Tuart Place Client Service Charter

Your Rights

  • Be treated with respect and sensitivity
  • Receive a service that is friendly and non-judgmental
  • Be treated according to their individual needs
  • Have their privacy respected
  • Receive clear information about their options
  • Be able to freely express their views without negative repercussions
  • Be invited to provide feedback that we will use to improve our services and performance

Our Values

Respect – We honour the personal experiences and stories of each person and adhere to a strengths-based recovery model

Integrity – We strive to be ethical and fair at all times and maintain a high level of professional conduct and accountability

Excellence – We constantly build our expertise and work to improve our effectiveness and efficiency

Community – We involve service users in the planning, design, and evaluation of our services and foster an environment of mutual support

We are committed to providing a welcoming and safe environment for Tuart Place participants, staff, volunteers, guests and visitors.

Complaints Process

Appreciations and suggestions

We value your feedback which enables us to make our service better. We always aim to provide you with the highest quality service, help and support whilst developing a sense of community amongst our service users, staff and volunteers. Feedback may be in the form of appreciations or suggestions for growth and change.

  • Appreciations help us to know what we do well.
  • Suggestions can help us improve services and performance.

Appreciations and suggestions can be given verbally to the people involved or in writing and placed in the suggestion box at the entry to our premises. These can be anonymous if you prefer.

Complaints or disputes

Complaints or disputes are of a more serious nature and include concerns that behaviours or treatment are not in accordance with our codes of conduct and/or involve bullying, discrimination or harassment. Conflicts with others may also be included in this category. Because of the seriousness of their nature these require a more formal procedure for assessment and resolution.

For initial complaints, please see the procedure below.

(NB For more serious disputes between FACT association members; a FACT association member and the association; or non-FACT association member service users, a dispute process is provided under Clause 24 of the Rules of Association).

Complaints procedure

Who can use this procedure?

Anyone who uses our services; FACT members and non-FACT members can complain using the following procedure.

As a first step we ask that you raise the concerns directly with the person concerned. You may ask a staff member for help to do this if it is difficult for you. This initial action can often readily resolve any misunderstandings involved.

If you are unable to, or uncomfortable using the direct approach or the concern is not resolved through this initial action, a formal process for submitting and resolving a complaint is described below.

Formal process initial steps

Written complaints may be placed in the suggestion box at the entry to our premises, sent by email to connect@tuartplace.org; or posted to The Receiving Officer, Tuart Place, 24 High Street, Fremantle, 6160. If you need help writing the complaint, please ask reception staff to put you in touch with the Receiving Officer.

The Receiving Officer will receive the complaint in the first instance. They will identify the appropriate channel for its progression and if it cannot be resolved at this stage or you are not satisfied with its progression, an impartial Complaints Officer will be identified who will be independent of all parties involved in the complaint or grievance.

From this point on the complaint must be kept confidential other than from those directly involved. At any time you may contact the Receiving Officer to ask about the progress of your complaint.

Download the Incident / Complaint Form.

Funding

Since it was formally launched in 2012, Tuart Place has received core operational funding from the Western Australian State Government, and it continues to receive essential financial support via the WA Department of Communities.

Since 2020, Tuart Place has been funded by knowmore Legal Service to provide support to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse engaging with the National Redress Scheme.

Equally important to the continuing operation of Tuart Place are the unconditional donations received from non-government organisations that formerly provided institutional care to children.

In addition to State Government grants, Tuart Place receives unconditional financial contributions from a range of non-government past providers of institutional care in Western Australia.

Financial support from all past providers is greatly appreciated by the people of Tuart Place, and is consistent with the Healing and Reconciliation agenda initiated by Tuart Place participants.

The importance of past providers funding support services has been widely acknowledged. For example, in its Report on Redress and Civil Litigation, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse noted that it is especially important for some survivors that support is ‘funded by the institutions responsible for the abuse’.

In addition to organisational donations, Tuart Place also receives donations from care leavers and from members of the general public. Some care leavers make donations to Tuart Place as a way of ‘giving back’ to the organisation, and supporting our common goal of Growing Strong Together.

Making a donation

As a Public Benevolent Institution with Gift Deductible Recipient status, donations to Tuart Place are tax deductible. Click on the button below to make a donation via PayPal.