Latest news with #supportworker
Sky News
29-05-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Fife school support worker who boasted of 'selling vapes to 11-year-olds' struck off
A support worker who sent inappropriate messages to children on Snapchat and found herself in the dock for buying a vape for a 12-year-old has been struck off. Gillian Sorbie has been reprimanded by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) for using "abusive and threatening" language when messaging a 12-year-old girl and for offering to buy nicotine vapes for another schoolgirl and her friends. Sorbie's bad behaviour occurred while employed as a pupil support officer with Fife Council at a Glenrothes primary school and while registered as a support worker in a children's day care service Between 7 and 9 March 2023, she sent a raft of Snapchat messages to a 12-year-old girl. Many were littered with swear words, with other messages saying "love you too, s**gbag", "just you wait till tomorrow, stupid fat wh**e", and "try not to kill yourself while I'm gone". Between 1 September and 2 October 2023, she then sent messages to a second 12-year-old girl. Sorbie offered to buy a vape for the child, asking: "Any particular type or flavour you want?" She also offered to buy vapes for the girl's friends, and in one message sent an image of the electronic devices with the caption: "Vapes £13 each or two for £20. 4,000 puffs each. Amazing value. DM me if you want any." During one handover, Sorbie advised the girl to give the money to one person, who would then jump in her car for the delivery and "dish them out" after she was gone. Sorbie said it would have to "be subtle", adding: "Got to be kept quiet, though. I can't have folk (people) knowing I'm selling vapes to 11-year-olds lol." She later messaged: "I trust you gals not to rat me out." Sorbie, however, later found herself in the dock and was last September convicted at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court of selling a nicotine vape to a 12-year-old. Ruling Sorbie's fitness to practise impaired, the SSSC has this month issued a removal order to strike her name from the watchdog's children and young people's workforce register - which effectively bans her from working in the industry. The SSSC said Sorbie provided two former pupils of the primary school where you worked with her contact details and then "repeatedly contacted them both on a social media messaging application". It said her actions were "further aggravated" by the "abusive" content of the messages. "You offered to sell nicotine vape devices to a child. This is an abuse of the trust placed in you by your employer and the parents of the children you were entrusted to care for," it added. The watchdog said Sorbie's misconduct "risked damaging the mental and emotional health" of the girls, adding: "Your actions also risked causing a child physical and emotional harm as that child could become addicted to nicotine." The SSSC said Sorbie attempted to delete messages as a parent of one of the children was trying to save them in an "attempt to conceal" her wrongdoing. The watchdog said Sorbie had offered "no insight or apology" for her behaviour, and her engagement with its investigation had been "limited". The SSSC added: "We did not consider there were any factors in your favour." In conclusion, the watchdog said a removal order was the "most appropriate sanction" to maintain the "continuing trust and confidence in the social service profession and the SSSC as the regulator of the profession". The removal order came into effect on Saturday. Sharon McKenzie, head of HR at Fife Council, said: "As a responsible employer, we don't discuss the individual circumstances of any current or former employees."
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Warwickshire health worker given national award for service
A healthcare worker has been given a national award for her work, spanning across more than three Wheelhouse, a clinical support worker at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was given a Chief Nursing Officer's Healthcare Support Worker (HCSW) award for commitment to quality of award celebrates the contributions made by healthcare and maternity support workers across the Wheelhouse began her career at the hospital in January 1989 and has been there ever since. Described as a "pillar" of the Felix Holt Ward, the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust said she was "widely respected" in her role Wheelhouse mentors new staff and student nurses - helping them learn both clinical skills and values and standards behind patient care. She also helps with onboarding new healthcare workers and will soon mentor students from a new T-Level programme."Lisa is an exemplary example of what the NHS should be proud of," said Natalie Green, the hospital's chief nursing officer."She places the patient front and centre in everything she does. "Her dedication, mentorship, and compassion make her an irreplaceable member of our team."The trust added that Ms Wheelhouse's leadership and warmth had made a "lasting impact on ward culture and future generations of healthcare professionals". Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
ABC News
15-05-2025
- ABC News
When home becomes hell: Why the Pacific has one of the world's highest rates of violence against women
