The Othona Community takes the safety of all our visitors – especially children and vulnerable adults – very seriously. This begins with the safe recruitment of our core community members (with DBS checks) and carries over to our day-to-day management.
If you would like to see our Safeguarding Policy in full please ask click on this link - Othona Safegaurding Policy
If you have any concerns or questions about safeguarding at our Bradwell Centre then please speak to:
The Lead Person for Safeguarding at the Essex Centre at Bradwell is:
Name: Deborah Sanders (known as Debbie) and Richard Sanders (co Wardens)
Job role: Centre Wardens
Contact details: 01621 776564
Our Deputy Lead Person for Safeguarding at Essex Centre is:
Name: Phil Martin
Job role: Core Team Member
Contact details: 01621 776564
Senior Lead for Safeguarding
Our Senior Lead for Safeguarding is:
Name: Mark MacDonald
Job role: Board Secretary and Trustee Lead for Safeguarding
Contact details: boardsecretary@othona.org
If unavailable contact Chair of Trustee; Dr Clare Gough chair@othona.org
The Warden is also the first person to speak to if you have any concerns or any incident to report. If your concern were to involve her directly or for some other reason you cannot share the information with her, the Trustee responsible for Safeguarding is Mark MacDonald who can be contacted by email.
The practical outworking of our safeguarding policy as regards children is expressed partly in the following advice, written for sharing with children themselves.
If you ever have any worries about your own safety or about any other child, please do tell your parent or guardian, or speak to one of the Othona Core members. Community is all about keeping an eye out for each other! Mostly we stay safe and look after people by using common sense.
Safeguarding is EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS. At Othona we aim to provide a safe, happy and relaxing place for all our guests. We know that we need to take extra care of children.
Please join us in this aim by doing the following;
- Respecting children’s space.
- Do not go into their rooms without their parent/guardian present
- Do not have them into your room without their parent/guardian present.
- Respecting children's privacy
- Do not take photos or videos of children without their parent’s/guardian’s explicit permission, each and every time.
- Do not post pictures or videos of children on social media without their parent’s/guardian’s explicit permission, each and every time.
- Do not invite children to join you on video calls without their parent/guardian present.
- Respecting children’s autonomy
- Do not initiate unwanted touch
- Do not give intimate care to other people’s children except in exceptional emergency situations
- Respecting parent’s/guardian’s authority
- Do not take other people’s children to private spaces
- Do not take other people’s children off site without expressed permission - every time
- Allow parents/guardians to decide what their child does and does not do
- Be mindful of the impact that you are having
- Do not engage in adult conversation with children and teenagers present
- Wear appropriate clothing in communal spaces
We want everyone to enjoy their time at Othona and this includes children and adults. Children always remain the responsibility of their parents or guardians whilst here.