Safeguarding Procedures

Version 1.1, 14 July 2026. Read alongside the HappyMe Safeguarding Policy Statement.

This document sets out the practical procedures that sit behind our safeguarding policy. It brings together four related procedures that the policy refers to: the safeguarding lead role description, responding to a concern or disclosure, responding to a user who may be at risk of harm, and recording and sharing information. They are kept together because they work as one process. They cover children and young people and adults at risk.

Part 1: Role description for the nominated safeguarding lead

Every organisation working with, or accessible to, children and adults at risk needs a named person who takes lead responsibility for safeguarding. This part describes that role for HappyMe.

The role

Nominated safeguarding lead: Melanie Drameh.
Deputy safeguarding lead: Simon King.

Responsibilities

The nominated safeguarding lead is responsible for:

• being the first point of contact for any safeguarding concern about a child, young person or adult at risk using HappyMe, whether it arises through a support message, a family member or carer, or another route
• deciding, on the facts of each case, whether a concern should be referred to children's or adult social care, the police, or the relevant safeguarding body, and making that referral without delay
• knowing the current referral routes for both the Isle of Man and the UK, and keeping the contact details in these procedures up to date
• ensuring concerns and decisions are recorded and stored securely, in line with Part 4
• making sure anyone working on behalf of HappyMe understands these procedures and knows how to raise a concern
• keeping their own safeguarding knowledge current through appropriate training, refreshed at least every two to three years, guided by the standards of the Isle of Man Safeguarding Board
• reviewing the policy and these procedures at least annually, or sooner if the app, the business, or the law changes
• overseeing how the app signposts users to help, and checking that the crisis and support links in the app are correct and working.

If a concern is about the safeguarding lead

If a concern relates to the conduct of the safeguarding lead, it must not be reported to that person. It should be raised with the deputy safeguarding lead, or, if that is not appropriate, directly with the Isle of Man Safeguarding Board or the police. The whistleblowing procedure explains how to raise a concern about anyone working on behalf of HappyMe.

Part 2: Responding to a concern or disclosure about a child, young person or adult at risk

A safeguarding concern is any worry that a child, young person or adult at risk may be being abused, neglected, or otherwise harmed. Because HappyMe has no chat, comments, or messaging between users, concerns will not arise from user interaction. They are most likely to reach us through one of these routes:

• a user contacting us through our support or contact channel and disclosing something worrying
• a family member, carer, or another person contacting us with a concern.

Recognising a concern

Abuse can be physical, emotional, sexual, financial, or take the form of neglect. You do not need to be certain that someone is being harmed in order to act. A reasonable worry is enough to trigger this procedure. If in doubt, raise it with the safeguarding lead.

If someone discloses something to you

A disclosure may come through a written message rather than in person. Whether written or spoken, the principles are the same.

Reporting and referring

1. Pass the concern to the safeguarding lead as soon as possible, and always the same day.
2. If someone is in immediate danger, call the emergency services on 999 first, then inform the safeguarding lead.
3. The safeguarding lead decides whether to refer, and to whom. A concern is referred to the authority for the place where the person is:

In the Isle of Man

• Child: Manx Care Children and Families, (01624) 686179, Childcarereferrals.DHSC@gov.im. Out of hours, Douglas Police Station on (01624) 631212.
• Adult at risk: Manx Care Adult Protection Team, (01624) 685969. Out of hours, the on-call social worker for adults via Noble's Hospital on (01624) 650000.
• For advice, or to escalate: the Isle of Man Safeguarding Board, (01624) 687365, safeguardingboard.co@gov.im, safeguardingboard.im.

In the United Kingdom

• Contact the children's or adult social care service of the local authority for the area where the person lives. If an offence may have been committed, notify the police.

4. Involve the person's family or carers where it is safe and appropriate to do so, unless doing this might place them at greater risk (for example where a family member may be the source of harm). If unsure, take advice before contacting them.
5. Record every step, decision, and the reason for it (see Part 4).

Part 3: Responding to a user who may be at risk of harm to themselves or others

HappyMe's content addresses anxiety, low mood, and burnout, and includes self-assessment questionnaires. It is realistic to expect that some users, including children and adults at risk, will be experiencing significant distress. This procedure sets out how we respond, and is honest about what the app can and cannot do.

What the app does automatically, by design

• Questionnaires (for example anxiety and burnout self-assessments) are clearly presented as reflective tools, not diagnoses.
• Where a score falls in a range that may indicate significant distress, the result is shown alongside supportive wording and clear signposting to help, including urgent and crisis support.
• Crisis signposting is available from within the app at any time, not only after a questionnaire, so a user who needs help can find it quickly.
• The app states plainly that it cannot provide crisis help and directs users to services that can. The signposted services should include, as a minimum, those listed below.

If a person contacts us and appears to be at risk

If a user, family member, or carer contacts us through our support channel in a way that suggests a user may be at risk of harming themselves or someone else, the person who receives that contact should:

1. Take it seriously and act promptly. Do not leave a message of this kind sitting unread or unanswered.
2. If someone appears to be in immediate danger, contact the emergency services on 999.
3. Respond with the crisis signposting above, so the person has the details of services that can help right now.
4. Inform the safeguarding lead as soon as possible.
5. Where the person at risk is, or may be, a child or an adult at risk, treat it as a safeguarding concern and follow Part 2 as well, including considering a referral and involving family or carers where safe.
6. Record the contact, the response given, and any decision made (see Part 4).

Part 4: Recording concerns and information sharing

Good records protect people and protect HappyMe. They help the right people act on the right information, and they show that concerns were handled properly.

What to record, and how

• Record as soon as possible after a concern arises, while it is fresh.
• Stick to facts. Write down what was said or seen, using the person's own words where you can. Keep your own opinions and interpretations separate and clearly labelled as such.
• Include dates, times, who was involved, what was said or observed, what action was taken, what was decided, and the reasons for each decision.
• Sign and date the record.

Storing records

• Store safeguarding records securely and separately from routine user data, with access limited to the safeguarding lead and deputy.
• Keep them confidential and share only on a need-to-know basis.
• Retain them only as long as necessary, in line with the records retention procedure and Manx data protection law. Retention periods for safeguarding records are often long; agree the period with a Manx adviser.

Sharing information

Information sharing is central to keeping people safe. The key points:

• Share information promptly with the agencies who need it, such as children's or adult social care, the police, or the Isle of Man Safeguarding Board, where a person may be at risk of harm.
• Seek consent to share where it is safe and appropriate to do so, but you can share without consent where someone is at risk of significant harm. Protecting a person at risk comes before the wish to obtain consent.
• Share only what is necessary, with those who need it, and by a secure route.
• Handle all personal data in line with Manx data protection law (the Data Protection Act 2018 (Isle of Man) and the applied GDPR), overseen by the Isle of Man Information Commissioner (inforights.im). Data protection law does not prevent you from sharing information to protect someone at risk.

Safeguarding concern record

Every concern is written up on a standard record, using the HappyMe Safeguarding Concern Record template. That template is an internal document and is not published on this website. Completed records are stored securely and separately, with access limited to the safeguarding lead and deputy, as set out above.

The record is completed by whichever HappyMe team member first receives the concern. In practice that is the person monitoring the support channel (support@happymeapp.co.uk), or Melanie Drameh if she is contacted directly. Because the app does not monitor users, and the text they enter is encrypted so we cannot read it, a concern only reaches us when someone contacts us through our support channel or contacts Melanie directly. There is no other way for one to arrive. Once a concern is received, the safeguarding lead takes ownership of the record and of any resulting action.