PACFA Diversity in GBKS Lived Experience Practitioner Consultation

About This Consultation

Thank you to the PACFA members who have already completed this survey. The GBKS Leadership Group team will be contacting those of you who indicated you would like to be contacted in the near future.

We care about your wellbeing and consent. Participation in this consultation is entirely voluntary and no personally identifying information (e.g., your name, contact information, etc.) is required to participate.

Please review and consider the information below, so that you can decide whether or not to provide your informed consent to contribute to this consultation.

Who is leading this practitioner consultation?

PACFA’s Access, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (A JEDI) project was initiated by a group that included a Board Director (President Nigel Polak), two GBKS members (Dr Gávi Ansara and PJ Menon), and the CEO (Johanna de Wever).

The current phase of this multi-stage consultation process is being led by members of the PACFA Diversity in Gender, Body, Kinship, and Sexuality (GBKS) Leadership Team in collaboration with PACFA President Nigel Polak and CEO Johanna de Wever. Thank you also to the practitioners with GBKS lived experience whose insights and feedback contributed to the behind-the-scenes work involved in developing this survey. This includes some practitioners who have not felt safe or able to disclose their GBKS lived expeirence in professional spaces. We plan to acknowledge those who consent to be named at a future stage.

What does PACFA mean by “diversity in gender, body, kinship, and sexuality (GBKS)” lived experiences?

Diversity means all of us. However, not all of us have been included, prioritised, and valued. GBKS focuses specifically on ensuring that those forms of gender, body, kinship, and sexuality lived experience that have been excluded or marginalised can achieve ongoing and equitable inclusion.

Across the world there has been a shift away from speaking in generalities and lumping together lived experiences under categories like 'LGBTQIA+'.

Diversity in gender, body, kinship, and sexuality (GBKS) refers to a broader range of cultures, communities, and people whose gender, body, kinship and/or sexuality lived experiences are or have been excluded or marginalised.

In addition to people who feel they fit within the concept of 'LGBTQI', this also includes but is not limited to traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sistergirls and Brotherboys, Sa'moan fa'afafine and fa'atama, Māori takatāpui, and a wide variety of other terms and concepts within Aboriginal, Indigenous, and First Nations communities, and asexual/ace spectrum people, aromantic/aro spectrum people, non-binary and agender people (including those who do not identify as 'trans'), people with intersex characteristics who seek recognition distinct from 'LGBTQ', polyamorous and/or multi-partnered people, people in BDSM/kink and/or queerplatonic forms of kinship, and many more people who matter. This includes people who use other language to describe their excluded or marginalised GBKS lived experiences or who may not use labels to describe themselves.

By bodily diversity, we include not only variations associated with sex characteristics, but also the well-established intersections of people's gender, kinship, and sexuality lived experiences with disability, body size, and neurodivergence.

Queer kinships have been widely researched and discussed in many queer communities, both locally and around the world. For PACFA members who are unfamiliar with this concept and why we and many others have shifted to discuss "kinships" instead of "relationships", we invite you to explore the many available sources on this topic by people and communities with queer lived experience through an internet search for this term.

PACFA’s Diversity in GBKS Interest Group raises awareness about, advocates for, and promotes culturally safe practice within PACFA across this broad range of cultures, communities, and people.

What is the purpose of this phase of our consultation?

PACFA acknowledges the need to hear from people with excluded or marginalised lived experiences to increase awareness and understanding of the range of these experiences as relevant to the practices of counselling, psychotherapy, and Indigenous, Aboriginal, and/or Torres Strait Islander healing practices. This consultation will inform PACFA’s Action Plan to acknowledge and take actions to repair historic harms to people and communities with excluded or marginalised GBKS lived experiences.

Please note that this current phase of the multi-stage process is a practitioner consultation to inform PACFA's ongoing policies and practices and future research design. It is not designed to be a formal research study.

Who are we consulting at this phase?

This initial phase is intended to seek broader engagement with PACFA members, including students, with excluded or marginalised GBKS lived experiences, in order to inform PACFA on what to include in the apology, statement of intent, action plan, and process of doing this work.

