeply compassionate, reminding us that rarely does an organisation get it perfect from the get-go, but all can improve if they create a culture that prioritises reflection and learning. Neither is the practice of safeguarding fixed, its inherently relational nature means it is constantly in flux and benefits from regular and thoughtful review.
Jo’s perspective is both rigorous and deeply compassionate, reminding us that rarely does an organisation get it perfect from the get-go, but all can improve if they create a culture that prioritises reflection and learning. Neither is the practice of safeguarding fixed, its inherently relational nature means it is constantly in flux and benefits from regular and thoughtful review.
3. The Emotional Weight of Safeguarding and the Need for Support
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Why This Episode Matters
This episode is a grounding place to begin the Faithful Safeguarding series. Whether you’re leading safeguarding in a faith organisation or simply volunteering in your community Jo Clarke’s insights will help you reflect more deeply on what it really means to create safe environments.
You’ll learn:
● Why human relationships are at the heart of safeguarding complexity.
● How to evaluate your organisation through five key domains.
● What support people need to carry out safeguarding roles with integrity and compassion.
By the end of the interview, you’ll have a deeper sense of how to move beyond surface-level safeguarding and begin creating cultures of safety that truly live out your organisation's values.
🎧 Listen to Episode 1 of Faithful Safeguarding with Professor Jo Clarke wherever you get your podcasts. Or, if you prefer to read, you can explore a condensed written version of the full interview in our Faithful Safeguarding series magazine feature.
