About Us
Training developed for practitioners, by practitioners.
We believe that the training sector needs to change. Completely ‘off-the-shelf,’ ‘awareness-raising’ training doesn't change practice where it’s needed most. Real change happens when knowledge is embedded in context, practitioners have time to reflect and apply, and organisations are supported – not just trained. That's why everything we do is rooted in frontline experience, shaped by the realities of working with risk, and designed for what happens the very next day after the training.
Our team started on the frontline. We’ve supported young people and their families directly, as well as through national strategic roles. Our unique, collective experiences enable us to craft training that addresses navigating complexity, risk, and systemic gaps.
We all care. We wouldn’t do this work if we didn’t.
We want to offer you free advice, with no obligation. Contact us for more information, or find out more about our team below.
Who We Are
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SaferNow envisions a world where safeguarding systems, and the services and individuals within are seamlessly equipped with the skills, understanding, resources, and compassion necessary to support our communities whenever and wherever they are needed. To ensure no gap for vulnerability and that every structure of care operates with the excellence our communities deserve.
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To drive up the benchmark of safeguarding best practice across the UK. Improving confidence and competence in all multi-agency colleagues enables better outcomes for the children, young people and communities served. The ultimate outcome is to improve the lives of children, young people and their communities.
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1. Practical and Solution Focussed — Ensuring all support offerings are grounded in expertise and practical application, so that you can come and learn with us, to go and do with the communities you serve.
2. Brave, Disruptive Leaders — To create change, we need to be brave, like bringing professional challenge to current safeguarding systems, services and practices and being professionally curious about how what we do impacts all communities — whether positively, or harmfully.
3. Innovators — Always thinking, building and sharing new practices and better ways of working. Stepping back from prescriptive systems and processes, and rethinking, what could work?
4. Practitioners Empowering Practitioners — Support will always be delivered by seasoned professionals who bring years of hands-on experience. They understand what works, the complexities of real-world practice, and the challenges we all encounter. At SaferNow, we are practitioners empowering practitioners, ensuring every solution is grounded in expertise and practical insight.
Meet Our Team
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Sean Monaghan
Founder and Director
Sean Monaghan is the founder and director of SaferNow, one of the UK's leading specialist training and consultancy providers working on harm outside the home.
His career spans over a decade working across statutory, third sector, and health settings. He led Birmingham’s hospital-based youth work and violence interruption services across three major hospitals — one of the UK's most complex and innovative safeguarding models — where he managed multi-agency safeguarding investigations for young people experiencing serious youth violence, exploitation, and immediate risk of significant harm.
He has advised Violence Reduction Units and Police and Crime Commissioner panels, contributed to strategic partnership development across social care, policing, health and education, and built SaferNow to translate that frontline and strategic experience into training, consultancy and tools that bring about change on a wider scale.
Today, he leads SaferNow's delivery across Local Authorities, NHS Trusts, Violence Reduction Units, the secure estate, and voluntary sector organisations, working with over 9,500 professionals across the country.
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Karen Laing
National Practice Lead
Karen has spent her career supporting children and young people affected by exploitation, trauma, and vulnerability. From working on the frontline in youth services and secure settings. to designing and delivering training for national organisations, she brings a wealth of practical experience and insight to SaferNow.
Passionate about safeguarding and systemic change, Karen combines deep knowledge with a thoughtful, practical approach. Her career aim is to make services safer and more responsive for the young people who need them most.
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Dr Lizzie Fitzmaurice
Forensic Psychologist
B.Sc. (Hons.), Foren.Psy.D.
Dr Lizzie Fitzmaurice is a registered Forensic Psychologist, specialising in adolescent mental health and youth violence. She works across the NHS, DLF Psychology and multiple community organisations, advising on policy, practice, and psychologically informed systems.
Lizzie is known for her impactful consultation, training, and expert witness work, both in criminal and family courts. She is qualified in EMDR, DBT, and certified risk reduction programmes. She remains committed to improving outcomes for disadvantaged young people through evidence-based, relational practice.
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Jasmine Newton Howells
Statutory Lead Consultant
Jasmine has extensive experience as a qualified social worker, working for a number of years in Child Protection Safeguarding, and holds a position as a senior practitioner within the Family Drug and Alcohol Court. This innovative methodology is based on the ‘problem-solving court’ model.
Jasmine supports SaferNow’s work through her thorough knowledge of Child Protection, using a Statutory perspective to inform our training content.
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Core Consultants
A vital part of the SaferNow team is our Core Consultants. These are young people who have lived-experience of the harms we seek to prevent. They provide valuable insight directly into the training content and direction of SaferNow as an organisation.
This group act in a fully paid capacity. To protect their privacy, they will never be asked to share any part of their stories.