We value all practitioners with professional experience of working with people and communities with excluded or marginalised GBKS lived experiences. We look forward to learning from the valuable insights of these practitioners at future stages of this project.

How much time do I need to contribute?

This consultation survey uses a custom path for each person responding. This means that the number of questions you will be asked will vary based on your responses to previous questions. Depending on your responses and how much information you choose to share, responding might take as little as 5 minutes or longer than an hour. Before you start, it might help to find a comfortable and private space where you are unlikely to be interrupted or disturbed. If you have a lot that you want to share, we want to hear it. If you are concerned about losing content, then you might want to save responses in a separate word processor document and paste them into this form later.

When will the consultation survey be open until?

We have extended the original survey open period one final time to Tuesday 30th April 11:59 pm AEDT.

Where will the results of this consultation be shared?

De-identified means removing personally identifying information (e.g., names, places, people, organisations, etc.).

Information you share with us for this practitioner consultation may be shared in de-identified form on PACFA's website, in a published report shared with PACFA members, and/or shared in other publicly available content.

By consenting to participate, you consent for us to de-identify and share any information provided to us for the purpose of this consultation.

How will you protect my privacy?

Contributing to this consultation is entirely voluntary. The consultation form has been created in Snapforms, which conforms to the Australian Privacy Principles and is also GDPR-compliant.

All answers will be anonymous unless you provide personally identifying contact information, which is not required.

Your original responses will be stored in a securely encrypted, password-protected electronic account held by the Convenor of the Diversity in GBKS Leadership Team. Answers shared beyond the Diversity in GBKS Leadership Team will be de-identified as needed to protect your privacy before being shared beyond the team with PACFA and the public.

What if my disability and/or neurodivergent needs make written answers difficult?

This consultation has been designed for compatibility with text-to-speech and speech-to-text software. Please let us know if you encounter any barriers to using this software when attempting to share information with us for this consultation.

If it would be more accessible for you to share your information in another format, such as by telephone, please contact us by email at GBKS@pacfa.org.au so that this can be arranged.

If you are unable to access email for initial contact, then you can contact the PACFA office by telephone on 03 9046 2270 from Monday to Friday 9 am - 5 pm AEDT to leave your contact phone number for someone in the Diversity in GBKS Leadership Team to contact you.

Despite our best efforts to provide inclusive and accessible options within our capacity, we also acknowledge that these options might still not meet some people's disability needs. We welcome you to let us know how we can continue to do better.

What if I have accessibility needs and do not have an anonymous way to contact you?

If you require phone or messaging app contact to meet your accessibility needs and do not already have an anonymous email account, you (or a support person, if you have one and need help to do this) can create a free, securely encrypted, and anonymous email account here:

https://proton.me/mail

You can then contact us to arrange a phone call or another form of contact.

What are the potential risks to my participation?

Although there are many potential benefits to your participation that we have discussed above, we also recognise that sharing experiences of exclusion, marginalisation, and mistreatment can be distressing and might be triggering for some respondents.

Before you begin responding, we encourage you to consider your own capacity in terms of energy ('spoons'), time, and emotional support resources to manage distress if it occurs. You might wish to discuss your experience with a support person after completing this survey.

General support services:

A list of general crisis support and suicide prevention services is available here:

https://www.projectairstrategy.org/content/groups/public/@web/@project-air/documents/doc/uow243767.pdf

For overseas services, you can locate a crisis or suicide prevention hotline in your area:

http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html

and

https://ibpf.org/resource/list-international-suicide-hotlines

GBKS-specific support services:

QLife: Provides free, anonymous "LGBTQI+" peer support by phone or text-based chat from 3 pm to midnight every day https://qlife.org.au 1800 184 527

InterLink: Provides mental health and wellbeing services to people with innate variations of sex characteristics and their family members located anywhere in Australia https://www.ilink.net.au

Practitioner Lived Experience

Diversity in gender, body, kinship, and sexuality (GBKS) refers to a range of cultures, communities, and people whose gender, body, kinship and/or sexuality lived experiences are or have been excluded or marginalised.

