By Dr Nina Burrowes
Nina is the founder of the Consent Collective, a unique organisation which combines subject matter expertise with years of experience working across different sectors to help organisations prevent and respond to sexual harassment. Nina has delivered several excellent webinars for members of the HR Inner Circle (if you’re a member, you can access the recordings here).
As HR professionals, you’re often expected to carry calm in moments of complexity. You’re relied on to respond to crises with clarity, to speak confidently about culture, and to lead on issues others find too uncomfortable to touch.
Sexual harassment is one of those issues.
And right now, we are at a turning point. With the introduction of the Worker Protection Act and rising expectations around prevention, the conversation is shifting. Compliance alone is no longer enough. Organisations are being asked—by law, by staff, and by society—to demonstrate that they are taking active steps to prevent harassment before it happens.
So where does that leave you?
Whether you’re leading an internal HR team or supporting clients as a consultant, you may feel the pressure to do more. More training. More visibility. More leadership. But what if you don’t feel entirely ready? What if you’re unsure how to prevent harassment in a way that’s impactful, inclusive, and informed?
You’re not alone in that.
Many HR professionals I speak to are deeply committed to change—but are also navigating their own questions:
- What does good harassment prevention training actually look like?
- How do I deliver this training in a way that doesn’t feel awkward, reactive, or surface-level?
- How can I equip others in the business to be part of the solution?
These are not just logistical questions. They’re emotional ones too—especially when the fear of “getting it wrong” is real.
From uncertainty to capability
One of the most powerful shifts you can make is from seeing harassment prevention as a policy concern to understanding it as a skills-based issue. Sexual harassment isn’t prevented by having the right documents—it’s prevented by helping people behave differently. That means teaching skills: how to speak up, how to challenge, how to support, and how to create a workplace culture where these things are normal.
And yet, very few of us are trained in how to teach those skills. Especially in a way that is psychologically safe, trauma-informed, and able to meet people where they are.
That’s the gap I work to fill through The Consent Collective.
I want to equip HR professionals to meet the challenges of today, which is why I’ve developed a Train-the-Trainer programme designed specifically for HR professionals who want to deliver workplace active bystander training with confidence and impact. Whether you’re working inside a single organisation or looking to support your clients across multiple industries, this training helps you move from feeling like you should know how to prevent harassment—to actually knowing how.
Equip yourself to create real change
The training is much more than a slide deck and a script. It’s about mindset, confidence, and care. It’s a space to develop your skills in a supportive, professional environment—with guidance from me, as a psychologist and someone who has worked in the field of sexual harm prevention for many years.
You’ll be learning from someone who’s delivered this work in the most complex and high-stakes environments imaginable. And you’ll leave with:
- A practical, trauma-informed training you can deliver
- A deeper understanding of how to manage sensitive conversations
- Clarity on what prevention really looks like in practice
- A community of peers who are also leading this work
For in-house professionals, it’s an opportunity to build internal capability that will support long-term culture change. For consultants, it’s a way to offer something distinctive and meaningful to your clients—something that goes beyond compliance, and into real impact.
Stepping into this moment
You don’t need to have all the answers to start. But you do need a willingness to lead. With the right training and support, HR professionals can be a powerful force for change—not just managing harassment when it happens, but helping prevent it from happening in the first place.
And in this current moment, that’s exactly what our workplaces need.
You can find more information about the upcoming Train-the-Trainer session on The Consent Collective’s website. I’d love to see you there.
Because policies alone don’t create change. People do.