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Social safety coordinators

The social safety coordinator has expertise in concerning behaviour. We investigate and provide advice in situations in which safety may be compromised. We discuss your situation with you and help you determine the best way to restore the safety.

Additionally, we provide advice and training to employees to support and empower them in maintaining a safe work and learning environment.

The social safety coordinator: 

  • aims to keep the campus safe for all students, employees and visitors;
  • makes a risk-assessment of the severity of the situation; 
  • can take action to restore the safety; 
  • advises when needed and can contact internal and external parties (including the police, Blijf Groep, Sexual Assault Centre etc.); 
  • takes over the control of a situation if you want this. 

Are you dealing with or have you heard about a (socially) unsafe situation, and is direct action required, then you can contact the social safety coordinator. They can take action to restore the safety. 

Examples of concerning behaviour: addiction, suicide and/or self-harm, delusion, obsession, radicalisation, polarisation, suspicion towards society, extreme ideology.

In some cases it isn't reasonable that you find a solution for a situation yourself. Sometimes you may want advice about the severity and risk of a situation. How dangerous is the behaviour and what is its impact on my life? Examples of these situations are (online) threats, stalking or physical violence. In all these cases you can turn to the social safety coordinator.

  • File a report
    1. Submit a contact request 
      You can do this by sending an e-mail to sociale-veiligheid@vu.nl. In most cases, we will get back to you immediately and make an appointment shortly.  
    2. Appointment
      You will have the opportunity to share what is going on. We will then discuss with you what might be the appropriate response and how we can best support you with this.

  • What happens with my report?
    1. Risk assessment and action plan
      The coordinators will start a risk assessment to determine how great the risk is of the situation in question. In case of an imminent safety risk, a direct response is possible. After the risk assessment, an action plan is created. Sometimes the case is transferred to another responder, such as a confidential counsellor, mediator or one of the external parties we collaborate with.  
    2. You are in charge at every step
      Which steps are ultimately taken depends on the person who submitted the original report. The social safety coordinators can advise and, where necessary, supervise the process of restoring safety for everyone involved.
    3. External parties 
      Our social safety coordinators do not handle reports regarding concerning or inappropriate conduct alone. In order to resolve situations carefully and responsibly, we may call on the expertise of the social safety expert team, who have specialist knowledge in this area. If this is necessary, your case will be discussed completely anonymously, and your report will not be traceable.

    Sometimes it may be necessary to bring in external partners in order to resolve a situation properly, or transfer it to a relevant authority. This may be a local police officer, the Centre for Sexual Violence, or the Blijfgroep (which supports victims of domestic violence).

    Sometimes it is necessary to bring in external partners in order to resolve a situation properly, or transfer it to a relevant authority. This may be a local police, Sexual Assault Centre, or Blijf Groep (which supports victims of domestic violence). 

  • Reporting anonymously

    If you would like to remain anonymous when making a report, this is possible to a certain extent. We recommend to talk to a confidential counsellor first. This is almost confidential and anonymous, and is thus possible without sharing your contact information. Alternatively, you can make an appointment with the coordinator to explore possible ways to deal with your (anonymous) report.

  • Guide to helping suicidal or confused persons

    Are you worried about a (fellow) student), teacher or colleague who is expressing suicidal thoughts or mental health problems? VU Amsterdam has a guide that can help in this situation. This guide can be used by employees, PhD's and students. Feel free to spread it among people you know and may need it. 

  • Help, support or advice in other situations

    At VU Amsterdam, as well as outside of VU, there are parties/organisations that can help you with a specific situation/help request. The social safety coordinator is connected to many of these parties and can help you contacting the right one or give you more information. 

    Are you still not sure who best to reach out to with your question? Then a designated help matrix may be useful for you. View the help matrix for PhD's, employees or students. The social safety coordinator can explore your options with you as well.

Contact

Please contact us via the general e-mail address. We aim to respond to your e-mail as soon as possible.