Equal Opportunities Expand Our commitment Self Injury Support believes that diversity makes us stronger and better able to support our service users. We are committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our workforce, eliminating unlawful discrimination and creating an environment in which all our employees and service users feel respected for their unique differences and able to give their best. Discrimination and harassment are wholly unethical and have no place in Self Injury Support. The law It is unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly in recruitment or employment because of a ‘protected characteristic’. The Equality Act defines the protected characteristics as being age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy, maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality, caste and ethnic or national origins), sexual orientation, religion or belief, or because someone is married or in a civil partnership. Discrimination after employment may also be unlawful, eg refusing to give a reference for a reason related to one of the protected characteristics. It is also unlawful to discriminate against or harass a member of the public or service user in the provision of services or goods or to fail to make reasonable adjustments to overcome barriers to using services caused by disability. The duty to make reasonable adjustments includes the removal, adaptation or alteration of physical features, if the physical features make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of services. In addition, service providers have an obligation to think ahead and address any barriers that may impede disabled people from accessing a service. Types of unlawful discrimination Direct discrimination is where a person is treated less favourably than another because of a protected characteristic. However, discrimination may be lawful if there is an occupational requirement which is core to a job role and a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Indirect discrimination means putting in place, a rule or policy or way of doing things that has a worse impact on someone with a protected characteristic than someone without one, when this cannot be objectively justified. Harassment is where there is unwanted behaviour related to a protected characteristic (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity) which has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity or which creates a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. It does not matter whether or not this effect was intended by the person responsible for the conduct. Associative discrimination is where the individual treated less favourably does not have a protected characteristic but is discriminated against because of their association with someone who does, eg the parent of a disabled child. Perceptive discrimination is where the individual discriminated against or harassed does not have a protected characteristic but they are perceived to have a protected characteristic. Third-party harassment occurs where an employee is harassed by third parties such as service users, due to a protected characteristic. Victimisation is treating someone unfavourably because they have taken some form of action relating to the Equality Act, ie because they have supported a complaint or raised a grievance under the Equality Act 2010, or because they are suspected of doing so. However, an employee is not protected from victimisation if they acted maliciously or made or supported an untrue complaint. Failure to make reasonable adjustments is where a rule or policy or way of doing things has a worse impact on someone with a protected characteristic compared with someone who does not have that protected characteristic and the employer has failed to make reasonable adjustments to enable the disabled person to overcome the disadvantage. Service users, suppliers and others We will not discriminate unlawfully against service users using or seeking to use the services we provide. If you are feel you are being discriminated against or you see someone else being discriminated against in using our services, you are asked to contact us using our complaints procedure.
Safeguarding Expand Safeguarding and Confidentiality All of our services and support are confidential unless there is an immediate risk to the person we are supporting or someone else they tell us about and we have information about where they are. If you are using our Listening Services you don’t need to tell us who and where you are and we won’t ask. If you are using our Lived Experience Support Service we will always talk to you first if we need to break confidentiality. We would need to break confidentiality if: we believe you are at risk of significant harm or death from yourself or someone else and we know who and where you are you have given us information about someone else who is at risk of harm and you have told us who and where they are Please bear in mind that if you give us any identifying information about you stays on our system. That information could be linked together at a later date to find you if we were worried about your safety. As an organisation we share safeguarding concerns across our support services. If you have told us who and where you are and you ask us to report a situation where you are at risk we can do this. What will happen if I tell you I am at risk right now, from self-injury or something else that is happening? Listening Services: if you have told us who and where you are and we think self-injury or something else you tell us about has put you at risk of significant harm or death, then we will call 999. We will always tell you that we are contacting emergency services. We understand this might be frightening, but we will support you until we close. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. We are not able to trace your call or find out where are. Click here for information on limiting damage and First Aid Lived Experience Support Service: we will support you to access immediate help which might include calling mental health services or emergency services. What if I am feeling suicidal? Lots of people who contact us feel suicidal. We can support you and listen to your feelings about not wanting to live. If you have taken something or have injured yourself and you are concerned we strongly encourage you to contact emergency services. Listening Services: If you have told us your name and where you are and that you have taken action towards suicide or intend to right away, we will contact emergency services for you. We will always tell you that we are contacting emergency services. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. We are not able to trace your call or find out where are. We hope that if you are still contacting us then a part of you wants us to listen and we will do that while we are open and give you details of other organisations to contact when we are closed. Lived Experience Support Service: we will support you to access immediate help which might include calling mental health services or emergency services. What if I tell you about someone who is hurting me or someone else, either now or in the past? Listening Services: If you tell us who and where you are and you give us details of someone who is abusing you or someone else, now or in the past, we have to pass that onto local safeguarding authorities. We would let you know that we would have to do this. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. We are not able to trace your call or find out where are. Lived Experience Support Service: If you give us details of someone who is abusing you or someone else, now or in the past, we have to pass that onto local safeguarding authorities. We would let you know that we would have to do this.
