Psychological safety—feeling safe to be oneself, take risks, and speak candidly—has been predominantly instrumentalised as a tool for driving innovation and profit in organisations. This presentation argues for a fundamental shift in perspective: feeling safe is a basic human right, not merely a means to an end. The current focus on staff dynamics often overlooks service recipients, creating an artificial divide in our shared humanity. Using a case study of virtual disability supports, this talk proposes reconceptualising psychological safety as a systemic construct encompassing both mattering and belonging – for everyone. When human interdependency is valued, social services that are genuinely relational rather than instrumental become possible, and the potential to create the systemic conditions for psychological safety arises from a valid purpose, that overrides the logic of outcomes and impact.
