Mission, vision and values

Lived experience and participation

The Social Mission Department is committed to listening to the voices of people with lived experience and working alongside them. We seek to work collaboratively with those who use our services and to find new and innovative ways for participants and all stakeholders, including employees and volunteers, to participate. We acknowledge that, as an organisation, our practice and advocacy is stronger when guided by those with lived experience. We do this through formal mechanisms and by creating opportunities to take part in, and contribute to, our service design and delivery.

Our goal is to help people overcome the hardship they are experiencing as a result of injustice or disadvantage. We look beyond personal difficulties to examine the systems and structures that lead to and hold people in hardship, and those that can help people step out of hardship.

Defining “participation” and “co-design”

Participation is a value that is expressed when participants:

• Are meaningfully involved in decision making processes • Services and projects are developed and delivered “with” and “by” participants rather than “for” or “about” them

Participation can range from informing, educating and consulting with participants to co-production and community led movements. The latter is where all stakeholders work in an equal and reciprocal relationship and decisions, solutions and activities are participant-led.

Co-design is an inclusive, person-centred process that involves participants in generating ideas, testing them and making decisions about how these ideas could shape projects, relationships, and the nature of services offered.

The national principles

The Social Mission Department understands that:

• The lived experience of people it engages, and their active participation in its operation, is invaluable in achieving and maintaining safe and high-quality delivery of services, programs and activities • Safety and wellbeing, personal capacity and skills of participants and the workforce can be enhanced and developed through participation

The Salvation Army Social Mission Department:

• Acknowledges the expertise, contribution and lived experience of people who connect with The

Salvation Army • Acknowledges that the voice of lived experience is central to service design and the right of participants to have input into how services and programs operate • Provides a safe and transparent resource to empower the voice of participants to be heard and inform all levels of service delivery, design and evaluation from first point of engagement • Evaluates, assesses and embeds mechanisms for participation to ensure lived experience is at the forefront of service design • Values the voice of lived experience through remuneration and ensuring adequate support to allow the desired level of participation

Our Commitment

Active participation and self-determination We provide participants authentic opportunities to participate in forums and processes to share their experience at all levels of Social Mission programs, with appropriate support.

We are committed to taking all reasonable steps to remove access barriers to participation and to the sharing of lived experience.

Feedback, suggestions and complaints Participant feedback is routinely, systematically and consensually gathered, reviewed and used to plan and improve services. Participants using Social Mission Department Services are encouraged to provide feedback, suggestions or complaints through a variety of mechanisms that are intentionally diverse to cater to participants’ individual needs and preferences. Mechanisms will consistently include provision of the complaints, suggestions and feedback. Policy with clear information about how to lodge feedback is on the website and provided. In addition, regular surveys, focus groups, residents’ meetings, program reviews and evaluations will provide proactive opportunities for participation.

Safety and wellbeing of children, young people and people experiencing vulnerability The Salvation Army is a child safe organisation and provides an environment which is safe and inclusive for all children, young people and people experiencing vulnerability.

We are committed to participation by children, young people and people experiencing vulnerability, both face-toface and online, which prepares and equips individuals for safe participation. All activities will be undertaken in a safe manner and affirm the value of the individual.

Inclusion and equity We are committed to providing a safe environment for all people regardless of their age, culture, ability, gender, racial origin, sexual identity, religious belief and/or language to participate. We will support participants to identify and mitigate barriers to allow their desired participation (including assistance with interpreter services, reading, accessing transportation, technology, childcare and other resources) to enable desired participation.

We are committed to creating a responsive and accessible environment for all people to participate. We value the diversity of our participants and are committed to empowering access to resources and opportunities to participate.

Intersectionality For those groups who have historically been excluded from decision making and public leadership, the Social Mission Department seeks to amplify these voices through participation. We commit to participation for oppressed groups by those who hold power to actively create opportunities for inclusion.

Disability To ensure that physical, communication, organisational policy and attitudinal barriers to participation are dismantled, the Social Mission Department is committed to accommodating structural modifications to facilities, developing appropriate formats of communication and information sharing. We will work with individuals with a disability to develop alternate models of service delivery that afford genuine and equal participation opportunities regardless of ability. LGBTIQA+ LGBTIQA+ people experience increased risks and barriers to participation, including concerns regarding confidentiality and anonymity, technological barriers and finding safe spaces within mainstream facilities and services. We acknowledge the difficulties that LGBTIQA+ people can experience in accessing services that are inclusive, which may cause fear and anxiety.