Data Protection and GDPR Expand Self injury Support has created this statement to show our commitment to privacy. The purpose of this statement is to explain how Self injury Support processes your data, whether you are using our services, interested in volunteering or browsing our website. Self injury Support takes appropriate technical and organisational measures to keep your data safe. If you have any questions about this privacy statement please contact us at Self injury Support, PO Box 3240, Bristol BS2 2EF. Using our website: What information do we collect? We may collect, store and use these kinds of data: Information about your computer and about your visits and use of this website. You may email us, or use forms on this site to send us personal information such as name and email address. We may use your personal information to: Help run the website, deal with enquiries you have made, send you other communications if you request these. We will not give your personal information to third parties without your permission, unless we are required to do so by law. We may use cookies on the website to keep track of you whilst you navigate the website. We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of this website. Google may use cookies to store this information. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store this information. (See here for Google’s privacy policy.) Data given to us via web forms on this site may be stored on servers outside the UK, but in Europe. This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. This site contains links to other sites. Self injury Support is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such web sites. If you subscribe to our ebulletin: What information do we have? You can subscribe to our bulletin via the link on our website homepage. You will need to give us your name and email address. You will then be sent a confirmation email and registration for the newsletter will not be completed until you confirm. Your contact data is stored with our third party email service provider, MailChimp (see here for Mailchimp privacy policy.) MailChimp is a web based email service provider that does not use cookies to track our subscribers. Links and images are used to track the opens and clicks for each ebulletin. Should you wish to stop receiving emails from us, you can unsubscribe directly through the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the ebulletin. By clicking this link, you will be automatically unsubscribed from all future emails. If you order our publications. What information do we have? If you order via our online form you can request for us to keep you informed about our organisation by ticking the consent box ‘I would like to be kept informed of any new information and events from Self Injury Support’ We will add you to our electronic databases held by Mailchimp (see above) and you have the opportunity to unsubscribe at any time. If you do not opt-in for us to keep you informed we will hold your details to process your order. We then will then only keep a record of your postcode to comply with statutory requirements and to help to improve the service we provide. If you contact us about volunteering with Self injury Support: What information do we have? Applying to be a volunteer or enquiring about volunteering involves you giving us your personal details. We will use this information to assist you with any queries you might have regarding your volunteering application and to keep track of volunteering applications and enquiries. As part of your volunteering application we ask for information about age, disability, gender, sexuality and ethnicity to help us with equal opportunities monitoring. You are not required to give us this information, but by choosing to do so you consent to the processing of this information by us. If you decide to apply to volunteer with Self injury Support’s helpline or text and email service, we will also ask for information from your referees and the Disclosure and Barring Service. Volunteers for our heritage project, Women Listening to Women, do not need to apply for a DBS certificate. Self injury Support will keep your personal information confidential, unless we are required to disclose it in connection with a police investigation and/or we have reason to believe that you may present a risk of immediate harm to yourself or others. At your request we will provide a reference after a designated period, to be agreed at the start of your volunteering with