Across the Pacific, women are being assaulted, abused and silenced — often by those they love most. In an effort to spark change, survivors, perpetrators and frontline workers want to show you what one of the world's worst abuse crises looks like, in the hope, that something might break the cycle. Warning: This story contains graphic accounts of gender-based violence and sexual assault. • Ritim long Tok Pisin • Every day, Lorena* says she lives in fear. "It's scary at times … three weeks ago, he chased me all the way up to the house — wanted to choke me," she tells us. Lorena lives in Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby. She says she used to live with her husband in a house in an urban settlement on the city's fringe; but one night a few years back, her husband came home drunk and burned the place to the ground. Lorena recalls her daughter's screams. "'Mummy, the house is on fire! The house is on fire!' … "Whatever little savings we had, clothes or laptops, electrical appliances … it was all lost." With a support worker by her side, Lorena tell us about the years of physical and psychological torment she's suffered at the hands of her now-estranged husband. She says over the years he would disappear for extended periods, only to return at random — most recently earlier this year. He's broken bones, choked her … even left her sleeping rough or homeless. "I'm trying my best to pretend that I'm okay, but I'm a broken woman," she says, holding back tears. Her story is not uncommon. In Papua New Guinea, gender-based violence is a scourge, with a 2023 United Nations report noting that over two-thirds of women in the country will experience physical or sexual abuse in their lifetimes. Earlier this year 23-year-old Margaret Gabriel was abducted, raped and murdered in a settlement outside Port Moresby, a killing Prime Minister James Marape described as "barbaric". She was one of three women killed in the capital that week alone. "In these settlements, I think out of every 100 women, 99 of them experience violence," Lorena adds. "[I've seen] women die. I've witnessed little girls being raped. I've witnessed women being tortured." Gender-based violence endemic across Pacific with complicated challenges For this story, the ABC's The Pacific program embarked on a multi-country investigation to understand the causes — and solutions — to gender-based violence in the region. While domestic violence is a global issue, study after study shows the Pacific to have among the highest rates in the world, with up to 79 per cent of women experiencing some form of abuse over the course of their lives in some places. The culture of silence around domestic violence in Pacific communities remains pervasive, making the accounts we heard all the more revealing. It also means that some names, identities and details have been changed or redacted for safety or legal reasons. But this is not a story of victimhood. Working with a team of all female reporters, The Pacific met with survivors, perpetrators and frontline services across the region, travelling to Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands. And while there are many Pacific women and organisations working to address gender-based violence, tackling the issue is daunting — the scale is immense, and the causes multifaceted. In Fiji, the depth of the problem was brought into sharp focus in late April when three people died in alleged domestic violence incidents over a single weekend. A week later, Fijian officials told parliament that gender-based violence was costing the country seven per cent of GDP per year, with similar costs estimated for other Pacific countries, too. Associate Professor Yvonne Chrichton-Hill, the director of social work programs at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, says no single factor causes domestic violence, but there are common threads, many of which are disproportionately present in Pacific nations. "A lack of skills … not being able to manage conflict in a healthy way," Dr Crichton-Hill says. "Or maybe individuals and families have had [previous] experiences of family violence themselves." At the macro level it's often things like poverty and unemployment, and cultural norms about the role of women in families, that perpetuate their inferiority to men to justify or normalise violence. Then there are individual factors like addiction and substance abuse. Dr Crichton-Hill also adds that the colonisation of many Pacific countries had an impact. "Colonisation brought a range of ideas about gender that influence how women are treated in families today," she says. Through campaigning efforts in recent decades, laws in many Pacific countries have changed to enshrine greater protections for women and harsher punishment for abusers. In fact, many Pacific countries and territories have implemented new laws. But changes to the law mean little if officials, police or courts don't enforce them. One victim in a Fijian village relayed a story about how her husband knocked her teeth out and left her choking on blood. She told us how she reported him to the police, but when she went back to follow up her complaint, she said the police told her that her report was missing. A 2024 study of Fijian police officers found a majority didn't enforce the organisation's "zero tolerance" approach to domestic violence, and encouraged traditional means of settling cases, while only proceeding further with a case if a victim insisted. In PNG, Lorena told us of similar challenges and obstacles. She says she's reported her husband to the police many times. Occasionally he's been detained or locked up, but according to Lorena, her complaints never progress much further. "[The police] tell me to 'come back tomorrow' or 'we don't have fuel for the car'," she says. "It's traumatising for me, too — I'm thinking the law is there to help me, and it's not helping me, so what's the point?" Spokesperson for Papua New Guinea's police force Mark Karambi said the force had recently sacked officers accused of domestic violence and took a zero-tolerance approach to the issue. Mr Karambi also conceded that resourcing is an issue, but more so in rural areas. Dowries, breadwinners and withdrawn complaints In PNG, more than 1.5 million women will experience violence every year — and support services struggle, and often don't have the resources, to meet the enormous need. In addition to the patriarchal interpretations of Christianity brought with colonisation, many traditional practices are also deeply patriarchal. Some husbands in PNG will pay a 'bride price' to a wife's family when they get married — meaning some victims won't leave their abuser because they've been 'paid for'. Lorena says police or magistrates will tell victims to return to their abuser, saying a bride price has been paid. "And [some] go back and they end up dead — that's what is happening to a lot of women," she says. A 2020 study by UN Women also found police turned some victims away, and described the organisation as not "having the capacity to fulfil their role as duty bearer to victims". Police