What we see

A woman arrives and the immediate needs get met. A bed, a locked door, a meal, a phone that is actually hers. What comes next is harder. She may have no Medicare card because it stayed in a wallet at an address she cannot return to. She may have no bank account in her own name. The psychology waitlist in her area may be measured in months, and the gap fee on the appointments that do exist is money she does not have.

Financial abuse leaves no bruise and very little paperwork. Debts opened in her name. A car loan she never signed. A tax debt from a business she was made a director of. Refuge staff end up acting as de facto financial counsellors without the training, the mandate or the hours to do it.

And the work costs the workers. Vicarious trauma is not an occasional hazard in refuge work, it is the operating condition. A significant number of refuge workers are survivors themselves. Positions stay vacant because the pay is low, the caseload is heavy and the emotional weight is real.

What we fund

How a referral works

1. You refer Through our website form or by email. A caseworker, manager or support worker can refer, and a resident can self-refer. Contact and assessment are free at every stage.
2. We screen for risk first Before anything else, we check for indications of risk to the person or anyone else. If risk is present, safety takes priority over completing any assessment.
3. We assess eligibility Two questions. Is there hardship, sickness, distress, disability or disadvantage beyond ordinary daily life? And is the service out of reach through other means, whether by cost, location, availability, capability or circumstance. Both must be met.
4. We decide within five business days Sooner where the need is urgent. Every decision is recorded with reasons, including the ones we approve.
5. We match and book We find a suitable practitioner, book the appointment and arrange the practical support needed to attend — interpreter, device, data, a private space.
6. We pay the practitioner directly The resident never sees an invoice. Neither do you.
7. We confirm and follow up We check the service was delivered, record the outcome and arrange any onward referral the practitioner recommends.

What we ask of you

• Tell us at referral about access needs — interpreter, gender preference, a private space to take a call, whether she has a device and data.
• Tell us plainly if there is immediate risk, so we do not begin with paperwork.
• Let the resident know what information you are passing on and why. We will tell her too, but she should not hear it from us first.
• Tell us if she leaves your service. We can keep working with her, and we would rather not lose contact.

Questions refuge managers ask

What we see

Crisis accommodation for men fills with the same stories. A relationship has ended. Work has gone. There has been a release from custody, or a death, or a slow financial collapse that finally arrived. Very often there are children he is no longer living with, and a contact arrangement he does not understand and cannot afford advice on.

The clinical posture closes the conversation before it starts. A man who has been asked how that makes him feel by four different services will not answer a fifth. What works is practical, specific and short — someone who will deal with the Centrelink problem and the sleep problem in the same hour.

The consequence of getting this wrong is not a missed appointment. Men in this cohort die by suicide at rates that make every avoidable barrier a serious matter. Cost is an avoidable barrier. So is a six-week wait.

What we fund

What we do not do

We do not deliver men's behaviour change programs, and we will not present ourselves as an alternative to one. Where the presenting need is use of violence, that is specialist accredited work and we refer to providers who do it properly. We fund the counselling, health and financial support that sits alongside such a program, not in place of it.

How a referral works

1. You refer Website form or email, by a worker or by the man himself. Free at every stage.
2. We screen for risk first If there is risk to him or to anyone else, that takes priority over the rest of the assessment. We stay on the call. We do not hang up on someone in trouble.
3. We assess eligibility Need, and barrier. Both must be present and both are recorded with the basis for them.
4. We decide within five business days Sooner if it is urgent. Reasons recorded in every case.
5. We match and book Practitioner matched to presenting need and preference, appointment booked, practical support to attend arranged.
6. We pay the practitioner directly No invoice reaches him and none reaches you.
7. We confirm and follow up Delivery confirmed, outcome recorded, onward referral arranged if recommended.

What we ask of you

• Refer early rather than at the point of collapse. The window in which a man will accept help is often short and does not reopen on demand.
• Tell us what he has already tried and what went wrong with it. Repeating a bad experience wastes the one attempt we may get.
• Tell us about access needs — a private space, a device, data, an interpreter.
• Flag immediate risk clearly at the point of referral.

