Respectful & Safe Workplaces
Whether you're strengthening your organisation's investigation capability, responding to complex workplace complaints like bullying or sexual harassment, or ensuring investigation processes align with WHS psychosocial risk obligations and Respect@Work reforms, this program equips you to conduct investigations that are safe, fair, legally defensible, and compliant with legal obligations.
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Behaviour-first. Evidence-based. Built to last.
Strengthening investigation capability
Workplace investigations are critical to organisational governance. When done well, they provide a fair, structured process for addressing complaints, protect the rights of all parties, and generate findings leaders can rely on for decisions about misconduct, organisational risk, and accountability.
However, many workplace investigation frameworks were developed for legal or adversarial settings and do not fully account for trauma, psychosocial hazards, or workplace power dynamics. Here are concerns we hear from HR and investigation teams:
"We want our investigations to be robust, but we're concerned about causing harm in the process."
"How do we respond to trauma reactions without compromising procedural fairness?"
"Our investigators are experienced, but they're not always confident interpreting behaviours influenced by trauma."
Program snapshot
This highly interactive training equips investigators and organisational leaders with practical frameworks to conduct trauma-informed investigations while maintaining procedural fairness, evidentiary rigour, and legal compliance.
HR and People & Culture professionals, Employee Relations and IR specialists, internal and external investigators, legal and compliance professionals, WHS and psychosocial risk specialists, and leaders managing or escalating complaints.
How investigations are planned, conducted, and concluded from intake and triage through interviewing, findings, and aftercare, shifting from traditional adversarial models toward trauma-informed investigative practice that is people-centred, culturally aware, and responsive to those who have experienced trauma.
Focused on capability, not awareness. This program embeds trauma-informed principles into all investigative stages while maintaining procedural fairness, evidentiary standards, and legal defensibility.
Respect@Work and Positive Duty compliance, WHS psychosocial risk management, complaints handling systems, workplace misconduct investigations, and broader organisational culture reform programs.
Half-day recommended (3+ hours), with options for full-day or modular delivery: in-person or live virtual across Australia. Also available as webinars, keynotes, or 90-minute workshops.
Reform-grade Respect at Work, delivered at the heart of government.
NSW Parliament
Culture Plus Consulting was engaged by NSW Parliament to design and deliver Respect at Work and Trauma Informed Response training across its workforce, a flagship reform initiative responding to the Broderick Review of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct in NSW parliamentary workplaces. This engagement represents a proud achievement in delivering reform-grade Respect at Work training in high-scrutiny environments.
NSW Premier's Department
In an ongoing engagement, Culture Plus Consulting delivers Respect at Work training to the Premier, Ministers and Ministerial staff, a key recommendation of the Goward Review aimed at building respectful, safe and accountable workplaces at the heart of government.
What this training covers
Traditional investigation approaches can weaken rigour and inadvertently cause harm. This training equips investigators and organisational leaders with practical skills to embed respect, protect psychological safety, and conduct investigations that minimise harm while maintaining fairness and evidentiary rigour.
Explore how trauma influences memory, behaviour, communication, and participation. Understand how responses like fragmented recall, emotional reactions, or perceived inconsistencies may be misinterpreted in traditional interviews. Learn to recognise trauma responses and minimise re-traumatisation.
Learn key principles guiding trauma-informed investigative practice, including safety, trustworthiness, transparency, empowerment, collaboration, peer support, and cultural awareness. Understand how these principles support wellbeing while strengthening investigative integrity and legal defensibility.
Develop practical interviewing skills that improve evidence quality while reducing harm. Learn how to ask open-ended, neutral questions, manage emotionally complex interviews, and gather reliable information without creating unnecessary distress or re-traumatisation. Participants learn to empower investigation parties by allowing control over interview pace, timing, and setting.
Understand how power dynamics, organisational hierarchies, and workplace culture influence participation. Learn strategies to support complainants, respondents, and witnesses while maintaining fairness, impartiality, and objectivity.
Explore how identity, culture, gender, and lived experience influence engagement with investigations. Develop culturally responsive approaches that recognise diverse experiences while maintaining consistent standards.
Apply trauma-informed principles across the entire investigation lifecycle from complaint intake and triage through interviews, communication, documentation, findings, and follow-up. Learn how investigation systems can reduce psychosocial risk while strengthening organisational trust.
What changes after this training
Complainants, respondents, and witnesses experience investigations as fairer, more respectful, and less distressing. Trauma-informed approaches improve psychological safety, encouraging cooperation and participation. Investigators gain confidence to manage sensitive interviews, recognise trauma responses, and navigate emotionally complex situations while maintaining fairness and procedural integrity.
Selected work
Trusted partners
I thank Felicity Menzies for the initial training sessions and commend her on the job that she has done.
Our methodology
Every Culture Plus program is built on the same evidence-based methodology. Hover any step for detail:
Your facilitator
CEO, Author and Principal Consultant
Every Culture Plus engagement is delivered with behavioural rigour and practical relevance by Felicity Menzies, organisational psychology specialist, author, and expert facilitator.
Endorsed capability partner
Culture Plus Consulting is proud to design and deliver flagship DEI programs for the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) (Australia's peak HR professional body), supporting HR leaders and practitioners to build capability for inclusive leadership and organisational change.
Connect with us to explore how evidence-based DEI training can help your organisation build capability, strengthen culture, and deliver meaningful, measurable change.
From the book
Culture is the sum of behaviours leaders permit, model, and reward.A World of Difference: Felicity Menzies →
Free guide
This guide outlines the essential conditions for effective training that builds lasting investigator capability, moving beyond awareness to practical skills that create safer, fairer, and more defensible workplace investigations.
Download the guideFrequently asked questions
If you have a question we haven't covered, write to us. A real human responds within one working day.
A trauma-informed workplace investigation applies principles of safety, fairness, and respect throughout the process. It recognises how trauma affects memory, communication, and behaviour while maintaining procedural fairness and evidentiary standards.
No. Trauma-informed investigations strengthen fairness by improving evidence quality and ensuring balanced treatment of complainants, respondents, and witnesses.
Procedural knowledge alone does not prepare investigators for trauma responses, emotionally complex interviews, or power dynamics. This training builds specialised capability to manage those situations effectively.
No. The program is designed for non-clinical professionals. Participants learn practical techniques to recognise trauma responses, conduct sensitive interviews, and manage their own wellbeing through self care practices without clinical expertise.
Australian WHS frameworks increasingly recognise investigation processes as potential psychosocial hazards. Trauma-informed investigations reduce harm risk during complaints handling and strengthen compliance with Respect at Work expectations and positive duty obligations.
Still have questions?
Talk to FelicityWhile you're here
Meet the Sex Discrimination Act positive duty with evidence, controls and assurance.
Positive Duty Advisory →Surface lived experience safely, without re-traumatising participants or biasing findings.
Trauma-Informed Focus Groups →Independent, evidence-based reviews of workplace culture, conduct and risk.
Culture Reviews →Further reading
Build investigation capability that is safe, fair and defensible
It's about building capability that protects your people, strengthens governance, and ensures your organisation meets people on their worst day with safety, structure, and care, without sacrificing rigour.
Discuss your investigation team's needs
