Continuous improvement of services to clients
As a mental health organisation, we are only as good as the effectiveness of our services. So we pay continuous and close attention to our service outcomes and partnerships to make sure we’re delivering on our promises to our communities.
This year we’ve been involved in new initiatives on inclusivity, diversity outreach and new service developments.
Caring for multicultural communities
Better Place Australia has teamed up with the Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre (SMRC) and the South Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network (SEMPHN) to launch ‘Healthy Mind, Healthy Life’, a podcast for the Afghan community in Australia.
Delivered in Dari, the six-part podcast covers a range of mental health and well-being issues faced by its listeners at various stages of their new lives in Australia. It also guides them to support services within their community.
Listening to our Consumer Advisory Groups
Our Consumer Advisory Groups get us to the heart of social issues in our communities. This feedback pathway is crucial for continuous service improvement and client insight especially when designing and delivering new services.
The Groups reviewed the following initiatives this year:
- A workshop on our website’s digital first contact experience
- The Separate Smarter website’s effectiveness in providing resources to those exploring or undergoing separation or divorce
- The average person’s understanding of mediation and the uptake of our mediation services
- The diversity of consumer stakeholders in our CAG
Working towards the Rainbow Tick
Better Place Australia has always nurtured meaningful engagement and support for the health and wellbeing of the LGBTIQ+ community through appropriate, inclusive and culturally safe services.
We’re now working towards accreditation against the Rainbow Tick Standards 3rd edition. While we have a solid track record of our work in the LGBTIQ+ space and good policy guidance, we still lack proper feedback from our LGBTIQ+ clients and communities.
Our next few steps are focused on collecting views and feedback from our LGBTIQ+ clients and training all Board members in LGBTIQ+ practice. Now that the LGBTIQ+ community is part of our Consumer Advisory Group, we’ll have one source of valuable feedback on the effectiveness of our services and client experiences in this community.
Before we undertake our assessment against the RT Standards, we plan to conduct at least one substantial activity to ask clients their views, record and analyse the findings, and report the data into governance processes.
Å full suite of recommended actions has been provided in a Rainbow Tick Accreditation Advice report written by our Better Place consultant in this space.
Upholding our commitment to accessibility and inclusion
Our Accessibility and Inclusion Plan 2023-2025 outlines our focus on the following pillars – access to services, changes to attitudes and practices, promoting inclusion and equal employment opportunity.
We’ll continue reducing barriers to our goods, services, facilities and employment for people with a disability. Our workplace will remain welcoming to staff and clients from diverse backgrounds so they always feel a sense of belonging. And while we train more staff on inclusion and neurodiversity, we’ll also make necessary workplace adjustments for those who need it.
Midsumma 2023
Better Pride participated in a record three Pride events this year. We not only joined the march but also set up a booth to share resources and information about our mediation and dispute resolution services for the LGBTIQ+ community. This was our way of spreading awareness of our Pride services and maintaining our position as an LGBTIQ+ ally.