Questions men's services ask

How we approach this

Community-controlled organisations already know what their communities need. What they are routinely denied is money, staff and the freedom to spend both without a funder rewriting the program to suit a reporting template. We are trying to be useful within that reality rather than adding to it.

Mainstream services fail on cultural safety often enough that avoidance is a rational response, not a barrier to be overcome with better messaging. A person who has been treated badly by a service is not being difficult when they decline to return to it.

We are a new organisation and we are not going to claim standing we have not earned. Our role here is to fund and to arrange, and to do so under the direction of the organisations and communities that hold the relationships. Where we are not the right vehicle, we would rather say so.

What we fund

How we work

We do not place a practitioner into a community without the community organisation's agreement. We do not run a program in a community that has not asked for it. Aggregated data about services funded is reported to our Board and to the regulator, but the relationship and the direction stay with the community. If a partnership is not working, we would rather end it honestly than continue it for the annual report.

How a referral works

1. You refer, or the person self-refers By form or by email. Free at every stage, and free to the person permanently.
2. We screen for risk first Safety takes priority over completing any assessment.
3. We assess eligibility Need, and barrier. Being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is not itself the test — both limbs still apply — but the elevated barriers that come with dispossession, remoteness and service failure are recognised and weighed at assessment.
4. We decide within five business days Sooner if urgent, with reasons recorded either way.
5. We match, with cultural safety considered Language, cultural background, gender preference and community preference all inform the match.
6. We pay the practitioner directly No cost reaches the person or your organisation.
7. We confirm and follow up Outcome recorded, onward referral arranged where recommended.

What we ask of you

• Tell us where we are getting it wrong. We would rather hear it early and plainly.
• Tell us which practitioners are acceptable to community, and which are not.
• Tell us about access needs — interpreter, distance, transport, connectivity.
• Tell us if a person prefers that we do not record something. We collect only what is necessary and we will explain why anything is needed.

Common questions

What we see

One wellbeing coordinator across several hundred students is normal rather than exceptional. The role absorbs everything that does not fit elsewhere — attendance, family breakdown, self-harm disclosures, hunger, housing — and does so between timetabled commitments.

The referral options are thin at both ends. A student whose distress is serious enough to worry everyone may still not meet the threshold for public child and adolescent mental health services. A student who could be seen privately next week has a family who cannot cover the gap fee, and so waits instead.

Staff are carrying it too. Teachers and support staff absorb disclosures they are not trained for and are rarely offered anything afterwards beyond a reminder that the employee assistance program exists.

What we fund

Consent, child safety and the limits of our role

For a student under 18 we require appropriate consent before arranging a service, obtained in line with your jurisdiction's requirements and your school's own child safe policies. Our intake record captures whether a person is under 18 as a matter of course. Where abuse or neglect is suspected we meet our mandatory reporting obligations and cooperate fully with police and child protection authorities — we will not hold something back because it arrived through us. We do not replace your school counsellor or wellbeing team, and we will not position ourselves as doing so. Our intake staff are not clinicians and do not attempt clinical assessment. They keep a person safe and connect them to someone qualified.

How a referral works

1. You refer Wellbeing staff, a school counsellor or a leadership team member refers, with consent appropriate to the student's age and circumstances. Families can also approach us directly.
2. We screen for risk first If a student is at risk, that takes priority over everything else in the process and we act on it immediately.
3. We assess eligibility Need, and barrier. Recorded with the basis for each.
4. We decide within five business days Sooner where the need is urgent.
5. We match and book Practitioner matched on presenting need, age, cultural background, language and gender preference, and the appointment booked.
6. We pay the practitioner directly No cost to the student, the family or the school.
7. We confirm and follow up Outcome recorded and onward referral arranged if the practitioner recommends it.

What we ask of you

• Obtain and document consent before referring a student, in line with your jurisdiction and your own policies.
• Tell us what supports are already in place so that we add to them rather than duplicate or undercut them.
• Tell us about access needs — interpreter, a private space, whether the student has a device and data at home.
• Keep your own child safety processes running. Our involvement does not displace any obligation you hold.

