Are you asking "is the SRMC for me?"

At 41yo I had a career change. I had been working in performance sport for around 20 years, I had a PhD in the field and was working as a Senior Lecturer and coach. I had a strong worldwide network, a wealth of experience and I left it all behind me. At the time I didn't know what field I was going to work in. It was a very challenging time in my life.

Eventually I got work teaching on the FCDOs 'Safety Awareness for Fragile Environments' (SAFE) course. It was totally new to me and I was employed based upon my military experience, I had little in the way of network or experience in the field. The course subjects were relatively easy to teach and I was mainly given medical training to teach initially (former CMT 1).

At the time I had no idea what was involved in the field of Security Risk Management (SRM), I thought it was just about teaching HEAT courses and could see me getting bored of that pretty quickly. I wasn't really interested in CP work either.

I knew I had to quickly gain qualifications, experience and a network if I was to branch out into wider SRM opportunities but truthfully I wasn't sure what the wider field was within the SRM community. Luckily I was volunteering with REACT Disaster Response at the time and this gave me a huge network and the opportunity to meet the Frontier Risks Group team for the first time during a #HEAT course.

I kept hearing about the Security Risk Management Course (#SRMC) at Frontier Risks Group and I kept hearing the same things over and over..... the course is great, the course is world leading, you'll love it, you'll learn loads, great for networking and it's expensive.

All of the above is true, you don't get world class programmes free, cheap or as a favour. I see them as an investment in yourself and have always been a keen learner (except at school ironically). I spoke with Pete Lawrence and discussed funding options and started the course in November 2021. I decided to do the Level 6 option and haven't looked back. It opened my eyes to what is available in this field, the huge variety of opportunities, it taught me about the consultancy process and has allowed me to develop what I offer as an individual and as a company. In fact I would say this course was pivotal in the work I do today, how I market what I do and how I perceive what I do.

Anyone who has been on a military course where you're all in, every hour taken up by learning and working will understand the intensity of the course. It's not for the work shy! The course is progressive, starting with ISO's 31000 and 31010 before moving into a variety of themes including geopolitics, hostage negotiation, country evacuations, human factors in security, cyber security and of course, the consultancy process. There's group assignments to prepare in the evenings and assignments post the course.

But it's not just the learning, it's the networking with people on your course, it's networking with the #SRMCAlumni (almost 2000 SRM professionals now) after the course, its the follow up with other courses they offer, job recruitment, learning materials, and the ever evolving new learning material. Of course, there's stash too!

The course is set in the fantastic facilities at the The Emergency Planning College (EPC) and is two weeks long, you can also do it distance learning. Course tutors include Duncan Godfrey SIRM, FRGS , Prof Phil Wood , Tim Marshall , and many more. Everyday sees a different theme and tutor(s).

The key question - is it worth it? For me it was, it opened my eyes to the field of SRM, it gave me confidence in the field and I feel part of a much bigger community, a tribe even! Anyone who is on the fence feel free to message me, or just message Pete Lawrence , he's very approachable.

Bob Challis, PhD, SRMC, TechIOSH.

#srmctribe #frontierrisks #securityriskmanagement #networking #lifelonglearning

As I have mentioned REACT Disaster Response it would be amiss of me not to mention their current deployment to the earthquake zone in Turkey/Syria. Please have a look at this in more detail here and support them if you can.