us. Using our support services: What data do we have? Self injury Support supports women and girls in distress through its support services. The services are available by telephone, SMS, email and Webchat. Helpline: Our service is designed so that volunteers can’t see your telephone number when you contact us. We cannot trace calls however some information is available on our central systems. This can be accessed by staff to ensure that telephone operating systems are working, to record the number of calls received and to help monitor and improve our helpline provision. Text and email: On the TESS system we cannot see and don’t have access to any of your personal information. Instead your messages are given a unique number so that if you contact us again we can see the previous dialogue you’ve had with us. You do not need to tell us any identifying information and we will not ask for it, but if you give us information about you, our safeguarding responsibilities mean it will be kept on file. Information is kept on our central systems and can be accessed by staff to ensure that text and email operating systems are working, to record the number of messages received and to help monitor and improve our text and email provision. To comply with our statutory obligations this data is kept for a specified period of time. Webchat: On Webchat we do not have any information about you other than what you tell us. Each conversation that you have with us is given a code. If you want to, you can use that code to continue the conversation on a different day. You do not need to tell us any identifying information and we will not ask for it, but if you give us information about you, our safeguarding responsibilities mean it will be kept on file. Information is kept on our central systems and can be accessed by staff to ensure our operating systems are working, to record the number of messages received and to help monitor and improve our service. To comply with our statutory obligations this data is kept for a specified period of time. As new volunteers come onto the service, part of their training is to shadow calls, texts or emails to learn from experienced volunteers. If you think this is happening when you contact us and you don’t want it to continue please just ask and we can stop it straight away. Privacy on all our support services: We do not ask any personal information about you and we would never expect you to give it. If you have told us your name and/or your location or we have your name and/or location on record, and we feel that you are in immediate danger of harm from yourself or another individual, we would have to contact emergency services for you. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. If you have told us who and where you are and/or you gave us details of someone who is abusing you or someone else, we would have to pass that onto the authorities. We would let you know that we would have to do this. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details or those of someone else and we will not ask for them. If you do give us personal information, and we are concerned about you, we may keep information you’ve given us to help us know it’s you when you contact us again. We share this information within Self injury Support across all services to provide you with the best possible support. We’ll never pass any of this information on to any other organisation, except in the following situations: We call the police if during the course of a contact you have told us your name and /or where you are and that you intend to harm yourselves or others right away. You threaten the safety of our volunteers or you compromise the delivery of our service, for example by making it difficult for other people to get through, or by misusing the phone lines or other technology. You provide information that identifies someone who has caused harm or says they are going to cause harm to a child or vulnerable adult. We receive a call about acts of terrorism or bomb warnings. We receive a court order requiring us to share information. If we believe you are misusing our services or are abusive towards the volunteers we may use our system to block your calls or messages from getting through or limit your access to our services. If this happens, a member of Self injury Support’s staff will contact you to explain the reason why we have restricted your access. If you wish to appeal a decision please contact Self injury Support, PO Box 3240, Bristol BS2 2EF [email protected].
