When you are confronted with sexual or sexually transgressive behaviour in your organisation as a professional, your emotions may get the upper hand. It is not easy to respond appropriately.  

The Sensoa Flag System can help you to offer an effective first response. Based on six objective criteria, you assess the severity of the behaviour and assign a flag to the behaviour. You then give an appropriate response to the incident based on the colour of the flag.  

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    Something happened that crossed the boundary: now what? 

    If you witness an incident as a professional, it is important to bring calmth and safety to the situation as quickly as possible. It may also be necessary to limit and stop the behaviour. This ensures that the situation cannot escalate further. Ensure that the people involved are supported by yourself or your colleagues, preferably as soon as possible after the incident. Open a dialogue with the stakeholders to determine what steps are necessary. You can use the response guide to help you. 

    Are there any bystanders? Remove them from the situation as soon as possible. Report the incident internally and check which next steps need to be taken. Severe cases might include legal interventions.

    Sometimes you may witness incidents outside your professional role. In that case, it is also important to act as an active bystander.

    Reporting an incident? Ensure an Integrity Point of Contact 

    Ensure a clearly defined Integrity Point of Contact within your organisation, who receives all reports of transgressive behaviour. This person acts as the first easily approachable point of contact for incidents and is able to coordinate the internal procedure and make targeted referrals.

    Open a discussion about the incident 

    After a report or observation, it is best to schedule a meeting with the people involved. In this meeting, you ask about their feelings and thoughts, so you can obtain more insight into certain criteria of the Sensoa Flag System. This may help you to assess the situation better and determine the next steps. 

    Prepare the meeting carefully. Choose a quiet location and consider in advance who needs to be present at the meeting. Also consider some questions that you definitely want to ask. You can also question the criteria. This will help you as a team and also to make situations clearer for the people involved. 

    A meeting following an incident of sexually transgressive behaviour requires the necessary safety and emotional support. Take account of the following: 

    • Try to adopt a neutral, yet empathic attitude, both in respect of the initiator and the victim. 
    • Listen, summarise, and ask questions in between if anything is not clear to you.  
    • Pay attention to how you ask the question: ask open questions as much as possible.  
    • Leave scope in the meeting for emotions and explore these, without coming across as judgemental.  
    • Explain to the people involved as transparently as possible what you will do with the information arising from the meeting. Take account of professional secrecy and the duty of discretion.  

    Make some follow-up agreements at the end of the meeting. Check what is necessary in the short and long term. Also explain what you will do to ensure the safety of the people involved if any risk is posed to them. Plan a follow-up meeting if this is necessary. 

    Follow-up of incidents 

    It is best to take some follow-up steps based on the colour of the flag that you assign to an incident. Each incident is different, so you should consider what a person needs on a case-by-case basis. With regard to someone who transgressed a boundary, it is important to work on healthy and acceptable sexual behaviour. Consider what the initiator needs to learn in order to avoid transgressing others' boundaries again. 

    There are some different measures that you can take:  

    • Psychoeducation: people who transgress boundaries may lack knowledge. Or perhaps wrong attitudes form the basis, or they lack the skills to act tactfully in sexual contact with someone. It may be useful to start a learning programme and work on this. Consider whether you can initiate this learning programme or whether you need to refer someone to specialist services. There are a great deal of educational materials available for you to use as a professional. 
    • Increasing supervision: to prevent repetition of incidents and guarantee the safety of others, it is sometimes necessary to (temporarily) increase supervision. This may concern physical proximity of supervision, but supervision can also be increased online.  
    • Mediation: Sometimes the initiator requires mediation in order to restore the relationship with the people involved. External services may also play a role in this. Referral: not all follow-up of incidents can be organised internally. Sometimes external assistance is needed.  

    Follow-up care and recovery are pivotal to the victim. This may happen internally, but you can also call on external assistance.  

    Situations are sometimes very complex: incidents may involve many people involved or involve a previous history. The Flag System can serve as an aid in this case for a first response, but it may not be sufficient. In this case, it is certainly recommended to call in external assistance during follow-up of your incident.

    Prevention of incidents

    A detailed analysis after an incident is worthwhile. You can identify risks or needs that led to the transgressive behaviour occurring. These risks may exist at different levels: at the level of context (for example, insufficient supervision, lack of privacy) or at the level of the person (for example: impulsiveness, learned ideas and prejudices, lack of social skills).  

    Ask the following questions:  

    • Are there potential causes? 
    • Are any triggering factors known? 
    • Are there factors that maintain the behaviour? 
    • When do things go well? 
    • Are there underlying needs?  

    By mapping out in detail what caused the incident, as organisation you can address the risks and thereby reduce the risk of repetition. Work out a plan to tackle the causes of the transgressive behaviour. 

    A high-quality policy for the prevention of sexually transgressive behaviour forms the basis for prevention of repeated incidents in your organisation. This kind of policy consists of actions at three levels: 

    • Quality level: create a framework in which living, playing and working together safely and pleasantly are possible and in which sexuality can be experienced in an acceptable way. 
    • Prevention level: prevent transgressive behaviour by detecting risks, laying down roles and responsibilities, and organising training courses. 
    • Response level: respond to incidents and offer appropriate care, learning opportunities and recovery. 

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