NOTA News Newsletter July 2018 1

Chair’s Welcome to NOTA News
I write this
Chair’s
welcome
after a
recent
NOTA
Board
meeting
held in
London
on 24th May and I would like to
update members on a couple of
key points and actions arising
from this meeting.
One small, but nonetheless very
significant item arising from the
Board is that we are going to
recommend a change to NOTA’s
name in a formal resolution
to the AGM this September. If
successful, this will see NOTA’s
name change from the National
Organisation for the Treatment
of Abusers to the Treatment of
Abuse. This looks to be a very
small change and it requires a
significant amount of work with
both the Charities’ Commission
and Companies House to lose
only two letters from our title. Why
are we proposing this and is it
worth it?
As I am sure members will
recognise, NOTA’s development
over the years has seen it
move away from a professional
association founded to support
professionals working directly
with ‘sexual offenders’, to an
organisation that is committed
to preventing sexual abuse in
all its forms and across multiple
contexts. Our focus has rightly
broadened as our understanding
of the nature and diversity of
sexual abuse has developed. Our
interests as an organisation still
include direct interventions with
those who offend (at the level
of tertiary prevention), but now
extend to more systemic and
early interventions (secondary
prevention measures) and public
awareness raising (i.e. work at the
level of primary prevention). We
are still committed to preventing
victimisation through interventions
with those who offend, but our
interests extend, for example, to
improving responses to victims,
survivors and families. So, we find
ourselves in a position of having
a name which is a product of our
thinking some twenty years ago,
rather than a descriptor of our
current focus or range of activities.
The Board therefore unanimously
felt that this small change to our
name, whilst not being a perfect
descriptor of the organisation
(we could equally debate the
terms ‘National’ and ‘Treatment’
for instance) would be one way
of signalling our broader focus,
whilst at the same time, retaining
our core and historical identity.
NOTA would remain NOTA, just a
slightly more rounded and holistic
version. I shall look forward to
debating this with members at
the September conference and to
proposing this change formally at
the AGM.
Finally, the Board is looking for
two new members. Our call for
expressions of interest in the last
NOTA News for a new Board
member to take on the role
of Convenor of the Members’
Services Committee wasn’t
successful. This is a critical
position for the organisation,
one which is all about ensuring
that NOTA is responsive to the
needs of its members. Second,
we would like to create a new
position on the Board for a
student member to extend
student representation across the
organisation. So if you would like
to get involved and have some
additional time to give to the
organisation for either of these
positions, I’d be delighted to
hear from you at simon.hackett@
dur.ac.uk.
Simon Hackett
NOTA Chair
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