Safeguarding children and adults at risk

Commitment

Every person who works from MYND AT ONE has a duty to act on a concern about the safety or welfare of a child, a young person, or an adult who is at risk because of age, disability, illness or circumstance. Acting means recording and reporting. It never means investigating alone.

The named person

A designated safeguarding lead and a deputy are appointed for the space, and their names are displayed on site and given to every practitioner at induction. Concerns go to them the same day. If both are unavailable and the risk is immediate, the referral is made directly and they are told afterwards.

What to do with a concern

In order, without deviation.

• If someone is in immediate danger, call 999.
• Listen without leading, and do not promise to keep it secret.
• Write it down the same day, in the person's own words where possible, with date, time and what was observed rather than what was assumed.
• Pass it to the safeguarding lead without delay.
• Refer on to the Multi Agency Support Hub or the appropriate Bailiwick service where the threshold is met.
• Tell nobody else, including colleagues who do not need to know.

Vetting

Anyone working unsupervised with children or adults at risk holds an enhanced disclosure from the Guernsey Vetting Bureau, or the equivalent for the jurisdiction they trained in, and it is checked before they start and reviewed periodically. Registration with a professional body is verified at the same time.

Under eighteens

Clients under eighteen attend with the written consent of a person with parental responsibility, and a parent or carer remains on the premises unless the practitioner's own professional body permits otherwise and the young person has capacity to consent. Treatment rooms are never used with a young person and a single adult behind a locked door.

Allegations against a person working here

Reported to the safeguarding lead immediately, and to the statutory authorities and the person's professional register. The individual is stood down from client contact while the matter is dealt with, which is a neutral act and not a finding.