Internal Support in QCYF Protocol
This protocol is under review, and has not been accepted.
We are currently gathering feedback and editing this protocol, and there may be errors or bad wording. Please only use this protocol with caution, and if other organisations have definitive protocol, use that instead.
Please see #protocols on Slack to discuss this protocol further.
This is the protocol describing the internal support structures in place for people working and organising in QueerCare Young Folk (QCYF).
This protocol should be reviewed and amended at least once every three months.
Last reviewed: 2nd February 2021 Next review: W/c 3rd May 2021
Contents
Anti-Oppression/Code of Conduct
Everyone joining QCYF agrees to the QCYF Code of Conduct, which centres anti-oppression.
Zooms
Structure
We have one zoom a week, following a monthly schedule of:
- Week 1: Care Debrief
- Week 2: General Meeting
- Week 3: Care Debrief
- Week 4: Skillshare
Care Debriefs
QCYF fortnightly care debriefs are for people aged 13-19 only. They are facilitated by older teenagers with care experience.
Young people also have the option of attending general care debriefs with the rest of QC. In these debriefs, young people have the option of having their own breakout room. People from QCYF who attend general care debriefs will feed back anything relevant from QCYF care debriefs to the general ones, and vice versa.
General Meetings
On the second week of each month QCYF has a general meeting to discuss internal support (including safeguarding), admin, training & anything else that is not care-debrief-shaped. At the beginning of these there is an optional half hour slot that people can attend to play online games and quizzes.
On the fourth week of each month QCYF has a skillshare.
Skillshares can be on any topic. They can be led by someone in QCYF, someone aged 20+ in QC or someone external. Discussions in QCYF care debriefs and general meetings will inform what each skillshare will cover. Some examples of things skillshares can cover are:
- In-depth training on specific kinds of care or advocacy, eg. reality care or MCA advocacy.
- Managing care more generally, eg. balancing care and education.
- Political education, eg. learning about Mad Rights or Disability Justice movements.
Buddying
General Buddies
Everyone in QCYF has a general buddy who is another young person in QCYF. This system is reviewed at every general meeting. If you are in QCYF and don't have a general buddy, please fill out this form.
Skillsharing Buddies
When new people join QCYF they will be put into buddy groups with an already established QCYF buddy pair, to help break down barriers to getting involved and allow for more effective skillsharing. These groups will be based on the buddy groups established during training.
Work Buddies
As set out in the Buddying Protocol, everyone doing care and advocacy is strongly encouraged to always work with buddies, or with 'no PII' buddies where buddying using another format is not possible.
Buddies for all other work is encouraged as well. Action points should always be given to several people who will work on each task together.
as set out in the (draft) safeguarding policies, people aged 18-19 who move to doing care for adults should be buddied with a buddy pair of people aged 20+ who already do care in qc who they can ask questions to & go to if they have any problems. similarly, people aged 18-19 doing care or advocacy for people aged 20+ should be buddied by someone at least a few years older who has experience in care work. it would be good to talk (maybe in a care debrief?) about what we need to do to make this happen, with the knowledge that by the end of the year there will be four people who already do care as qc who will be aged 18-19 (not including people who join after the training).
Training
QCYF aims to run online training courses that bring people into the organisation twice a year. Each time some of the course facilitators should be people who have not facilitated a QCYF training course before, to allow for effective skill-sharing.
Self-to-Self Debriefs
Everyone doing care and/or advocacy in QCYF is strongly encouraged to regularly (eg. once a week or once a month) self-to-self debrief. A template for doing this can be found in Protocol for Doing a Debrief.
There is an opt-in buddying system for self-to self debriefs. Young people can sign up to have their self-to-self debriefs (PII removed) read over by someone aged 20+ in QC, or by an older teenager in QCYF who has care/advocacy experience. This is to help with problem-solving and to encourage skillsharing. This is an informal and friendly system - there is never any judgement or shame related to any problems that might be discussed in self-to-self debriefs.
If you would like a buddy to review your debriefs, or to volunteer as a buddy to review other people's debriefs, please fill out this form.
Therapy
Everyone doing care, advocacy and/or protest First Aid is eligible to receive therapy expensed to QC. Please see Accessing Therapy Whilst Working in QueerCare Protocol for information on how to access this.
Payment and Expenses
Everyone in QCYF is eligible to both claim expenses and be paid for their labour, as set out in the Claiming Expenses Protocol and Paying People Protocol.