Questions schools ask

What we see

Price caps set the margin and the margin sets everything else — supervision, training, the ability to keep a good worker. Providers are asked to deliver quality and continuity on a unit price that assumes neither costs anything.

Support work is emotionally heavy and structurally isolated. A worker may spend a shift managing behaviours of concern, a family in conflict and a participant in genuine distress, then drive home alone with nowhere to put any of it. Attrition follows, and every departure costs the participant their continuity.

On the participant side the gaps are predictable. Someone waiting on an access decision has no funded supports at all. Someone with a plan finds that counselling for grief, or financial counselling, or a GP relationship, is not what the plan funds. The need is real and the funding line does not exist.

What we fund

How this sits with the scheme

We do not bill NDIS plans and we do not draw down plan funding. Everything we fund sits alongside a participant's plan rather than inside it, which is why it can reach people who have no plan at all, or whose plan does not stretch to the need in front of them. Where a plan does cover part of a need, we may fund the balance rather than the whole. Where a support is properly the scheme's responsibility and is genuinely available, we will say so and refer to it.

How a referral works

1. You refer For a participant or for a member of your own staff. Website form or email. Free at every stage.
2. We screen for risk first Safety takes priority over completing the assessment.
3. We assess eligibility Need, and barrier. Inability to navigate a service system without assistance counts as a barrier, as does mobility or accessibility limitation, and so does the absence of any affordable alternative.
4. We check what is already funded If an existing plan, Medicare or another funded service reasonably covers the need without hardship, we refer there instead. Where it covers part, we can fund the remainder.
5. We decide within five business days Sooner where urgent, with reasons recorded.
6. We match, book and pay the practitioner directly Matched on presenting need, accessibility requirements, communication needs, language and gender preference.
7. We confirm and follow up Outcome recorded, onward referral arranged where recommended.

What we ask of you

• Tell us what the plan already funds, so we are filling a gap rather than duplicating a support.
• Tell us about communication and accessibility requirements at referral, not after the first appointment fails.
• Refer your own staff. Worker wellbeing is not a soft benefit and treating it as one is why the sector loses people.
• Flag immediate risk clearly and early.

Questions providers ask

What we can arrange

We do not deliver these services ourselves. We find the right practitioner, book the appointment and pay them directly.

Whether we can help

Two things have to be true. Not one. Both.

If you are in real need but can readily get the service somewhere else, we will point you there instead. That is not a brush-off. It means you get seen sooner than we could manage.

How it works

1. You get in touch By email, or by asking someone to contact us for you — a support worker, a caseworker, a health service, a friend. It costs nothing and it does not commit you to anything.
2. We check you are safe first Before any paperwork, we check whether you or anyone else is at risk. If you are, that comes first and everything else waits. We stay with you and we help you reach someone who can act.
3. We take down what is going on In your words. We record only what we need to assess your situation and arrange the service. We tell you what we are collecting, why, and who will see it.
4. We work out whether we can help Against the two points above. We write down which applies and why, so the decision can be explained rather than just announced.
5. We decide within five business days Sooner if it is urgent. You are told the outcome and the reasons, whatever the outcome is.
6. We find someone and book it We match you to a practitioner with regard to what you are dealing with, your cultural background, language, and whether you would prefer a man or a woman. Then we book the appointment and sort out what you need to attend it — an interpreter, a device, data, somewhere private.
7. We pay the practitioner Directly. No invoice comes to you at any point.
8. We check in afterwards We confirm the appointment happened, record how it went, and arrange anything further the practitioner recommends.

What we will ask you

• What you are looking for, and what has been happening — in your own words, not a form’s words.
• How to contact you safely, and whether there are times or methods that are not safe.
• Whether you need an interpreter, a private space, a device or data, or an accessible option.
• Whether you hold a concession or pension card, or receive a Centrelink payment. If you do not, telling us you cannot afford it is enough.
• Whether you would prefer a practitioner of a particular gender, background or language.

We will not ask for bank statements, payslips or tax records. A concession card, a referrer’s word, or your own account of your circumstances is enough. Demanding more would shut out the people this exists for.

If we cannot help

It happens, and it is never a dismissal. We write down the reason, we point you to a service that can help where one exists, and we tell you that you can ask us to look at it again.

