Together! 2012 CIC welcomes participants who need to use support to access our home-based activities. Carers are welcome to take part in their own right alongside supporting their friend, partner or loved one – see the Ground Rules for Participants. BSL and other Interpreters should follow their own professional code of behaviour. All other professional support workers accompanying individuals to activities are asked to follow the code below, as well as to understand the Ground Rules for Participants and to support their clients to follow these.

• We recognise that the Together! Clubs programme is a professional development activity for Disabled artists and creatives and the people who share their lives, facilitated by mid-career Disabled artists, some of whom have international careers. 

• We understand that while Together! 2012 CIC welcomes Disabled people of all abilities, it is not a social care or SEND activity. The focus is on improving the self-esteem, self-confidence and social networks of participants, alongside their professional creative skills and career development. Together! 2012 CIC delivers a professional programme of events, exhibitions, performances and screenings, together with a consultancy and a trading operation. The Clubs programme offers all Disabled people a safe space where external concerns and barriers can be left behind and they can engage with high quality arts activities on an equal basis. 

• We understand the importance of Personal Assistance in empowering a Disabled person to exercise as much control over their lives as possible. We understand that Together! 2012 CIC promotes Independent Living and resilience using the Social Model of Disability. We recognise that the support we provide is vital to give a Disabled person full independence for the hours they receive it, and that these are limited.

• We will always treat our client with respect when they attend the activity, and in a manner that recognises their role as our ultimate employer. We will ensure that they are respected as equals with other participants, including through our own behaviour towards them.

• We will support our client to engage with the activity and the related conversation.

• We understand that in order to be as inclusive as possible and to meet everyone’s needs, activities need to be delivered in particular ways and routines must be implemented, and we will support our client to respect, understand and follow these. We will do our best to ensure our client arrives on time in order to avoid disruption to others.

• We understand that the Mental Capacity Act requires us not to exert any influence over our clients’ choices and opinions, unless this is necessary for safeguarding or health and safety reasons. We recognise that our client is in a position of dependency on our services, and that expressing any opinion or making a suggestion can therefore be considered unduly influential. Within the setting of this activity our opinions can be more widely influential, so we will keep them to ourselves.

• We understand that our role is to be as invisible as possible when supporting our client to participate, in order to ensure that the focus stays fully on our client and their work, and that attention is not taken away from them unnecessarily to meet our own needs. We recognise that this opportunity is for our client, and that our role is to support them to engage as fully as possible in their own right.

• We understand it is not our role to engage with, judge or comment on other Disabled people, including participants, volunteers, trainees, Team members and freelances, only to respect them. The focus must remain on our client’s engagement with the activity and related conversation. We will ask questions as necessary on our clients’ behalf about how to engage best with the activity, but we will not ask personal questions of anyone, and we will support our client to understand why these are not appropriate from them.

• We understand that our presence may be off-putting to other participants, particularly but not only those with mental health difficulties, and will do our best to intrude into the activity as little as possible. We recognise the need to maintain a calm, non-aggressive atmosphere at all times for access and for health and safety reasons.

• We agree to respect the confidentiality of the activity participants, including Disabled people, carers, volunteers, support workers and team members. We understand our legal responsibility not to discuss anything that we learn or witness in the course of our work unless safeguarding and whistleblower policies apply, whether or not we use names and dates or put anything into writing.

• If we report back to a manager or carer, we agree to make them aware of this Code of Practice and discuss how this relates to our role. We will make them aware of any concerns as soon as possible and put them into direct contact with the activity leader.

• We understand that our client may be asked to leave the activity if, in the opinion of the activity leader, the failure to follow the Ground Rules or PA Code of Practice is putting the safety or wellbeing of other participants at risk. A meeting will then need to take place involving the client, their carer, our manager and the commissioning officer as appropriate, and including a mandatory risk assessment, before your client is able to return.

MONITORING AND REVIEW

This Policy is monitored on an ongoing basis and reviewed annually by the directors to ensure that it remains fit for purpose, and is updated as necessary.

Reviewed and updated 12/4/2024.