Mind Australia is committed to safety and wellbeing of all children and young people.  

Mind is committed to providing a child safe environment where children and young people are safe, respected, and have their voices heard.  

Mind supports the rights of children and will act without hesitation to ensure child safety is maintained at all times.  

We have zero tolerance of child abuse and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated seriously and consistently with our policies and procedures.  

We promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of Aboriginal children, children from a culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, children who identify as LGBTI or are gender questioning and children with a disability.  

Mind is committed to:  

  • the prevention of physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse and neglect of children and young people, including online abuse as well as promoting their health and wellbeing 
  • providing employees with training and development programs to help identify, assess, and minimise risks of child abuse and to detect potential signs of child abuse and how to respond 
  • seeking the input of families and communities in decisions impacting children and young people   
  • promoting the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of children and young people 

Our Leadership will: 

  • make sure we have appropriate systems and resources to ensure the safety and empowerment of children and young people. The implementation of these strategies will be monitored and evaluated by our Board, CEO, Executive Leadership Team and Clinical Governance Committee 

All employees will have:   

  • current police checks and reference checks prior to appointment as a Mind employee  
  • child-screening checks as per the relevant state-based requirements  
  • abide by our Code of Conduct which specifies the standard of conduct required when working with children and how to behave with children in the organisation  
  • training and supervision practices to make sure staff can ensure the safety, wellbeing and participation of children  

We have robust complaint and incident reporting and investigation processes to ensure we: 

  • adhere to our legal and moral obligation to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children or young people.  
  • report any allegation or suspected incident relating to the abuse (including sexual abuse) of a child or young person 
  • report any concerns to the relevant state or territory police and associated support services. We will also make a report to the Victorian Commission for Children and Young People if an allegation of child abuse is made against one of our employees   

We identify and manage risk, ensuring we: 

  • recognise indicators of harm (including that caused by other children and young people) 
  • are vigilant and report adult predatory behaviours such as ‘grooming’ that might expose children and young people to sexual abuse  
  • report and act upon any concerns of grooming behaviour in line with Victorian Laws on this issue and other relevant state and territory laws