Diversity and inclusion

Our commitment to you

Here at Relationships Australia Victoria, we are committed to providing safe, inclusive and accessible services for all members of the community, regardless of religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, lifestyle choice, cultural background or economic circumstances. 

We believe that people, in all their diversity, have the right to live their lives safely and with dignity, with their families and within their communities, and to enjoy positive, respectful, safe and fulfilling relationships.

Across our services and centres, we welcome:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• people experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage
• culturally and linguistically diverse Victorians
• members of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual (LGBTIQA+) communities
• people with disability.

Cultural competence and inclusion are important components of our Strategic Plan 2019-2023.

We are committed to:

• embedding cultural respect within our organisational values and staff attitudes
• promoting culturally safe environments and client experiences
• ensuring culturally competent practices apply to all aspects of service delivery
• providing a holistic service that is flexible in design, tailored to individual needs, and which promotes self-determination and choice.
  
  

Supporting diverse communities

We have a rich history of welcoming, acknowledging and celebrating the diversity found within Victoria’s communities. This cultural diversity is also present within our organisation’s workforce and is recognised by our leadership and Board as one of our greatest strengths. 

We understand that family structures are diverse and we believe in strengthening families and supporting people from diverse backgrounds to have positive, safe and respectful relationships. We provide services that cater to community needs, including by tailoring services to meet the needs of the client groups with which we work.

We are privileged to continue contributing to many successful partnerships, joint programs and community events, to better meet the needs of our culturally and linguistically diverse communities and our vibrant LGBTIQA+ communities. 

In collaboration with many organisations across the state, we coordinate workshops, forums, meetings, networks and support groups to meet the growing needs of Victoria's multicultural community, including providing service access for both established and emerging migrant communities in both metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Driving cultural change across the organisation

In 2023, we established a Diversity Working Group involving staff from a cross-section of our organisation. While the needs of different groups are unique and varied, the working group aims to enhance the quality, effectiveness, inclusiveness and accessibility of our services.

Such cultural change is effected by consulting with staff with lived experience, increasing staff awareness and knowledge, providing relevant training, and providing appropriate resources, service information and services. The group also works to identify and implement employment pathways to increase RAV’s workforce diversity across all levels of the organisation.

Prioritising inclusivity, accessibility and respect

Since the inception of our dedicated Rainbow Working Group in 2018–19, respect, equality, dignity and inclusivity have been at the core of what we do. Staff from across roles, centres and levels of responsibility work to ensure that RAV’s practice is accessible, culturally responsive, safe, client-centred, inclusive and non discriminatory.

A focus of the group has been to enhance the ways in which our centres visually demonstrate that they are safe and welcoming, including through the inclusion of pride, transgender and intersex flags. In 2023, we introduced the option of pronoun badges for staff and for distribution at community events.

The group also reviews and informs updates to policies, procedures, training and practice resources with an LGBTIQA+ lens. Staff training has been provided on ‘Mediating with rainbow families’, to support practitioners to grow their skills and confidence in working with rainbow families, learn about reflective practice skills and increase their capacity for inclusive mediation.

Community liaison officers

We employ community liaison officer (CLO) positions at our centres in Greensborough, Sunshine and Melbourne. These roles are primarily responsible for developing relationships with local community groups, agencies and service providers, delivering information sessions, representing our organisation at community events and promoting referrals and pathways into our services. 

Meeting the needs of diverse communities

Some of the diversity and inclusion-focused activities we undertook in 2022-23 included:

• participating in Afghan Family Violence Consultation meetings with Afghan women, examining the gaps, challenges and insights related to family violence in the City of Casey’s Afghan communities
• presenting on healthy relationships, gendered violence and family violence collusion to men from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in south-east Melbourne
• information sessions for parents from diverse cultural backgrounds on understanding and responding to children’s behaviours and emotions, and supporting children’s brain development through play – the sessions were delivered to participants of the Fitzroy/Carlton Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY) program
• delivering Tuning in to Kids® in language for Vietnamese clients, as well as increasing the program’s delivery with Afghan families in the City of Greater Dandenong, through Communities for Children funding provided by Mission Australia
• providing psychoeducational information on family violence and services to culturally and linguistically diverse women and families in western Melbourne
• taking part in a panel discussing family violence prevention and bystander actions, through the intersectional lens of cultural diversity, as part of the 16 Days of Activism campaign
• engagement with the multicultural Flemington Women’s Group on topics including stress, anxiety and mental wellbeing, and for a 4-part series on parenting and child More than 25 women, most of whom have migrated with their families to Australia from the Horn of Africa, attended the sessions. The sessions were an opportunity to not only deepen knowledge and understanding, but also strengthen the relationships between the mothers so that they can support each other as they raise their children.

Accessing our services

We can organise interpreters on request.

Please let us know when you contact us to organise a service, if you will need an interpreter.

If you are Deaf/deaf, hard of hearing and/or have a speech impairment, we also welcome calls through the National Relay Service.

• Step 1: Call 133 677
• Step 2: Choose your access options. Visit the National Relay Service website for different call numbers.
• Step 3: When asked by the relay officer, provide the phone number of the service or centre you want to contact.

We acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners of the lands and waterways of Australia. We support Aboriginal people’s right to self-determination and culturally safe services.

We recognise the lifelong impacts of childhood trauma.
We recognise those who had children taken away from them.