CW: weapons, violence
Well that was the most stressful youth group I’ve ever had and tops even the most serious safeguarding disclosures I’ve had so far.
We could hear a helicopter going over and were briefly wondering what it was before the conversation moved on. But then I got a call from my boss to say it was a police helicopter and to keep everyone inside because there was someone running around with a weapon literally right outside and the street was full of police with riot vans.
And as the most senior member of staff it was my responsibility to keep everyone calm and safe (and away from the door and windows). Which meant being careful not to tell anyone exactly what was going on and keep it feeling like as much like a normal youth group as possible while mentally running through scenarios about how to keep people safe if anything escalated (and also knowing that if we needed to evacuate away from the street that I wouldn’t be able to because of my wheelchair)
The incident was resolved and thankfully no one was hurt (although there were some vehicles smashed up) but I think the stress is going to stay with me for a while.



