Based on the definition above, do you consider yourself to be a person with GBKS lived experience? *

YesNo

Are you a PACFA member or PACFA student member? *

YesNo

Thank you! :)

Thank you for considering this consultation. :)

Although we are unable to collect your information at this initial phase of consultation with PACFA member and PACFA student member practitioners with excluded or marginalised GBKS lived experiences, we look forward to future opportunities for you to contribute to later stages of this consultation process in the future.

With appreciation,

The PACFA Diversity in GBKS Leadership Team

Your GBKS Lived Experiences

Note: The use of open text boxes below is intended as a more inclusive alternative to checklists that prioritise specific labels or terms to describe GBKS lived experiences.

Some possible responses might include more checklist-type terms like queer, bi, Brotherboy, transfeminine, intersex, Switch, relationship anarchist, etc., as well as more narrative descriptions such as "I have multiple partners of multiple genders and my gender fluctuates". These are just a few of many possible examples to help you to get started. :) )

You can write "prefer not to say" in any text box, if you do not wish to share.

Gender(s) or non-gender

Please share how you describe your own gender(s) (or non-gender), including your gender history, identity, experience, and/or expression (Some possible responses might include but are not limited to: agender, genderfluid, Sistergirl, Brotherboy, transfeminine, woman with a trans history, man of trans experience, fem spec, man-adjacent, genderqueer, etc.) *

Body

Please share how you describe your own bodily lived experience. (Some possible responses might include but are not limited to: endosex (non-intersex) person, intersex person, person with intersex characteristics, etc. This might also include any intersections of your gender, kinship, and sexuality lived experiences with disability, body size, and/or neurodivergence.) *

Note: In the following two open text fields, it's fine if there is some overlap for you between kinship / relationships and sexuality / sexualities, as many people use similar terms to describe their relationships and their sexualities. We want to know how you describe these aspects of your lived experience. If you are unfamiliar with queer kinships, you are welcome to learn more about this globally recognised concept through an internet search before completing this section if you wish.

Kinship and/or relationships

Please share how you describe your kinship and/or relationships. (Some possible responses might include but are not limited to: queer, same-gender, polyamorous, multi-partnered, monogamous, aromantic / aro spectrum, relationship anarchist, kinky, D/s Dom, sub, or Switch, etc.) *

Sexuality or sexualities

Please share how you describe your sexuality or sexualities. (Some possible responses might include but are not limited to: bi, queer, pan, asexual / ace spectrum, polyamorous, kinky, D/s Dom, sub, or Switch, etc.) *

Your Profession(s)

We would love to find out a bit more about you professionally. :)

In the following question, the term student refers to a person who has not yet completed a qualifying degree or course credential required for Provisional PACFA registration. Some students might also be practising counsellors, psychotherapists, and/or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander healing practitioners.

Are you a student of counselling, psychotherapy, and/or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander healing practices? *

Yes, I am studying counselling onlyYes, I am studying psychotherapy onlyYes, I am studying Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander healing practices onlyYes, I am studying both counselling and psychotherapyYes, I am studying both counselling and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander healing practicesYes, I am studying psychotherapy and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander healing practicesYes, I am studying counselling, psychotherapy, and/or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander healing practicesNo

Are you a counsellor? *

YesNo

Are you a psychotherapist? *

YesNo

Are you an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander healing practitioner? *

YesNo

For how many years have you been practising as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander healing practitioner? *

Belonging, Dignity, and Justice (BDJ)

The Belonging, Dignity, and Justice (BDJ) framework is an action-oriented, values-based way to work toward meaningful change in a Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) framework. (This is often known as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion or DEI.)

The following questions will use three definitions adapted from the Belonging, Dignity, and Justice (BDJ) framework:

Belonging means feeling safe and accepted for who you are. It means feeling able to be yourself without hiding, masking, or changing aspects of your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality to fit in, to be included, or to be accepted.
Dignity means respecting and honouring your inherent voice and value, including respected and honouring how you express and experience your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality.
Justice means “making right” or “repairing what has been ruptured”, including when organisations formally acknowledge accountability for historic and/or ongoing systemic forms of oppression and discrimination and taking action to make reparations. Justice means not glossing over or minimising past harms or problematising you when you raise concerns about feeling marginalised.

