In response to the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Independent Mental Health Network, and our branches, are moving our meetings online.
This webpage contains information about what to expect from our online meetings, and a working together agreement to ensure meetings run smoothly.
IMHN virtual meeting guidance – what to expect
Use of video
- to help ensure everyone has an equal presence, we suggest that all participants be ‘on video’
- obvious exceptions of course include if a participant’s device’s camera is broken pending repair
- it might be worth ensuring that the background where your video camera is pointing does not have anything confidential/private in view
Privacy
- participants should ensure they are in a private space; this does not have to mean a completely soundproof environment, but not be a situation where background noise/voices will be overheard
Running of meetings
- there will be a virtual ‘waiting room’ for participants joining the meeting – once the meeting is ready to start, participants will be added to the meeting
- each meeting will be chaired by a meeting facilitator; this will be an IMHN branch committee member, or a member of IMHN’s staff team or Board of Trustees
Take a look at this video (click here) – it provides a good introduction to what online meetings are like to participate in.
Working together agreement
These points are in place for everybody’s benefit, in order to ensure the smooth running of online meetings.
1. We request that conduct expected at ordinary in-person members’ meetings carry over to online meetings.
- this includes allowing people the chance to speak and voice their opinions, not talking over people, not belittling others’ experience and views, and a general culture of respect and politeness
- as with in-person meetings, people may discuss their own personal situations during online sessions; we would expect that this stays ‘in the room’ and is not shared with others outside the meeting or discussed externally, between members or not
- if a member raises feedback about a mental health service or organisation based on their own experiences, the chair (or facilitator) of the meeting will ask the member whether this can be anonymously noted for raising through IMHN’s feedback process. In any case, the information recorded will not identify the member in any way and any further use of that feedback will be completely anonymous
2. Please respect the direction of the meeting facilitator and/or meeting chairs in order to run a good meeting
3. Avoid mentioning any third party in an identifiable manner – for example those not present at the meeting, friends, family and healthcare professionals
4. Be mindful of the information you share, for example personal contact details
5. Please use the mute option when not speaking or in conversation, as this prevents background noise-spill
6. Please do not bring personal issues or conflicts with other members of the team into the discussion
7. Do not use any third-party of external tool to record the meeting in any form (as with all IMHN-facilitated meetings, minutes will be being taken and circulated after the meeting)
If a participant of an IMHN virtual meeting breaches a part of the working together agreement, it will be addressed in the following way:
- for a first breach, there will be a reminder of this working together agreement
- for a second breach, there will be a warning given
- a third breach will result in ejection from the meeting. If this happens, the meeting participant will be contacted (by email) by a member of the IMHN team in order to discuss what happened.
If a meeting participant shares indecent images of themselves, others, or of anything else that is likely to cause significant offence (including but not limited to material conveying violence, pornography, hate imagery, racism etc), the meeting participant will be immediately removed from the meeting without notice and not be permitted to return.