A reconsideration is carried out by someone who was not involved in the original decision, within ten business days. You can ask for one however suits you, including by simply replying to the email that told you the outcome. If you are unhappy with how you were treated, you can raise it with our Safeguarding Officer or the Chairperson, and nobody is disadvantaged for making a complaint in good faith.

We cannot help with emergency or acute care. If you need that, call 000 or go to your nearest emergency department.

Questions people ask

Who this applies to

This policy applies to Unspoken Foundation Limited (ABN 45 698 530 684), a charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, and to everyone we deal with — people asking for help, people referred to us, organisations that refer, donors, volunteers and job applicants.

We handle personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

What we collect

When you browse this website. Nothing. This site sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and contains no tracking or advertising code of any kind. Our hosting provider may keep standard server logs, as any web host does.

When you use the referral form. Your name, your organisation, your email address, the sector and referral type you select, and anything you write in the optional notes box. Please do not put another person’s personal, health or case details in that box — contact us directly instead.

When you contact us by email. Whatever you choose to tell us, and the contact details you use.

When you ask for support. This is where we collect the most, and only because we need it to make a decision properly. It covers how you reached us and who referred you; your name, preferred name, phone, email and postal locality; your date of birth and whether you are under 18; what you are asking for, in your words; your account of your circumstances; what you need and what is stopping you getting it elsewhere; how financial hardship was established, if it applies; whether you identify with a priority group, which is optional and never required; any access needs such as an interpreter, a private space, a device or data; whether any risk was present and what we did about it; and a record that we told you what we collect and why.

Sensitive information

Some of what we collect is sensitive information under the Privacy Act — health and mental health information, disability, and if you choose to tell us, your racial or ethnic origin.

We collect it only with your consent, only where it is necessary to assess your need or arrange an appropriate service, and we tell you at the time why we are asking. You can decline to answer. Where a question is optional, we say so.

Why we collect it

• To work out whether we can help you, against the criteria in our Intake and Eligibility Procedure.
• To match you to a suitable practitioner and book the appointment.
• To arrange the practical support you need to attend.
• To pay the practitioner and account for the money properly.
• To follow up, record the outcome and arrange any further referral.
• To keep you safe where a risk is present.
• To report numbers and trends — aggregated and de-identified — to our Board and in our Annual Information Statement to the regulator.

Who we share it with

The practitioner who will deliver your service. They need enough to see you safely and appropriately.

Where the law requires it. That includes our mandatory reporting obligations where a child is at risk, and cooperation with police and child protection authorities. We will not withhold something of that kind because it reached us in confidence.

Where there is a serious and imminent threat to someone’s life, health or safety.

Our auditor or the regulator, where they are entitled to it.

What we never do

• We never sell your information.
• We never use it for marketing or fundraising appeals without your express consent.
• We never disclose it to a referring organisation without your agreement, beyond confirming an outcome where you have agreed to that.
• We never let donation history — yours or anyone’s — influence a decision about assistance.

One external service

This website loads its typefaces from Google Fonts. To deliver them, Google receives your IP address and standard browser information. We do not send Google anything about you beyond that, and we receive nothing back. If you would prefer this did not happen, a browser extension that blocks third-party font loading will stop it.

How long we keep it

We create a case file for every person who contacts us, whether or not we end up being able to help. It holds the intake record, the assessment and the decision with reasons, the service arranged, the outcome and the acquittal of the money spent.

Records are kept for seven years, then destroyed or de-identified.

Keeping it secure

Access is limited to the people who need it to do their job. Our staff and contractors are bound by confidentiality obligations under the Code of Conduct, and case information is not discussed outside the purpose it was collected for.

No system is perfectly secure. If a data breach occurs that is likely to cause you serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires.

Seeing and correcting your information

You can ask us what we hold about you and ask for a copy. You can ask us to correct anything wrong or out of date. Email us and we will respond within thirty days.

There are narrow situations where the law permits us to refuse access — for instance where it would put someone else at risk. If that happens we will tell you why in writing, and how to challenge it.

