about us

Our philosophy

Support that follows the person, not the category.

Threshing Floor is not built around a particular transaction, diagnosis, problem or professional discipline. Our support follows the person and the journey they are navigating.

Our philosophy is simple: Less Noise, More Clarity.

For us, that idea reaches well beyond any one profession, service category or circumstance. It reflects a way of helping people work through uncertainty, competing considerations and difficult circumstances so that what matters can become easier to recognise.

Support across life

People rarely experience life in neat professional categories.

A relationship breakdown may bring emotional distress, housing uncertainty and financial pressure at the same time. Addiction may intersect with relationships, employment, accommodation and mental health. Grief may affect work, family and decision-making. Someone experiencing abuse may simultaneously be dealing with legal, financial, accommodation and personal challenges. Major property, family, financial or practical decisions can also arise while other parts of life are already demanding attention.

Threshing Floor exists in that human space between the different parts of life.

Members may approach the Association while navigating major personal or family decisions; separation or relationship breakdown; grief and loss; depression, anxiety or emotional distress; substance misuse or addiction; domestic or family violence, abuse or coercive relationships; financial hardship or disadvantage; housing instability; social isolation; challenging negotiations or communications; interactions with institutions and professionals; significant life transitions; property-related decisions; or simply uncertainty about what to do next.

The circumstances may differ considerably. The common denominator is the person.

We support people, not categories of problems.

What support may look like

Personal, practical and circumstance-dependent.

Support may involve listening, coaching, education, practical assistance, helping organise information, working through competing considerations, identifying questions, researching general information, preparing for important conversations, assisting a member to communicate their own interests, considering practical next steps, or helping identify where specialist professional assistance may be required.

Sometimes the most useful contribution is information.

Sometimes it is perspective.

Sometimes it is helping bring order to an overwhelming situation.

Sometimes it is having someone sufficiently removed from the circumstances to help distinguish what matters from what does not.

And sometimes it is simply ensuring that a person does not have to navigate a difficult journey entirely alone.

Our purpose is not to take control of a member’s decisions. It is to help create greater clarity, understanding, confidence and capacity, so that the member is better equipped to make their own decisions and engage effectively with the people and professionals around them.

Considered support

We take on support where we believe we can genuinely add value.

Threshing Floor is intentionally personal and considered in the way it works with members. We do not operate as a high-volume service, nor do we assume that every request for support is necessarily one in which the Association should become involved.

Requests for support are considered individually and triaged against current availability, capacity, the nature and complexity of the circumstances, the Association’s capability to assist and, importantly, whether we reasonably believe our involvement can add meaningful value.

There will therefore be circumstances in which Threshing Floor is unable to accept a request for support, recommends that specialist professional assistance take priority, or determines that the Association is not the appropriate source of assistance for a particular matter.

An enquiry, membership or request for assistance does not of itself create an obligation upon Threshing Floor to undertake or continue a particular support engagement.

This allows the Association to remain considered in the support it provides and to avoid accepting circumstances in which its involvement would add little value, exceed its present capability or capacity, or risk displacing assistance more appropriately provided by a qualified professional or specialist service.

Where we are unable to assist, that should not be interpreted as a judgment upon the seriousness, legitimacy or importance of a person’s circumstances.

Sometimes the responsible decision is simply to recognise when someone else is better placed to help.

Supporting the work

A member-supported Association.

Threshing Floor is not a charity and does not represent itself as a charitable organisation or emergency welfare service.

The Association requires resources to undertake its activities, support its members, develop projects and pursue its wider purposes.

Its work is therefore supported through member contributions, fees and other lawful forms of financial or practical support received from members in furtherance of the Association’s projects, activities and purposes.

Those contributions allow Threshing Floor to maintain the capacity, systems, research, resources and time required to support members and to develop initiatives consistent with the purposes of the Association.

The amount or form of a contribution may vary according to the nature of a particular project, support engagement or member circumstance. In some cases a defined contribution or fee may apply. In others, the Association may determine that a different arrangement is appropriate having regard to the circumstances, available resources and the purposes being pursued.

The fact that Threshing Floor may seek or receive contributions should not be confused with charitable fundraising or an entitlement to charitable tax treatment.

