Rainbow Tick

15 May 2022

Your Community Health (YourCH) is proud to be Rainbow Tick accredited, as part of our commitment to being a safe, affirming and inclusive place for clients, staff and volunteers from LGBTIQA+ communities.

We are dedicated to supporting our diverse Darebin community and, with over 10% of residents being part of the LGBTIQA+ community, achieving Rainbow Tick is an important milestone for us.

Many LGBTIQA+ people experience discrimination or distressing encounters when seeking healthcare, which can have serious and preventable impacts on their health and wellbeing. In being assessed against six comprehensive standards and achieving Rainbow Tick, we are showing the rainbow community that they can confidently use our services, join our team, and volunteer with us.

We also recognise that Rainbow Tick is only the first step in our journey to creating an inclusive and accessible place where people of all identities, experiences and backgrounds are accepted, safe and celebrated. While we will get things on this journey right, we will also make mistakes, and we promise to listen and learn from the community when we do. Together, we will continue to work hard to improve diversity, inclusivity and accessibility across YourCH.

Many members of the YourCH team and client community have supported our goal to be Rainbow Tick accredited, putting in years of work to help us become the organisation we are today. We thank those who participated in this process for their insights, honesty and expertise.

Our Rainbow Tick accreditation will be re-assessed in the second half of 2023, and again in early 2025 to ensure we continue to improve on this important work.

“We should all be able access health services, or work within them, without fear of discrimination and prejudice. The Rainbow Tick process has helped us identify the gaps in our services and systems, and made it clear that true inclusion can never be passive. One of the most rewarding outcomes has been feedback from people who’ve been away on leave, and hearing how delighted and excited they are about the changes they’ve seen at our sites, and in our staff.”