Whitelion Code of Conduct – DARE2B Youth Conference
Appropriate behaviour:
- Treat all young people with respect and take notice of their reactions to your tone of voice and manner. Be positive in your attitudes and expressions to clients.
- Respect the rights, dignity and worth of all young people, being aware of their gender, ability, cultural background or religion. Encourage young people to participate, do not force them.
- Ensure your behaviour, language and appearance is appropriate at all times. Be honest, reliable, punctual and true to your word when dealing with clients.
- Respect the privacy of the young person, and exercise your right to reveal only the private information you wish to. Keep information disclosed to you confidential, except where the life or wellbeing of the young person or others is in danger or may be impacted by this information.
Inappropriate behaviours:
- Discrimination against any young person on the basis of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion, ethnic origin, marital or parental status, political belief or other preference or personal characteristic is not acceptable.
- Do not engage with young people in a culturally insensitive way.
- Recognise and respect the power imbalance in the staff-client relationship (applicable to both paid staff and volunteers) and do not act in a manner which exploits or could be seen to exploit that power imbalance.
- Be sure never to touch a young person in an inappropriate way, such as touching their genitals or breast area, even when hugging; do not hold, kiss, cuddle or touch a young person in a way which could be misconstrued by them or others. Be aware that individuals have personal boundaries to touch, and base your interaction on how they behave with you. Do not initiate physical contact with a young person.
- Do not make sexually suggestive comments to a young person, even as a joke, and do not engage in discussion of an inappropriate sexual nature that may be instigated by a young person. It is your responsibility to role model socially appropriate behaviour and recognise that some young people have not experienced an environment that equips them for “normal” interactions.
- Do not engage in discussion that could be seen to condone the use of legal or illegal drugs (including alcohol abuse).
- Do not do things of a personal nature that a young person can do for themselves that unnecessarily invade the dignity and privacy of a young person.
- Do not engage in derogatory remarks about clients.
- It is inappropriate to invite a young person to a social event where there will be consumption of alcohol or to consume alcohol with the young person.
- It is not acceptable to attend any Whitelion activity or work/placement under the influence of drugs or alcohol. At Whitelion fundraising events/functions with young people present, no staff or young people should consume alcohol. However at Whitelion events/functions with no young people in attendance, it is acceptable for staff to model responsible consumption of alcohol.