At BGF, every day is RU OK Day
Here at BGF, we get into people’s lives quite deeply. The people we support have been marginalised and are vulnerable and they face enormous challenges in society. Every day, we are thinking about how we can support our clients - it’s the inherent nature of what we do. We ask what people need and we ask how people how they are coping with life.
We love supporting people and helping them on their journey in life – it comes naturally to us. But amongst our colleagues and outside our working lives, it can be hard to ask someone ‘Are you ok?’
Research has shown that people who have good relationships with family, friends, and their community are happier, have fewer health problems, and live longer. This is something we should all try and focus on in our daily lives.
A lot of the time, people just need to be heard. They need someone to listen to them.
“I feel really fortunate. I’ve had some pretty confronting challenges that have come up since I started working at BGF.
But I’m lucky enough to have a super supportive manager who always asks and checks in with me, I have super supportive colleagues that spend time with me and listen when I need support and even Nick our CEO, who has checked in with me regularly, shares some of his challenges which helps normalises how I’m feeling.
This makes such a huge difference. I feel really fortunate to be a part of such a supportive workplace.”
Matt Rule, Communications and Advocacy Coordinator at BGF
BGF was founded on the concept of RU OK. Back in 1984, a couple of friends asked Bobby Goldsmith, ‘Are you ok?’ and he actually wasn’t. After they looked after Bobby and made his last few weeks of life comfortable, they realised that there was so many more people living with HIV in Sydney that could benefit from someone looking out for them.
And from this inspiration, BGF was born. We were born out of love. Love for an individual that has grown into the organisation that we are today.
We keep checking in and we will keep checking in until we are no longer needed. We are walking by the side of our clients in their journey, and sometimes we’re there only ones they see. We feel privileged every day.