Accessibility Expand We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. We are actively working to increase the accessibility and usability of our website and in doing so adhere to many of the available standards and guidelines. This website endeavours to conform to level Double-A of the World Wide Web Consortium W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities. Conformance with these guidelines will help make the web more user friendly for all people. This site has been built using code compliant with W3C standards for HTML and CSS. The site displays correctly in current browsers and using standards compliant HTML/CSS code means any future browsers will also display it correctly. Whilst we strive to adhere to the accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website. We are continually seeking out solutions that will bring all areas of the site up to the same level of overall web accessibility. In the meantime should you experience any difficulty in accessing our website, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Where possible use an up-to-date browser By using an up-to-date browser (the program you use to access the internet) you will have access to a much richer set of options to aid you as you navigate your way around this site. The standard browsers we would recommend are below with links to install each of them: Firefox . . . Chrome . . . Safari (MAC only) Once installed, each will bring its own selection of accessibility options and may allow further options via the use of plug-ins. For more details see the Accessibility page for each one: Firefox Chrome Safari (Mac only) Internet Explorer Edge Options in our site Alternative Style Please choose a link below to change the way the site looks. Once set, the site will remain in this style for up to 30 days or until you select a different option. Black on white version White on black version Alternative style Reset to standard style We endeavour to ensure the site looks correct is these different styles but because of the constantly changing nature of the site and its content, this may not always be possible. If you do spot anything which doesn't look quite right, then please let us knowKeyboard Short Cuts / Access Keys Different browsers use different keystrokes to activate access key shortcuts, as shown below: Browser Page Shortcut Windows Firefox or Chrome Home Shift + Alt + 1 Skip navigation menu Shift + Alt + 2 Internet Explorer or Edge Home Alt + 1 Skip navigation menu Alt + 2 NOTE: For Internet Explorer you will need to press Enter after using the shortcut Safari Home Ctrl + Alt + 1 Skip navigation menu Ctrl + Alt + 2 MacOS Safari Home Command + Alt + 1 Skip navigation menu Command + Alt + 2 Firefox or Chrome Home Command + Shift + 1 Skip navigation menu Command + Shift + 2 Options in your browser Most modern browsers all share the most common accessibility tools, here is a list of useful features: Incremental SearchIncremental search allows you to progressively search a web page for a particular word or phrase on a page. To enable this on your browser, press and hold Ctrl/Command and then tap F. This will open a box to type your search into. As you type, the matches will be highlighted on the page for you. Spatial NavigationHitting tab will jump you to each of the items you can interact with on any page. Holding the SHIFT key and then pressing tab will take you to the previous item. Caret Navigation (Internet Explorer and Firefox only)Instead of using a mouse to select text and move around within a webpage, you can use standard navigation keys on your keyboard: Home, End, Page Up, Page Down & the arrow keys. This feature is named after the caret, or cursor, that appears when you edit a document. To turn this feature on, press the F7 key at the top of your keyboard and choose whether to enable the caret on the tab you are viewing or all your tabs. Space barPressing the space bar on a web page will move the page you are viewing down to the next visible part of the page. Text fontsDepending on your browser, you can override all fonts on the site to one that is easier for you to read. Options can be found in your browser's settings/preferences. Change Font in Firefox Change Font in Chrome Change Font in Safari Change Font in Internet Explorer Change Font in Edge Enlarge your viewYou can activate the browser zoom via these keyboard shortcuts Zoom in Firefox Zoom in Chrome Zoom in Safari Zoom in Internet Explorer Zoom in Edge Options on your computer To zoom your entire computer screen Apple Mac and Windows operating system both contain options to enlarge your view of your screen:Windows Apple OS XMake your computer read the site aloudThis website has been built with screen readers in mind. Menus, pictures and inputs will have the correct tags and mark up to compliment your chosen screen reader.We have tested with following tools:NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) is a free screen reader for computers running on the Windows operating system.The latest version can be downloaded for FREE here (on this page you may be asked for a voluntary donation, if you do not wish to donate, click "skip donation this time")WAVE is developed and made available as a free community service by WebAIM. Originally launched in 2001, WAVE has been used to evaluate the accessibility of millions of web pages. Read more hereMicrosoft Windows Narrator is available in most versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems and reads text on the screen aloud and describes events like error messages so you can use your PC without a display. To find out more and how to enable it on your version, please click hereControl your computer with your voiceApple Mac and Windows operating systems both provide ways to control your computer with voice recognition:Windows Apple OS X Third party voice recognition software is available too. In summary We are committed to providing you access to our most valuable resources. If you do spot anything which doesn't look quite right or have any suggestions for how we might improve our services, then please let us know.
