Whistleblower Support Committee: End of Year Update
Hello, marching arts community.
When MAASIN released our 2 Years Down: Reflections, Commitments, & Goals statement at the end of September, we included that the Whistleblower Support Committee would issue a separate update in the coming weeks. It has been quite a few weeks since then but after much discussion and planning, we are finally ready to share.
Like we said in our previous statement, the “return to normal” has been incredibly challenging for us as an organization as we all had to figure out where MAASIN fit into our busy “post-pandemic” lives. This was doubly so for the Whistleblower Support Committee. Our committee has the highest time commitment of all of MAASIN’s committees with dedicated weekly meetings and multiple support requests in progress at all times. This has not changed since our beginning in July 2020 but the world has changed around us.
The “return to normal” extended to the DCI season and thus our committee members who are DCI staff returned to touring. Four of our seven committee members were DCI staff last season including our committee chair. As a result, our capacity was severely reduced for several months, and we had a backlog of support requests to handle in the fall. It took much longer to get through these than it should have; for that, we are sorry. It is only fair to those who come to us for support that they receive the support they need in a timely manner.
We have made several changes to our process, people, and programming with the goal of increasing our capacity.
Process
Our previous process functioned much like the rest of MAASIN in that we operated as a collective within our committee. The committee chair handled administrative tasks but otherwise did not have any sort of authority. They had the same responsibility as the rest of the committee members and all reports were decided on by the committee as a whole and reporter before being submitted.
Our new process is outlined by this chart:
We have adopted a supervisory model where the committee chair now manages and directs the committee’s workflow instead of operating the same as every other member. By overseeing everyone’s cases and taking on fewer cases themself, they have the capacity to:
Support committee members throughout the entire process on their cases
Take on cases from committee members if they need to take a break so committee members can have manageable workloads without their cases being delayed
Take on cases that are particularly challenging and may take longer or require more expertise
Complete tasks that are not related to support requests such as creating more public education material, liaising with community members and organizations to answer questions, and keeping up with the administrative demands of the committee
Our process is still centered around the reporter, meaning reporters have full authority and control over their information and how they are represented. Reporters guide the entire process by making their own decisions based on their comfort such as remaining anonymous or being named, which level they would like us to escalate the report to, and having final say on any reports being submitted to ensure they accurately portray the situation. Our committee will never take a step without the reporter giving their explicit permission to take it.
People
Two committee members who determined they could no longer give the committee the time it requires stepped down. We thank them for the two years they dedicated to the committee as founding members. We were able to recruit & onboard two new committee members to fill their seats and another previous committee member who took a break from the committee returned in full capacity. This has brought our total up to eight committee members. As an added bonus, one of our new committee members has a master’s degree in social work, meaning there are now three working social workers on the committee including the committee chair.
Our committee chair reflected on how they could better serve the committee and community members who come to us. They decided to step down from another MAASIN committee and stop co-chairing a second committee to focus on the Whistleblower Support Committee. Additionally, they got a full-time job as a counsellor at a sexual assault center. This means they are able to dedicate more time a week to keeping up with best practices for supporting survivors and having input from other professionals when we need it. Lastly, they will be starting a new role with the corps they work at which does not require them to tour for large stretches of the season. This frees them up to ensure the committee continues operating smoothly even during the demanding summer months.
Programming
So, what’s next for us? With these changes, we’re hoping to expand our programming. This includes:
Creating more educational materials available for free on our website
Running our #MeToo in Marching Arts workshop on recognizing sexual misconduct and supporting survivors more often
Piloting a non-reporting support appointment program
The non-reporting support appointments are for community members who don’t wish to report the misconduct they experienced but still want to talk about it with a supportive and knowledgeable person who understands the unique challenges present in the marching arts. These appointments are one-off sessions with one of the social workers on our team acting as peer supporters. These appointments are not therapy or counselling but an opportunity to be heard and have someone help you find more resources for healing in your area. The exact parameters and access requirements of support appointments are still being determined but we are aiming to launch the pilot program towards the end of January. We are launching this as a pilot program so we can determine whether the program is helpful or not, then choose to make adjustments or discontinue it depending on evaluations from community members who receive this support.
We are beyond thankful for your support as we’ve evolved from our inception in July 2020. If you’d like to know more about us or our programming, please reach out to report@maasin.net. Rand, our committee chair, will be thrilled to assist you with whatever you need.
Sincerely,
The MAASIN Whistleblower Support Committee