If you are unhappy with how we handled your information

Tell us first. Raise it with our Safeguarding Officer or with the Chairperson. We will look into it and respond. Nobody is disadvantaged for making a complaint in good faith.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can take it to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au, or by phone on 1300 363 992.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle personal information, we will update this page and change the date below. Where a change is significant and affects people we are already assisting, we will tell them directly rather than relying on them to notice.

Who we are

This website is operated by Unspoken Foundation Limited (ABN 45 698 530 684), a charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

By using it, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the site.

This is not advice

Everything on this site is general information. It is not medical, psychological, financial or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a consultation with a qualified professional who knows your circumstances.

Reading this site does not create a practitioner—patient relationship, a counselling relationship or a client relationship of any kind. That only begins when a practitioner we have arranged actually sees you.

In an emergency

This website is not monitored around the clock and it is not a crisis service. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 000.

For crisis support at any hour: Lifeline on 13 11 14, 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, 13YARN on 13 92 76, or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.

Asking for support

Getting in touch is not an application that binds us, and it does not guarantee assistance. Whether we can help is decided against the criteria in our Intake and Eligibility Procedure, and depends on the capacity we have at the time.

You cannot book an appointment through this site. If we can help, we arrange the appointment and we pay the practitioner. Where we cannot help, we tell you why, refer you elsewhere where we can, and explain how to ask us to reconsider.

Descriptions of our services on this site are general. What is actually arranged for you depends on your assessed need and on what is available.

There is never a cost to you

We do not charge for contact, assessment, referral or the services we arrange. We will never ask you for payment, a contribution or a gap fee.

If anyone contacts you claiming to represent this Foundation and asks you for money in return for assistance, it is not us. Please tell us.

The referral form

The form on this site is for telling us about someone who may need help, or for asking us how referral works. It is not monitored around the clock and it is not a crisis service. Please do not use it to send us anyone’s personal, health or case details — a name and a way to contact you is enough at that stage, and we will take the rest securely.

Do not submit another person’s details through this site unless you have their agreement to do so.

Information on this site

We take care to keep this site accurate and current, but we do not warrant that everything on it is complete, accurate or up to date at all times. We may change, add to or remove content without notice.

Third-party telephone numbers and services listed here, including crisis lines, are operated by other organisations. We list them because they are useful. We do not control them and we are not responsible for them.

Links to other websites

Where we link to another organisation, we do so for convenience. It is not an endorsement of that organisation, and their privacy and terms apply once you leave this site, not ours.

Your responsibilities

• Give us accurate information. Decisions are made on what you tell us, and inaccurate information may lead to the wrong outcome for you or for someone else waiting.
• Do not use this site unlawfully, or to interfere with its operation or security.
• Do not submit another person’s information without their consent.
• Treat our staff, our contractors and our practitioners with courtesy. We extend the same to you.

Our content

The text, design, logos and graphics on this site belong to the Foundation or are used with permission, and are protected by copyright.

You may read, print and share this material for personal or non-commercial purposes provided you do not alter it and you keep any notices intact. Anything beyond that needs our written permission.

The ACNC Registered Charity logo is used under the terms set by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission and remains its property.

Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Subject to that, we are not liable for loss or damage arising from your use of this website, from reliance on general information published here, or from the acts or omissions of third-party services listed on it. Practitioners we arrange are independently registered and carry their own professional obligations and insurance.

If something goes wrong

Tell us. Complaints can be raised with our Safeguarding Officer or with the Chairperson, in any form including verbally. We will look into it and respond, and nobody is disadvantaged for complaining in good faith.

As a registered charity, we are also accountable to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, and concerns can be raised with it directly.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the law applying in the Australian State or Territory in which the Foundation has its registered office, and by the law of the Commonwealth of Australia. You submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that place.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The current version is always the one published here, with the date shown below. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the updated terms.

The gap we were built for

There is a particular kind of person this Foundation exists for. Not the person in an emergency — the system, for all its faults, will usually find them. The person we mean is one rung below that. Struggling badly, but not badly enough to trip a threshold. Eligible for nothing. Able to be told, accurately and unhelpfully, that they do not meet criteria.