The Social Mission Department is committed to creating specific opportunities for LGBTIQA+ people to be involved in the planning and development of policy, practice and service delivery. We will ensure that feedback mechanisms are in place to increase confidence that participation will result in action for improvement. The Social Mission Department will prioritise the training of staff in LGBTIQA+ inclusive practice at all levels in order to ensure the provision of welcoming, accessible and culturally safe organisations.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples The Social Mission Department acknowledges that despite being the Traditional Owners of Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience disadvantage disproportionately to other groups in Australia. There are both historical and current contributors to this disadvantage. The experiences of colonialism and suppression of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and traditions has an ongoing negative effect on people from these cultures. Importantly, much of the disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is created by the systems and structures in our society.

Addressing the structural, systemic and historic oppression of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is critical to addressing this disadvantage. The Social Mission Department is committed to engaging in the journey of reconciliation and building our cultural capability and competence with First Nations peoples and all participation activities will be consistently delivered based on this understanding and commitment.

Women Gender inequality continues to be a major barrier to the realisation of rights and access to opportunities for girls and women in Australia. The unequal status of women and girls in Australia fosters gender stereotypes and roles in the home, in relationships and in the workplace. This places women at a greater risk of injustice, disadvantage and hardship. Some groups of women are at greater risk, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, young women, pregnant women, women separating from their partners, women with disability, women on temporary visas, transgender women and women experiencing financial hardship. The Social Mission Department will provide opportunities that empower women and girls to challenge social norms, structures or practices, and encourage them to speak out so their voices and ideas are valued and heard equally by the organisation and society.

Children Children are capable of forming their own views and have the right to express those views freely. Those views are to be given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child. This right includes the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body. The Social Mission Department will ensure that children’s voices are considered in their own right and that participation activities value this as a norm.

Young people Young people are frequently underrepresented and misrepresented and are often not included in government, organisational and community decisions that affect them. Barriers to participation for young people include lack of clarity provided to young people about roles and responsibilities and limited power being given to young people to initiate genuine organisational change.

The Social Mission Department is committed to overcoming barriers to young people participating by providing young people with a clear, realistic purpose, diverse opportunities and the necessary skills and training to create rewarding participation opportunities.

Highly skilled workforce Through a culture of ongoing targeted professional development, reflective practice, supervision and worker wellbeing programs, our qualified, experienced and capable workforce are positioned to deliver evidence-based services that promote lived experience participation.

Communication and information We aspire to a culture of openness and transparency in all engagement activity so that:

• Effective two-way conversations occur • Informed consent is obtained

• People know how the information provided by them: • Will and will not be used

• Any limitations that may impact on how information is used • The flow of this information reaches those best placed to make decisions and act

Continuous improvement We value the lived experience of participants and see their lived experiences as a key contributor to continuous improvement of strategic and operational direction, advocacy, services, programs and activities.

We demonstrate our value of lived experience by:

• Seeking, capturing and reviewing lived experiences • Using the learning from participation activity in decision making • Letting people know what has been learned; and what will and/or will not be changed as a result of the learning and the reason why • Publishing and promoting the outcomes of participation

We evaluate and analyse our services, and seek meaningful feedback from participants as a critical element in ensuring continuous improvement of our work. Feedback is fully reviewed, assessed and implemented to ensure authentic, inclusive and effective participation. Our programs are formally accredited against sector standards through a process that ensures authentic lived experience input. Remuneration and support We value the feedback, input and voice of participants, as experts of their story. Participants will be remunerated for their contributions, in line with sector standards (see table on page 24). We will provide a range of supports to ensure a safe and transparent environment to allow participation. This includes induction and orientation to The Salvation Army and the activity, access to capacity building activities such as professional development, formal recognition of participation and support via the Employee Assistance Program.

Rights-based approach The Social Mission Department’s rights-based approach to service delivery addresses barriers by reflecting state and Commonwealth legislation, evidence-based practice and requirements in relation to The Salvation Army policies and procedures, and any other related participant charters. This approach incorporates:

• The development, implementation and evaluation of complaints and grievance procedures • Upon intake into any Social Mission Department program, the provision of the participant grievance process information, as well as information regarding advocacy services • The development of documented and consistent policies specific to case management that ensure all people are informed and regularly reminded of their rights and responsibilities through case management engagement • The development of consistent policies and procedures specific to specialist homelessness, youth, alcohol and other drugs, mental health, family violence and education/training services where appropriate, ensuring participants are informed and regularly reminded of their rights and responsibilities • The development and implementation of plain language material that expresses the issues and needs of individuals across services – it will be reviewed by participant representatives and specific to rights and responsibilities • In response to specific program requirements, will encourage and facilitate a program environment that will enable the promotion of individual rights and responsibilities to promote best practice outcomes • Adherence to all statutory guidelines and requirements

The Salvation Army Social Mission Department recognises that informing participants of their rights and responsibilities is central to programmatic culture and service delivery practice. The Salvation Army services encourage and facilitate a program environment that enables the promotion of individual rights and responsibilities to maximise outcomes for participants at all levels of the organisation.