The bookfair will be taking place at Star and Shadow Cinema. As such, the Star and Shadow's Safer Spaces Policy will be in place. It is as follows;
Safer Space and Safeguarding
As long as the Star and Shadow exists, we are committed to the ongoing development of our safety policies as we collectively continue our learning and grow our understanding of how to best deal with any issues of abuse. We take all matters concerning the safety and wellbeing of our volunteers and audience seriously.
If anyone has experienced anything abusive either in our building or in our online spaces, we hope that they feel safe to come forward to seek support. We have safeguarding policies and procedures that aim to provide these safe channels of communication and support.
We also have a small working group of volunteers who take on the responsibility of Safeguarding. These individuals work to maintain the policies, to offer and signpost volunteers to support and to manage any grievance and mitigation processes.
Thank you for taking the time to familiarise yourself with our safety policy. It is our collective responsibility to ensure all Star and Shadow volunteers are safe and respected at all times.
Lastly, it is advisable to initiate a conflict resolution process at an early stage if you can - that helps resolve things before they become more and more entrenched.
A Safer Space
The Star and Shadow have been working on improving our own policies over the last few years to ensure everyone feels safe volunteering and attending events at the S&S.
We have a Safer Spaces statement, which everyone reads at the point of being inducted as a volunteer. We don’t have a perfect system yet, and if anyone would like to help with advice or their time, please get in touch. Star and Shadow is horizontally managed so it works best when people get involved in working groups to fill the gaps in our skills and capacity.
We have recently formed a new collective within the organisation called 7cz. This working group is looking at cultivating a culture of care in S&S and is invested in improving and implementing the safer spaces policy in order to make Star and Shadow more inclusive.
Safeguarding Collective
We also have a safeguarding collective, with a private number and a private email address to which any volunteer can report issues they are concerned about in confidentiality. Please see below in the FAQs for more information.
The safeguarding collective is made up of a small group of volunteers who have done safeguarding training for working with children and young adults.
They volunteer to work as mediators in conflict resolution, using a survivor-led process and flow chart.
They use a closed email list [email protected] to communicate. (This is not the email used to report issues regarding safety- please see section below for that email).
The safeguarding email is visible to everyone in the collective. If you want to speak to a member of the safeguarding collective on a one-to-one basis, you can email and ask for a specific contact to speak to.
The safeguarding collective also have access to a separate owncloud account where data can be stored confidentially, and only accessed by members of the safeguarding collective.
We don’t currently have training in specifically supporting our volunteers through cases of sexual harassment but we are urgently looking into this through Rape Crisis.
FAQs:
What if I want to report something?
If you want to report something, the first thing you need to do is email the safeguarding address.
The email address is: [email protected]
What will happen next?
The safeguarding person designated to check the phone/email account will communicate with the safeguarding collective to agree the next steps and one or two members will be designated to follow up the issue with the person who reported it. They will use the process presented in the flow chart in the safeguarding policy, called ‘mediation for conflict resolution’.
The safeguarding nominee will ask the person who reported the issue if they want to ‘initiate a process’.
What does ‘initiate a process’ mean?
‘Initiating a process’ is the formal way of responding in a clear, policy-defined way when someone is alleged to have broken the Star and Shadow Cinema Cooperative’s Safer Spaces agreement.
We have two processes - one is a Conflict Resolution process for complaints that do not involve physical violence.
The second is a Survivor-led Restorative Justice process for complaints that involve physical violence, rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment.
How do the processes work?
The processes are very thorough, and are explained in detail in the Accountability and Conflict Resolution policy stored in owncloud.
How can I help?
If you are aware of anyone who is suffering in silence, please encourage them to report the issue to the email above.
If you are skilled or interested in getting involved in the safeguarding collective please email the safeguarding email address.
Further resources
Rape Crisis Newcastle upon Tyne - support for women and girls, (“We are for all women including, but not limited to, women who identify as Lesbian, Bi, Trans and/or Questioning; Black, Minority Ethnic and Refugee women; and disabled women.”)
Telephone: 0800 035 2794
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://rctn.org.uk/
National Male Survivors Helpline - support for men, (“We support everyone regardless of age, gender/gender identity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marital status, ethnicity, religion/faith, pregnancy and maternity status or disability or position in life, as well as families and friends of people who have been abused.”
Telephone (Survivors Helpline): 0808 800 5005
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.safeline.org.uk/what-we-do/men/
Childline - support for children:
Telephone: 0800 1111
Email: you sign up to an account on their website and email them through your account.
Website: https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/bullying-abuse-safety/abuse-safety/rape-sexual-assault/
LGBT+ Switchboard:
Email:[email protected]
Website: https://switchboard.lgbt/
http://www.galop.org.uk/
this is another useful organisation for LGBTQ+ identifying people specifically for domestic violence.