What can you expect from the safeguarding officers at Triratna
On the website of our center you will find information about our integrity policy: it states that every visitor, employee or volunteer can count on a safe atmosphere during your visit or when carrying out your tasks.
However, it may happen that your experience in our center has been unpleasant, you have felt unfairly treated or you have experienced or seen something that raised doubts in your mind or that was really wrong. What are you doing then?
You can of course always contact someone from the center who you know well or with whom you have worked. But sometimes you prefer to address yourself to the Safeguarding Officer – SO -. He or she ensures that you can tell your story as you experienced it. In that contact you do not have to justify yourself or provide evidence.
What can you expect from a safeguarding officer:
We distinguish between two types of experiences:
1. You have had an unpleasant experience yourself, we then call it a complaint.
2. You saw something that did not concern you personally but which you still found unpleasant: a report.
1. When it concerns your own experience
the SO will ask you to tell them what happened. This often helps you to put everything in order yourself and to identify what was not right for you in the other person’s behavior. The SO will not tell anyone else anything from the conversation. At the end of the conversation, you will discuss together what next steps you would like to take. It is up to you to decide that. For example: You can have a conversation with the person who has treated you unfairly, the VP can go with you to that conversation, or you can go to the board or ultimately you can also file an official complaint. In all these cases you can ask the SO to assist you.
2. If you have seen something that is not right,
the SO will also ask you to tell exactly what happened. That helps you determine for yourself what the sting was in what happened. The VP does not tell others about this either. In this case too, you will discuss together what options there are for further steps. From doing nothing/leaving it alone to reporting it to the board. Even then, you can always ask the SO to assist you at all steps.
The safeguarding officer will never tell others what he/she has heard from you. There is one important rule to know in advance: if you have seen something that concerns a violation or crime, he/she – just like every citizen – is obliged to report it to the police.
And in all situations it also applies: you are the one who decides what to do with your complaint or report.