6. Our commitment to maintaining a safe environment for everyone
The Trustees and volunteers of Rigpa UK are committed to upholding a safe, open and transparent environment for everyone and to ensuring we promote an environment that protects from harm. We acknowledge the hurt and pain that has been caused by not having adequate safeguarding and reporting measures in place and we have acted to prevent safeguarding incidents in the future by adopting robust operational procedures and policies.
We are committed to a culture of open and honest dialogue about how we run our organisation and to an inclusive no blame culture where people feel safe to raise concerns and to challenge and question how we work in the spirit of genuine inquiry.
We fully appreciate that the safeguarding and governance reforms we have made are part of a wider shift in adopting a culture of risk assessment, monitoring, review and training and are committed to continuous development in this area.
We understand that power dynamics exist in any teacher / student relationship and that we must be vigilant in applying adequate safeguards to protect everyone who comes into contact with Rigpa UK from any risk of abuse.
We are committed to honouring Buddhist ethics and conduct in our work and in our actions.