*Safety Online:

Safe space
– City of Sanctuary’s Connect & Create provides safe spaces for people to meet, connect and get to know one another in a fun and friendly environment. By taking part in a Connect & Create session, we ask that you respect the ethos of listening, respecting one another and allowing everyone the chance to speak.

Use of video
– While we encourage participation via video and audio for the full interactive experience, please be assured that you can take part without your video – please just let us know when you join.

Group participation
– When you are not speaking, it is good to mute the microphone. This reduces the levels of feedback while someone else is speaking.
– If you want to say something, please raise your hand and wait until the previous person has finished speaking before you speak (it can take a bit of patience over online video calling). If you are not connected via a video link, you can raise a virtual hand through Zoom.

Ethics of storytelling
– Our golden rule is that when people share stories, we listen and encourage one another to ask ‘open’ questions. These are questions that are exploratory, non-judgemental and kind in nature. (“Tell me more about….”, “How did that make you feel…”, “What did you do next…”)
– On whether we can share stories beyond the session, we follow the Chatham House Rule: “a rule or principle according to which information disclosed during a meeting may be reported by those present, but the source of that information may not be explicitly or implicitly identified”. In other words, unless someone shares a story and explicitly states that they do not want any detail or character of the story shared, we operate by the following: You can share the stories that you’ve heard outside of the safe space of the group session, but not in a way that can identify a person either by name, by revealing a location or a person’s association that may give away their identity.

Staying safe online
– If at any time you do not feel safe because of the content of the session, or because of something someone has said, please make the ‘host’ aware via the private chat function. Of course, you are entirely free to leave the session at any time.
– Some facilitators may request to record sessions for safeguarding and internal training. This will be made clear at the beginning of the session. We will not use the data for any other purpose.
– In the very unlikely event the host feels that an individual is not respecting these terms and conditions in the call, the host may send a private chat message to ask the individual in question to respect the ethos of the group. If this message is repeatedly ignored, the host has the right to terminate the user’s participation in the session.