At Auscare Support, inclusion is not a campaign, a trend or a single event on the calendar. It is part of who we are, how we lead, and how we show up for our team, our clients, our families and our communities every single day.

This June, as we celebrate Pride Month, it feels especially important to shine a light on our new “Inclusion Matters” initiative , a commitment to ensuring every person connected to Auscare Support feels safe, welcomed, respected and empowered to be themselves.

Because inclusion is more than policies and rainbow logos.

Inclusion is how people feel when they walk through our doors, join our meetings, engage with our services or work alongside our team.

It is the feeling of safety.
The feeling of belonging.
The confidence that you do not need to hide who you are to be accepted.

And that matters.

One of the initiatives I am most proud of this year has been the development of our very first Gender Affirming Leave Policy, drafted by my incredible colleague Susan Cameron-Jung.

This policy was developed to ensure our employees feel safe, respected and supported during what can be an incredibly personal and important journey. Gender affirmation is an individual and deeply personal process, and supportive workplaces play a critical role in ensuring people can access the care, appointments, legal processes and personal support they need without fear of discrimination, judgement or unnecessary disclosure.

Importantly, this policy also recognises employees supporting direct family members through their own gender affirmation journey.

For us, this policy is not about ticking a compliance box.
It is about saying clearly and genuinely:
You are safe here. You matter here. You belong here.

Recently, our team also came together to recognise IDAHOBIT with our “Go Rainbow” morning tea, where we shared conversations about what inclusion really looks like in practice.

Not just in theory.
Not just in policies.
But in our words, behaviours, systems and everyday actions.

These conversations reminded us that inclusion is ongoing work. It requires listening, learning and being willing to reflect on how we can continue improving the experiences of the people around us.

As part of this commitment, we have commenced our application for ACON’s amazing “Welcome Here” project, an initiative that supports organisations across Australia to visibly demonstrate that LGBTQIA+ people are safe, welcomed and included within their spaces and services.

We are incredibly proud to be taking this step so that our LGBTQIA+ clients, families, providers, community members and team members can clearly see that Auscare Support is a place where they are welcomed exactly as they are.

Alongside this, we are conducting an internal audit across our organisation to ensure LGBTQIA+ safety and inclusion are embedded throughout all aspects of our operations.

This is important because genuine inclusion cannot exist only in statements or celebrations.
It must exist in recruitment practices, onboarding, policies, language, training, leadership, systems, communication and service delivery.

People should not need to question whether they will be accepted, respected or psychologically safe when engaging with a service provider or workplace.

Creating safe spaces changes lives.
Especially for people who may have spent much of their lives feeling excluded, judged or invisible.

We are also incredibly excited to participate in the first-ever Queer Careers Expo in Sydney on June 12, and feel genuinely honoured to have been accepted to attend as an inclusive NDIS provider.

Representation matters.
Visibility matters.
And creating pathways for people to feel safe entering workplaces and services matters.

Throughout Pride Month, we are looking forward to sharing more stories, events and conversations that celebrate diversity, inclusion and belonging across our community.

At Auscare Support, we are proud to be an inclusive organisation that does not discriminate against anyone, no matter who they are, how they identify, who they love, where they come from or what they represent.

Everyone is welcome here. Inclusion Matters 💖