Our Mission
We believe safer workplaces, schools, sporting clubs and communities are created when people feel respected, trusted, connected and empowered to contribute.
Our mission is to help build a future where people work, lead and live differently. We do this by designing work, leadership and culture around trust, autonomy, flexibility and inclusion.
Be There Group is Australia's original and leading bystander training consultancy, delivering workplace culture and prevention programs across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Founded on the principle of calling people in rather than calling them out, the business equips organisations to prevent harm before it happens, rather than simply responding after the fact.
Co-Founded by Shaan Ross-Smith and Kirsty Tschirpig, alongside Executive Director of Partnerships and Strategy Hayden Whitworth, Be There Group draws on more than 25 years of frontline experience across Queensland Corrective Services, the Queensland Parole Board, DVConnect, and Griffith University's MATE Bystander Program, which produced the Be There App, now owned by the Be There Group. This depth of lived and applied expertise underpins a facilitation model now delivered by a national network of approximately 30 specialist facilitators.
The business partners with leading employers including Hastings Deering, Volvo Trucks, Sportsbet, Mirvac, Perenti Group, Powerlink, and Logan City Council, as well as state and federal government bodies, to build psychologically safe, respectful workplaces. Its flagship bystander framework has been adapted for sectors ranging from heavy industry to professional services, and its facilitators are now trained through a purpose-built Train the Trainer certification pathway, extending the organisation's reach and impact without compromising quality.
Be There Group's work sits squarely within Australia's evolving psychosocial safety landscape, including the Codes of Practice that became legally enforceable from 1 July 2026, positioning the business as a trusted partner for organisations navigating new compliance obligations around workplace harm prevention.
Beyond commercial delivery, the founders established Be There Foundation, a registered Public Benevolent Institution providing direct, practical support to women impacted by domestic and family violence, reflecting the organisation's broader commitment to systemic, upstream change.
Recognised with a Stevie Award for its contribution to workplace culture change, and with Shaan Ross-Smith individually recognised by Her Majesty the Queen in 2024 for her work in violence prevention, Be There Group has built a reputation for pairing rigorous, evidence-based facilitation with genuine warmth and courage, living out its tagline: Show up. Speak up. Be There.
Our approach
Our approach is simple: we work upstream. Instead of waiting for harm to reach a complaint or a headline, we build the skills and confidence of everyday employees, leaders and teams to notice it early and step in before it escalates.
That approach is built on one core philosophy: calling people in, not calling them out. We don't shame or exclude people for getting it wrong. Most people want to do the right thing, they just don't always know how, so our programs are built around curiosity, courage and connection, not compliance and fear. It's why our facilitators, many with lived and professional experience in corrections, psychology and social services, talk about coercive control or bystander intervention from real experience, not a script. That authenticity is what shifts culture, and it's why clients like Hastings Deering and Volvo Trucks have stayed with us for years, not just one-off sessions.