Media Statement: The safety of our community members is paramount

Our purpose at Sacred Heart Mission (SHM) is to end homelessness, deep disadvantage and social exclusion by building people’s capacity and promoting fairer and more inclusive communities and service systems.

We have a highly skilled staff and a passionate volunteer team who work every day to implement our vision of an inclusive and fair society where everyone can live a fulfilling life.

We celebrate the diversity of our people, and we acknowledge and respect differing points of view.

In embracing diversity, it is our priority to ensure that we don’t permit activity that puts others at risk.

Every day, our services support individuals who have experienced severe trauma. As a trauma-informed organisation, the physical and psychological safety of all members of SHM’s community, including our staff and volunteers, is paramount.

In line with our policies that address behaviour that compromises the health and safety of our workforce, we expect all staff to exercise sound judgement and compassion in the work they do and the conversations and actions they undertake in the workplace.

To ensure the safety of our people, we sometimes have to make decisions that have consequences for individuals we employ or engage.

In the last week some people outside of the SHM community have begun a campaign against us. While we respect everyone’s right to have a say on issues, we deeply reject the allegations made about us and the inaccuracies in their statements. To protect the confidentiality of those involved, we are not in a position to respond publicly.

This statement is being made to clarify our values and to thank our staff for the hard work they do every day for service participants and the communities with which we work.

As an organisation we will remain focused on our purpose.