International Day for Tolerance: VMHPAA calls for a shift from tolerance to acceptance and everyday practices that build belonging
- Shane Warren
- Oct 16
- 2 min read
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
16 October 2025
The Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association of Australia (VMHPAA) marks the International Day for Tolerance by urging communities, workplaces, and services to go beyond “putting up with” differences and move toward acceptance creating cultures where people feel safe, respected, and able to belong.
Tolerance may keep the peace for a moment; acceptance sustains it. In mental health, that difference is profound: when people are met with curiosity, cultural safety, and dignity, they seek help earlier, stay engaged longer, and experience better outcomes.
“Tolerance is a first step, but it’s not the destination,” said Shane Warren, Chair of VMHPAA. “Acceptance looks like everyday behaviours: learning the right words, checking our assumptions, creating psychologically safe spaces, and standing up to prejudice. That’s how we move from being ‘polite’ to being truly inclusive.”
“Belonging is built in the small moments,” added Susan Sandy, VMHPAA Secretary and relationship counsellor. “When services reflect people’s culture, language, faith, gender, sexuality, disability, and lived experience, trust grows and healing becomes possible.”
VMHPAA’s call to action
Move from awareness to practice. Embed cultural safety and identity-affirming care in intake, assessment, supervision, and feedback not just in policies.
Make spaces psychologically safe. Set clear behaviour standards; call in bias and micro-aggressions; protect reporting channels; repair harms when they occur.
Value lived and vocational expertise. Employ and recognise peer workers and vocationally trained counsellors alongside other disciplines to meet people where they are.
Resource access, not just rhetoric. Provide interpreters, translated materials, sliding-scale fees, outreach options, and trauma-informed environments.
Co-design and measure. Partner with communities to design services; track who is missing from care; share results and improve openly.
NOTE: VMHPAA acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia and affirms the dignity and rights of LGBTIQA+SB communities, people with disability, migrants, refugees, international students, and all who face barriers to safety and care.
If your organisation wants practical support to strengthen cultural safety, supervision, and inclusive practice, VMHPAA can connect you with experienced vocational practitioners and resources that work in real-world settings.
Media Contact:
Shane Warren, Chair
Susan Sandy, Secretary
Philip Armstrong, CEO
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