Volunteer Involvement Policy Expand Who We Are and What We Do Self injury Support (SiS)is a national organisation that supports girls and women in emotional distress. We particularly help women who harm themselves, often called self-injury. We have carried out extensive research with women who self-injure. Through our work we have developed a deep understanding of the reasons individuals harm themselves and of the things they may need to help them overcome their self-injury. We also have wide experience of the concerns and needs of workers in different settings and disciplines, and in developing good working practice. Involvement of volunteers Volunteers are essential to our work and form an invaluable part of the organisation. Volunteering roles are distinct from paid roles but complement the work we do overall. Self injury Support recognises and values the contribution volunteers make to the organisation. As Self injury Support benefits from the skills, experience and enthusiasm of volunteers, we believe that volunteers should also be able to benefit from their involvement with us. We are committed to providing relevant opportunities and appropriate support, and regularly review our policies and practices to ensure we achieve this. Self injury Support seeks to involve volunteers to: Contribute to the provision of services by Self injury Support Contribute to projects delivered by Self Injury Support Ensure our services meet the needs of all our current and prospective clients Provide new skills and perspectives Enable people to contribute to wider society and to benefit from their involvement Self injury Support believes: Volunteering is a valid activity in its own right Volunteering is not a substitute for paid work. Volunteering should be a positive experience Recruitment Self injury Support aims to make volunteering opportunities available to all sections of the community. We aim to make recruitment and selection materials available in a format accessible to any individual or group, upon request. We also: Have an open and transparent system for the recruitment of volunteers Offer all potential volunteers the opportunity to find out more about the role before committing themselves Ask all potential volunteers to complete an application process which we aim to make as informal and friendly as possible Request references where appropriate Require applicants for roles involving contact with children, young people or vulnerable adults to agree to relevant background checks If we are not the best match for a volunteer we will try to signpost them to other appropriate organisations Volunteer Role Descriptions Each volunteer role will have a role description which gives an outline of the basic tasks. These role descriptions will be discussed with each volunteer and adaptations or changes can be negotiated in line with volunteer and organisational needs. Volunteering is an activity undertaken through choice and although we ask volunteers to sign a volunteer agreement, we do not enter into any contractual agreements with volunteers. Volunteers are free to leave their roles at any time. Expenses All volunteers are entitled to have agreed travel and other out of pocket expenses reimbursed on the production of proof of expenditure. Details of expenses claims are in the Volunteer Induction Pack. Induction and Training Self injury Support will: Provide all volunteers with an induction, and a copy of the Volunteer Induction Pack Provide all volunteers with an opportunity to discuss the induction information and any issues with their supervisor Provide training for the role as appropriate Encourage all volunteers to participate in further relevant training and development opportunities where there are funding and resources available Support and Management Volunteers will be assigned a supervisor who will be the volunteer’s first point of contact. This person is responsible for providing ongoing supervision, support and guidance. Self injury Support will provide volunteers with adequate and appropriate facilities, equipment and resources to enable volunteers to fulfil their roles. Problems or Concerns We hope that any problems or complaints can be dealt with by the supervisor of the volunteer through the usual support and supervision systems in the first instance. We also operate a Volunteer Disciplinary and Complaints Policy which can be found in the Volunteers Induction Pack. Insurance Volunteers are covered by employer’s liability whilst they are engaged in authorised activity on Self injury Support’s behalf. Health and Safety Volunteers are included within Self injury Support’s Health and Safety Policy and are expected to work in line with appropriate health and safety guidance at all times. Health and safety will be included as part of the induction. Equal Opportunities and Diversity Self injury Support is committed to equal opportunities and the promotion of diversity in respect of both paid staff and volunteers. We seek to protect volunteers and staff from harassment and discrimination as outlined in our Equal Opportunities Policy included in the Volunteer Induction Pack. Confidentiality and Data Protection Volunteers are expected to adhere to the same requirements for confidentiality as paid staff. Self injury Support will maintain personnel files (which may be paper or electronic) for all volunteers which may include: personal contact and emergency contact details, application and selection information, records of support, supervision and training activities and any complaints or grievances made or received. All personal data will be treated in accordance with Data Protection legislation, and volunteers are entitled to have access to personal records relating to their own involvement.