They are told to see a psychologist and the gap fee is ninety dollars. They are told to speak to a financial counsellor and the nearest one has a six-week wait. They are told to see a GP and they have not had one since they moved, and their Medicare card is at an address they cannot go back to.

Each of those is a small obstacle. Stacked, on a bad week, they are a wall. Most people stop at the wall. That is the point at which something that could have been managed becomes something that cannot.

Why the name

Unspoken is about two silences.

The first belongs to the person who cannot say it. Because of shame, or because saying it makes it real, or because the last time they said it nothing happened. Financial abuse in particular goes unspoken for years — it leaves no bruise, it is hard to describe, and it is easy for the person living it to believe they simply managed money badly.

The second belongs to the worker. The refuge caseworker who took a disclosure at four in the afternoon and drove home with it. The teacher who is the only adult a student has told. The support worker who has held a great deal and been offered a poster about resilience. That silence is structural — those people are not encouraged to need anything.

We fund both. The person who cannot say it, and the worker who has nowhere to put what they have heard.

What we actually are

We are not a clinic and we do not employ practitioners. We are the mechanism that sits between a person who needs a service and a professional who can deliver it, and we pay for it.

Someone contacts us. We check they are safe. We work out what they need and what is stopping them getting it. If we can help, we find a suitable practitioner, book the appointment, arrange whatever is needed to attend — an interpreter, a device, data, a private room — and we pay the practitioner directly.

The person never sees an invoice. There is no gap, no contribution, and no membership. Where more people need help than we can fund at once, we manage that by priority and by a waiting list. Never by asking someone to pay.

Why free, and why it stays free

A means-tested co-payment sounds prudent and is, in practice, a filter. It filters out the people with the least, which are exactly the people the money was raised for.

The same logic drives our evidence requirements. We do not ask for bank statements, payslips or tax records. A concession card, a referrer’s word, or a person’s own account of their circumstances recorded by our intake officer is enough. Anything more becomes a test of endurance, and the people who fail an endurance test are not the people who do not need help. They are the people with the least capacity left.

Where we are up to

We are new, and we would rather say so plainly than imply a history we do not have.

1. June 2026 Incorporated Unspoken Foundation Limited registered as an Australian company limited by guarantee, ABN 45 698 530 684.
2. 2026 Registered with the ACNC Registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Our details are public on the Charity Register.
3. September 2026 Intake and eligibility framework adopted The Board approved the Intake and Eligibility Procedure that governs every decision we make about who we assist and on what basis.
4. Now Building the practitioner network and partnerships Establishing the panel of counsellors, psychologists, financial counsellors and general practitioners we fund, and the referral relationships with services that will send people to us.
5. Ahead First Annual Information Statement Our first full public report to the regulator, covering the 2026–27 financial year.

What we will not do

• We will not charge a person for help, at any stage, in any amount.
• We will not give anyone preference because of a connection to the Foundation. Where an applicant is connected to a director, member, employee or contractor, a different officer conducts the assessment and the Board approves the decision.
• We will not claim outcomes we cannot evidence, or partnerships we do not have.
• We will not deliver work we are not qualified for. Where a need is specialist, we refer to someone accredited to meet it.

How the Foundation is governed

Unspoken Foundation Limited is a company limited by guarantee, governed by a Board of Directors under its constitution and registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

The Board approves our procedures, approves any decision involving a related party, reviews aggregate intake data each quarter, and is accountable for whether this organisation does what it says it does.

The roles that run the work

Some of these are Board positions and some are operational. All of them are accountable to the Board.

What happens when there is a conflict

This is the part most organisations describe vaguely. Ours is specific because it is the part most easily abused.

1. It gets declared Any director, member, employee or contractor with a material interest in a matter must declare it. Interests are recorded in the Register of Interests, not held informally.
2. The conflicted person steps out A conflicted director is excluded from the relevant decision in accordance with our constitution and Conflict of Interest Policy.
3. Someone else does the assessment Where an applicant for assistance is connected to anyone here, or is known personally to the person who would assess them, a different officer conducts the assessment.
4. The Board approves it Decisions involving a related party go to the Board, with the conflicted director excluded.
5. The ordinary test applies, unchanged The same two-limb eligibility test is applied without variation. No preference of any kind is given.

