This page is simply to provide a reference to the Constitution of the AFRF for anyone considering becoming a member of the AFRF. Members are expected to support the objectives and Constitution of the AFRF.
A sense of what we are about can obviously be gained from these web pages, particularly:
- AFRF Home page
- Who We Are,
- Our Vision
- and items under Our Services and Programs.
Our Constitution states the “Charitable Purposes” of the AFRF. These are the objects of the AFRF: the formal statement of what we are about, what we do and pursue.
A downloadable copy of our full constitution can be viewed here. The exact wording of the Charitable Purposes clause (clause 6) is provided below, where “company” refers to the Australian First Responder Foundation Ltd.
The company is established to be a charity whose purpose is to:
- advance the mental health and wellbeing of Emergency Service First Responders, seeking to improve the resilience, strengthen the supportive networks and ensure effective prevention and coping strategies for first responders to deal with trauma and stress are in place, and
- advance the education and promotion of effective methods for the treatment and support of Emergency Service First Responders to first responders and their families and employers in the effects, treatment and support needed to deal with the trauma experienced in the course of their duties, and
- advance the mental welfare and prevent and relieve the distress experienced by Emergency Service First Responders arising through their participation in critical and traumatic events in the course of their duties
The company will seek to achieve this by:
- Improving training, participation and research into improving the effectiveness of programs for first responders in the techniques and methods to build mental health resilience and recovery. This activity may, where considered appropriate, include the immediate family members and/or employees with direct responsibilities for training and development within first responder organisations in the methods and techniques to be applied in supporting Emergency Service First Responders.
- Conducting educational events to promote the mental health and wellbeing of first responders including early intervention, suicide prevention, resiliency training and peer support training arising from exposure to critical incidents.
- Hosting forums that bring together local, national and international leaders, academics, first responder organisations and peer support program developers for the purpose of advancing the collective best practice understanding and application of peer support programs for first responders.
- Providing financial support towards the costs of first responders who require the ongoing services of a psychologist/psychotherapist that they are unable to afford or access.
- Establishing access to services that provide mental health wellbeing education and training activities that support first responders to prevent and overcome the effects of traumatic events, including the use and establishment of retreats in which to deliver those services.
- Providing the relief from the mental stressors of working as a first responder through activities that seek to alleviate, effectively deal with, or allow the stresses experienced to be shared amongst their peers and, in appropriate circumstances, their families.
- Conducting fund raising activities and make appropriate applications to bodies to finance, conduct, assist and partner with to deliver the services listed in this clause and administer the company in accord with this Constitution.