The Association’s ability to assist is necessarily influenced by the resources available to it. Member contributions help sustain both the immediate work of the Association and its capacity to develop future projects and purposes.

Accordingly, Threshing Floor seeks to bring together two important principles: support should remain human and purpose-driven; and the Association must remain sufficiently resourced to continue providing that support responsibly.

Our role and its boundaries

Support is not a substitute for professional advice.

Threshing Floor provides general education, information, coaching, practical support and non-professional member assistance.

We do not position the Association as a substitute for qualified professionals whose expertise may be required at different stages of a member’s journey.

Threshing Floor does not provide licensed, registered or regulated professional services, including:

• legal advice, legal representation or conveyancing;
• financial, credit, lending, taxation or accounting advice;
• financial-product or investment advice;
• medical or health advice, diagnosis or treatment;
• psychiatric or psychological diagnosis, assessment or treatment;
• psychology, counselling or psychotherapy;
• mental-health treatment or clinical case management;
• drug, alcohol, addiction or rehabilitation treatment;
• clinical trauma or abuse treatment;
• crisis intervention or emergency mental-health services;
• buyer advocacy, vendor advocacy, estate agency or other real-estate services requiring a licence, authority or statutory appointment;
• property-investment advice or valuation services; or
• any other professional or regulated service for which licensing, registration, accreditation, statutory authority or specialist professional qualification is required.

Where one of those services is required, responsibility for that professional service belongs with the appropriately qualified professional.

Threshing Floor may nevertheless support the person around that professional process. That might mean helping a member organise information before an appointment, clarify the questions they wish to ask, understand general processes, prepare for important conversations, document their own concerns, communicate their own wishes and interests, or navigate the practical circumstances surrounding professional advice and services being provided by others.

Health, mental health and vulnerable circumstances

Human support without representing ourselves as clinical care.

Threshing Floor may support members experiencing depression, anxiety, emotional distress, grief, trauma, substance misuse, addiction, alcohol or drug dependence, abuse, family violence, coercive relationships, isolation, disadvantage or other difficult personal circumstances.

Our involvement in those circumstances remains supportive, educational and practical.

Threshing Floor does not diagnose, assess, treat or clinically manage any physical or mental-health condition.

We do not prescribe or recommend medication, conduct psychological assessments, develop treatment plans, provide counselling or psychotherapy, undertake addiction treatment or rehabilitation, or replace a doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, counsellor, social worker, addiction specialist or other appropriately qualified practitioner.

A member may nevertheless benefit from practical support around those circumstances — for example, organising information, identifying questions, preparing to speak with a professional, considering practical next steps, locating general information, communicating concerns or remaining connected with appropriate support.

Where circumstances involve self-harm, suicidal thoughts, immediate danger, serious abuse, acute mental-health concerns, severe substance-related risk or another emergency, appropriate professional, specialist or emergency assistance should be sought.

Threshing Floor is not an emergency, crisis-response or 24-hour support service.

Information, education and support disclaimer

General support and information only.

Information, observations, discussions, resources, coaching and other content made available by Threshing Floor are provided for general educational, informational, support and entertainment purposes only.

They do not constitute professional advice, diagnosis, treatment or professional representation and should not be relied upon as a substitute for independent legal, financial, medical, psychological, psychiatric, therapeutic, investment, taxation, property or other appropriately qualified professional advice.

Nothing communicated by Threshing Floor should be understood as a recommendation to enter into, proceed with, refrain from or terminate a particular transaction, treatment, professional engagement or course of action.

Nor does the Association represent or guarantee that any particular outcome will result from information, support, coaching or assistance provided.

Where specialist considerations arise, members should obtain independent advice from appropriately licensed, registered or qualified professionals.

Member agency

The member remains at the centre of the decision.

At the centre of the Threshing Floor approach is respect for the member’s own agency.

Members remain responsible for their own decisions, instructions, actions, wellbeing and engagement with professional advisers.

Our role is not to decide for a member.

It is to help a member see more clearly what may matter, understand the questions before them, navigate uncertainty, engage effectively with the appropriate people around them and remain supported while determining their own way forward.

We do not seek to replace the family, friends, community organisations, professionals or specialist services that may already surround a member. Where appropriate, our role is to help the member engage with those resources more effectively.

Threshing Floor exists to contribute where it has the capacity, capability and opportunity to add value.