The documents that bind us

• Constitution — our charitable purposes and the rules the Board operates under.
• Intake and Eligibility Procedure — how we decide who we assist, and on what basis.
• Vulnerable People (Safeguarding) Policy — how we respond to risk, and our mandatory reporting obligations.
• Conflict of Interest Policy — including the schedule of declared related party interests.
• Delegations and Financial Authority Policy — who can commit money, and up to what limit.
• Code of Conduct — the standard expected of everyone acting for the Foundation.

Questions about governance

What we will publish, and when

As a registered charity we report annually to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission through the Annual Information Statement. That report is public and appears on the ACNC Charity Register alongside our governance and financial details.

Our first Annual Information Statement will cover the 2026–27 financial year. We will publish it here at the same time, rather than leaving you to go looking for it.

The reporting cycle

1. Each quarter Board review Aggregated, de-identified data goes to the Board: numbers assisted, needs identified, services funded, and waiting times.
2. Each week Waiting list review The waiting list is reviewed weekly. Anyone waiting more than four weeks is contacted, their circumstances rechecked, and their priority reassessed.
3. Annually Annual Information Statement Our public report to the ACNC, covering activities, beneficiaries, finances and governance.
4. Every twelve months Procedure review The Board reviews whether our criteria are correctly identifying people in genuine need, whether any group is being unintentionally excluded, and whether evidence requirements remain proportionate.

What we count

Every case generates a record, whether or not we could help. That is what makes these numbers possible.

What we will not do with numbers

We will not publish a figure we cannot evidence from our own case records. We will not present projections as results, or pilot numbers as programs. Where a number is small, we will publish the small number.

De-identified aggregate data is what gets reported. Individual case information is never published, and is disclosed only to the practitioner delivering a service or where the law requires it.

Questions about accountability

The kinds of roles that will come

• Intake and case coordination — the people who take the first call, assess need, and arrange the service. The most important role in the organisation.
• Safeguarding — oversight of risk escalations and incident response.
• Partnerships — working with refuges, men’s services, community-controlled organisations, schools and NDIS providers.
• Finance and reporting — acquittals, budget allocation and regulatory reporting.

Practitioners: this is different

If you are a practitioner rather than a job applicant, the relationship works differently.

What it is like here, as far as we can honestly say

Small organisations ask people to hold more than their job description. That is true here and will be for some time. The compensation for it is proximity — nothing you do is more than one step from the person it affects.

We take the wellbeing of our own staff as seriously as we take the wellbeing of the workers we fund. It would be difficult to argue otherwise while asking people to trust us with theirs.

Lived experience is an asset here and we will treat it as one. It is not a requirement, it does not have to be disclosed, and nobody will be asked to perform their history as part of an application.

What we will ask of anyone who works here

• That you apply the criteria the same way to every person, and record your reasons.
• That you treat a decision not to assist as seriously as a decision to assist, and never as a dismissal.
• That you declare a conflict of interest the moment you notice one.
• That you do not attempt clinical work you are not qualified for. Intake staff keep people safe and connect them to someone qualified. That is the job, and it is enough.

What happens next

1. We read it and come back to you Within two business days, by email, at the address you gave us.
2. We contact the person, if that is what you asked for We check they are safe first, then talk through what they need and what is stopping them getting it elsewhere.
3. We decide within five business days Sooner if it is urgent. The person is told the outcome and the reasons for it, whatever the outcome is.
4. If we can help, we arrange it and we pay for it We match a practitioner, book the appointment and settle the invoice. There is no cost to the person and no cost to you.

What happens now

1. We read itA person, not an automated system. We will use the contact method you told us was safe.
2. We check you are safe firstIf anything you have told us suggests you are at risk, that comes before everything else.
3. We work out whether we can helpTwo things have to be true: you are going through something hard, and you cannot reasonably get help another way.
4. You hear back within five business daysSooner if it is urgent. You are told the outcome and the reasons, whatever the outcome is.
5. If we can help, we arrange it and pay for itWe find a suitable practitioner, book the appointment, and settle the invoice. You never see a bill.