Rainbow Tick

Berry Street is very excited to announce that we are now a Rainbow Tick accredited organisation. Rainbow Tick means that we have implemented LGBTIQA+ inclusive practices and are we are a safe, inclusive and affirming service provider and employer for the LGBTIQA+ community
Over the past three and half years, we implemented lots of initiatives along our journey to becoming Rainbow Tick accredited, and we’re still looking for ways to improve. Here are just some of the inclusive practices we’ve implemented:
- Created a Pride Advisory Group made up of LGBTIQA+ staff and allies
- Initiated a Rainbow Steering Committee, to help lead the work across regions and program areas
- We celebrate days like Wear It Purple and IDAHoBIT and participate in Midsumma, OUT In the OPEN and Chill Out festivals
- Designed a series of posters with the message ‘You Are Welcome Here’, which are displayed in all our offices and residential homes right across Victoria
- Reviewed our policies and procedures to ensure they are inclusive of LGBTIQA+ communities
- Wrote new policies including those which support trans and non-binary staff to affirm their gender and outline how we support LGBTIQA+ children and young people.
- Supported new policies with guidelines and procedures to assist staff to implement them at a practice level
- Developed our own LGBTIQA+ inclusive practice online training module, which has been completed by over 90% of our staff
- 300 staff took part in face-to-face inclusive practice training and workshops
Most importantly, this work has meant that we have greatly improved the way that we support LGBTIQA+ service users right across our program areas, and our staff are confidentially providing an even more person-centred approach to the services we provide.
We know that the work of inclusion does not stop with attaining Rainbow Tick accreditation. We will continue to reimagine service systems with LGBTIQA+ inclusion as a focus and work to guide the transformation.
To find out more about Rainbow Tick, go to Rainbow Health Victoria: Rainbow Tick.