Belonging

Belonging means feeling safe and accepted for who you are. It means feeling able to be yourself without hiding, masking, or changing aspects of your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality to fit in, to be included, or to be accepted.

Consider the definition of Belonging above as a person with your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality lived experiences.

Note: If you are a new PACFA member or a student with limited familiarity with PACFA and/or these profession(s), please respond as best you can based on your current impressions and perceptions.

As a person with your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality lived experiences...

What has contributed to your sense of Belonging in PACFA?

What barriers have you faced to your sense of Belonging in PACFA?

As a person with your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality lived experiences...

What has contributed to your sense of Belonging in your profession(s) (e.g., degree programs, professional development training, other practitioners, and other professional bodies)?

What barriers have you faced to your sense of Belonging in your profession(s) (e.g., degree programs, professional development training, other practitioners, and other professional bodies)?

What could PACFA do to increase your sense of Belonging in PACFA and/or in your profession(s) (e.g., degree programs, professional development training, other practitioners, and other professional bodies)?

Dignity

Dignity means respecting and honouring your inherent voice and value, including respected and honouring how you express and experience your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality.

Consider the definition of Dignity above as a person with your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality lived experiences.

Note: If you are a new PACFA member or a student with limited familiarity with PACFA and/or these profession(s), please respond as best you can based on your current impressions and perceptions.

As a person with your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality lived experiences...

What has contributed to your sense of Dignity in PACFA?

What barriers have you faced to your Dignity in PACFA?

As a person with your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality lived experiences...

What has contributed to your sense of Dignity in your profession(s) (e.g., degree programs, professional development training, other practitioners, and other professional bodies)?

What barriers have you faced to your Dignity in your profession(s) (e.g., degree programs, professional development training, other practitioners, and other professional bodies)?

What could PACFA do to improve your Dignity in PACFA and/or in your profession(s) (e.g., degree programs, professional development training, other practitioners, and other professional bodies)?

Justice

Justice means “making right” or “repairing what has been ruptured”, including when organisations formally acknowledge accountability for historic and/or ongoing systemic forms of oppression and discrimination. This includes taking action to make reparations. Justice means not glossing over or minimising past harms or problematising you when you raise concerns about feeling marginalised as a person with your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality lived experiences.

Consider the definition of Justice above as a person with your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality lived experiences.

Note: If you are a new PACFA member or a student with limited familiarity with PACFA and/or these profession(s), please respond as best you can based on your current impressions and perceptions.

As a person with your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality lived experiences...

What has contributed to your sense of Justice in PACFA?

What barriers to Justice have you encountered in PACFA?

As a person with your gender, body, kinship, and/or sexuality lived experiences...

What has contributed to your sense of Justice in your profession(s) (e.g., degree programs, professional development training, other practitioners, and other professional bodies)?

What barriers to Justice have you encountered in your profession(s) (e.g., degree programs, professional development training, other practitioners, and other professional bodies)?

What could PACFA do to achieve and maintain Justice in PACFA and/or in your profession(s) (e.g., degree programs, professional development training, other practitioners, and other professional bodies)?

Submit your responses

By clicking 'Submit':

you consent to have your original responses shared with the PACFA Diversity in GBKS Leadership Group team
you also consent and to have any information you share with us for this consultation shared in de-identified form for advocacy, education, policy submissions, practice guidance, research design, reports, and/or publication purposes, both within PACFA and with the general public

Do you consent to sharing your information under these terms? *

Yes, I consentNo, I do not consent

Would you like someone from the GBKS Leadership Group to follow up with you about your responses? *

YesNo

Thank you for your interested in being in contact with us. Please provide us with your name, pronouns, and preferred method of contact. Let us know if there are any further details we need to know about how and when to contact you in a way that feels safe and comfortable for you.