Safety of Staff and Clients at the M Clinic

Hello everyone,

We like to think of the M Clinic as a welcoming and inclusive environment where you can feel free and safe enough to express your true self.

Recently, we have seen clients of the service as well as our outreach clinics sexually harass our staff. This is absolutely not ok and will not be tolerated at our service.

According to our Clinical Service Staff Safety Procedure, staff “reserve the right to refuse servivces to any of its clients who has a history of and/or is curently presenting with violent, dangerous, aggressive or abusive behaviour”.

So we as staff have the right to ban clients that sexually harass our staff. Our staff deserve to feel safe in their work environment, just as much as any other person.

Sexual harassment in the LGBTIQ+ community is significantly greater than seen with the heterosexual community, with members reporting this happening from individuals within and outside their community. This culture needs to change if we are to continue being a community that supports for each other and that advocates for equality.

For more information about sexual assault and violence, including the concept of consent, please visit this website: https://www.1800respect.org.au/violence-and-abuse/sexual-assault-and-violence

For a literature review on sexual violence within the LGBTIQ+ community you can access this resource here: https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/rs3.pdf

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us by phone 92270734 or by email info@mclinic.org.au

 

Kind Regards,

Joe Staniszewski

Manager – M Clinic