WWVM Safety Manual
Chair And Survivor Responsibilities
Who is responsible for safety?
In meetings, the chair and meeting participants are collectively responsible for meeting safety using the WWVM safety guidelines and the process of Group Conscience Safety Checks. In fellowship outside of meetings, each survivor is responsible for their own safety. Survivors communicating in unofficial ways like WhatsApp chats Discord servers or in private conversations (if they’re just getting to know each other) should follow the WWVM safety guidelines. Safety guidelines apply to business meetings, training, and special events in the same way as scheduled regular meetings.
What does the Chair do when there’s a guideline or protocol violation?
1.Read the Guideline or script protocol
Every time there is an infraction of a safety guideline or script protocol, gently read it without naming the person. Handling safety publicly reminds the entire group of what the safety guidelines are and that they will be enforced in and outside the meeting. Reading them often makes it less of a big deal. If there is a disruption, taking a moment to collectively say the Serenity Prayer can be helpful to restore the atmosphere.
2. Address the problem more directly.
If problems persist, announcements can be made about the behavior that is disruptive, preferably without naming the person. The chair may ask the person privately to refrain from the behavior or leave the meeting if they’re having challenges in following the guidelines. Individuals can directly ask for the behavior to stop. Remind or encourage the members to speak to their sponsor, support persons, and/or therapist for support.
3. Conduct a Group Conscience Safety Check, a type of business meeting used to handle meeting disruptions that have escalated. When guidelines or script protocols have been read repeatedly and other ways of resolving the conflict have not worked it’s time for a GCSC. Any member of the group (including the chair) may call for the meeting. If possible, schedule it for the next meeting, rather than immediately when emotions may be elevated.
Zoom Emergencies / “Zoom Bombing”
An emergency is defined as a participant doing something extreme (on camera sex acts, racial slurs, cursing the meeting, other verbally or visually unsafe behavior) that is clearly in violation of safety and clearly demonstrates they are not capable of participating in the safety procedure. The chair or the designated Zoom host should remove them.
- Find the Security icon called Host Tools in the Zoom controls (only the host will have this) .
- Select Suspend Participant Activities to stop all audio/video.
- Select the Remove Participant option, select the participant and click ‘remove’.
- Email the user name and meeting name and date to the administrator at wwvm.admin@siawso.org so that the user can be blocked on all SIA Zoom accounts.
We demonstrate this in the Zoom training part of the WWVM Orientation.
WWVM Administrator Responsibilities
The administrator only acts on behalf of the meeting.
The administrator will contact the person who has been censured only when they have not been informed of the decision by the WWVM chair and/or the person refuses to participate in (or is absent from) the Group Conscience Safety Check. The contact will be a short form-letter email that gives the outcome and does not address the details of the incident.
The administrator doesn’t make decisions.
The participant will be directed to contact the WWVM chair with any questions. The administrator does not negotiate between the chair and any participants, as what happens in the meeting stays in the meeting.
More than one infraction applies to all meetings.
A temporary time out in more than one meeting as a result of Group Conscience Safety Checks will result in a temporary time out from all WWVM meetings. The admin will email the chairs, and they are responsible for applying it to the meeting.
GCSC The administrator will remove the person’s email address from the Zoom accounts if more than one meeting has permanently banned that person from the meeting.
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