spokesperson Mr Karambi said police played a "mediatory" role between alleged perpetrators and victims in marriages where a bride price has been paid, but stressed "bride price is not a law, domestic violence, is a law." In Solomon Islands capital Honiara, we spent a day with two female police officers working in the domestic violence unit — 'bride price' is a common practice here as well. Constable Leah Adi told us some men think because they've paid a bride price, they have the right to do "anything they want." Constable Leah Adi (left) and Harriet Maeva (right) outside Naha Police Station. "From the law's perspective… even if you have paid for her bride price, the man has no right to abuse his wife," she says. Two out of three women in Solomon Islands have been physically abused by an intimate partner — and 63 per cent of men think it is acceptable to hit a woman in certain circumstances. These female officers sometimes feel like they are swimming against the tide. "[Many men have a] cultural barrier that is embedded in them where women are wrong, women should respect their husbands by not provoking them," Leah adds. "[Because of] our upbringing in a patriarchal… it's a norm that whatever the man of the house says is final." In Solomon Islands, we joined Honiara's domestic violence unit on a trip to serve a perpetrator with a notice for breaching a police order related to partner abuse. But the offender could not be found — a common issue in a country where many don't have a fixed address. Constable Adi told us that while abusive men can be issued with a notice to cease contact for 21 days, many female victims will return to the station later asking to have their complaint withdrawn, often for financial reasons. "If the [offender] is the sole breadwinner, and they stay apart from each other for 21 days, who'll provide for the family?" 'It was late, I was drunk' Growing awareness around gender-based violence has seen many groups spring up to help victims of abuse in the Pacific — many are even working with perpetrators. In Samoa, we met with one man who took part in a court-ordered Samoa Victim Support Group's (SVSG) counselling session for perpetrators. Benny* says one night, he and his wife were arguing. "It was past 9pm, I was drunk, and I asked my wife to do something… she refused, and then the incident occurred," he told us. Benny says he slapped his wife, and his sister then reported him to police. He says the program has since "helped him a lot," and he has now managed to quit drinking. Family violence is widespread in Samoa — according to a national inquiry, 90 per cent of gender-based violence is thought to go unreported, with nearly as many victims believing that the abuse is normal. We spoke to many survivors across the Pacific who echoed these statistics, downplaying the culpability of perpetrators while suggesting factors like stress, financial strain, or alcohol were the causes of the violence. One woman in Samoa who sought help through SVSG told us her husband hit her but "it wasn't a hard slap." "Arguments often stem from couples not working together, particularly when striving for financial stability to support their children." Significant progress at an agonising pace Dr Chrichton-Hill, Pacific social work expert at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Dr Crichton-Hill says interventions to address gender-based violence in the Pacific need to account for Pacific values. "Women in the Pacific live in a collective [society], valuing family and having community obligations … [Western models] that don't account for that are just not helpful," she says. She says studies show indigenous values like community, humility, respect and reciprocity can be leveraged as strengths — and survivors' voices must inform solutions. In Fiji's capital Suva, we met Lavenia Tuitabu, a counsellor at Fiji's Women's Crisis Centre doing just that. Lavenia Tuitabu. La — as many call her — explains that the centre receives on average 50 women per week seeking counselling or shelter. She regularly travels to villages — where victims of abuse face unique challenges like poor access to outside support and fewer ways to leave an abuser. In many village cultures across the Pacific, it is considered taboo for people to seek help from outsiders, or the law, to deal with family issues — but La and her team's work is having an impact. We travelled with La to one village where her team has already been conducting sessions. At one gathering in the village's meeting house, while it was clear that there were still problems, many told us about the positive changes they've experienced. One Fijian woman explained that her husband had started doing household chores, something the men of the village normally left for the women to do. A village elder agreed — saying he "noticed men actively doing chores traditionally done by women… even I now join my wife when she goes fishing — something I never did before." Although they may not seem like radical changes — these are the first steps towards recalibrating entrenched cultural norms. Back in Samoa — SVSG is appointing village representatives who can help victims file police reports or access frontline services. It's these types of locally led and culturally sensitive approaches that Dr Crichton-Hill says have a chance at making a real difference. "Homegrown responses with women taking the lead are really important," she says. But as most organisations have told us, the resourcing required to meet the needs of all communities is not currently available to them. While back in PNG, Lorena has begun volunteering to help other survivors in her local community — she says it's helped her through her own trauma. "When I talk to them, I forget about my problems," she says. "When I go to the communities and I see other women going through this problem, I say: 'Okay, I'm not the only one going through this problem', so I use my experience to encourage them and to comfort them." But like so many other women we have spoken to, she says she wishes more could be done across the Pacific, so they wouldn't need comforting. Read the story in Tok Pisin. Watch The Pacific's special on the domestic violence here on iView or on YouTube Credits
