Our People to Live Stronger & Longer

Author: Ashleigh Brissett

Barranggirra: Skilling for Employment Mentoring Program

Posted on by Ashleigh Brissett

Barranggirra will provide end to end support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait  Islander learners through culturally appropriate mentoring to ensure successful retention and completion of training and improved post-training employment outcomes.

Barranggirra aims to achieve the following objectives for Aboriginal people:

  • Increased access, retention and completion of vocational education
    and training.
  • Aspiration and expectation of career pathways.
  • Improved post-training outcomes.
  • Increased placement in meaningful and sustainable employment.
  • Greater confidence in making decisions that maximise training and employment experiences and outcomes.
  • Greater opportunity for Aboriginal business ownership and economic independence.

For further information, please see attached flyer or reach out and contact our Barranggirra team via email barra@ungooroo.com.au or call mobile: 0448233817 and the team will assist with your enquiries. 

First Nations Advance Care Yarning

Posted on by Ashleigh Brissett

To celebrate National Advance Care Planning Week, 17 – 23 March 2025, and National Close the Gap Day, Thursday 20 March, Advance Care Planning Australia is encouraging First Nations individuals to have a cuppa and a yarn, cause we need to know before you go.

Advance care planning is about making sure your wishes for medical treatment and care are known and respected if you become too unwell to speak for yourself. By having a yarn over a cuppa with family, friends, or healthcare workers, you can share what matters most to you—whether it’s cultural, spiritual, or medical preferences—so that your loved ones and healthcare providers understand your choices.

See the media release here.

Event details:
Date: Thursday 20 March 2025
Time: 10.30am to 12:00pm
Venue: Genia McCaffery Centre at the Coal Loader
Address: 2 Balls Head Drive, Waverton, New South Wales 2060

For more information and to registration, visit: https://proveda.com.au/event/we-need-to-know-before-you-go/

Eleanor Duncan Aboriginal Services: Monthly Breast Screens

Posted on by Ashleigh Brissett

Eleanor Duncan is thrilled to announce their ongoing partnership with Breast Screen to bring you their monthly ngnumus bus screenings!

These events are more than just an opportunity to check in on our health; they’re a celebration of community, connection, and support among women.

Every month, they’ll gather together to ensure we’re taking proactive steps in our health journeys. Our screenings not only help us detect any early signs of breast cancer, but they also provide a wonderful space for yarning, sharing stories, and laughing together. It’s about building a supportive community where we can uplift one another.

If you’re 40 years or older, we encourage you to take this important step for your health. Don’t wait—book your screening today!

📞 Contact Jess Cain-Westaway at 43511040 to secure your spot – our next screening is March 20th

Let’s come together to prioritise our health while enjoying the warmth and camaraderie of our community. We can’t wait to see you on the ngnumus bus

NSW Aboriginal Nursing and Midwifery Cadetship

Posted on by Ashleigh Brissett

Make a difference and care for Mob. Working with NSW Health as an Aboriginal nursing or midwifery cadet offers many opportunities.

Connection to culture is central to the health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Care and cultural understanding from an Aboriginal nurse or midwife allow patients to feel safer and advocated for when away from family and community.

Cadetships are available to support your dream of giving back to your community. They offer financial support, work placements and mentoring exposing you to the diverse possibilities of nursing and midwifery. They are a chance to focus on your studies, experience the workforce and build relationships.

Find out more about cadetships and eligibility here. 

New smoking and vaping cessation training and resources launching soon!

Posted on by Ashleigh Brissett

To support our community controlled sector to deliver smoking and vaping cessation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in pregnancy and beyond, AH&MRC have partnered with the Which Way? team and Waminda South Coast Women’s Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation to develop and launch the Gulibaa project in NSW.

This project will offer all Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations free self-paced, online training and resources to deliver evidence-based smoking and vaping cessation groups in their service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

TELL ME ABOUT THE TRAINING

Training has been developed in partnership with key stakeholders including NACCHO, Cancer Council, National Best Practice Unit Tackling Indigenous Smoking, Australian National University Tobacco Free program as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, health practitioners and nurses.

The training is offered online, in a self-paced format and can be completed by any staff in your service for free.

The training covers topics of:

History of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and Tobacco

  • Tobacco and Vaping policies, acts and legislation
  • Evidence for Indigenous peoples- campaigns and programs

Understanding dependence

  • Nicotine dependance and addiction
  • Why is it hard to stop smoking and vaping
  • How withdrawal works and ways to manage

Behaviour change for smoking and vaping cessation

  • Theories of behavioural change
  • Skills and strategies to support people through the quitting process.
  • Strategies and tools to help identify and overcome triggers, cravings, and relapse.

Running an effective group and event planning.

  • Group-based program planning and structure
  • Group Facilitation Skills
  • Planning for your first group

WHY GROUP-BASED SMOKING AND VAPING CESSATION SUPPORT?

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have asked for group-based programs to empower and support them on their quitting journey. Group-based programs have been shown to be effective, but until now, no program has been developed for and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

WHAT DOES THE GROUP-BASED PROGRAM LOOK LIKE?

The Which Way? programme includes six sessions that services can implement in any way that suits the community. During the pilot phase, Waminda South Coast Women’s Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation implemented the group-based program in both a six-week program and half day event.

The groups cover:

  • Benefits of Quitting the Smokes and Vapes
  • Overcome challenges to Quitting
  • Support to Quit
  • Changing Behaviours and Developing a Quit plan
  • Celebrating success and Staying on track

The Which Way? team have developed all the resources, games and activities your service needs to run group-based smoking and vaping cessation programs which will be delivered to your service once you join the project.

Training due to be available online by April 2025. To get involved express interest now: https://www.whichway.info/gulibaa

Come and see us at Fair Day!

Posted on by Ashleigh Brissett

Come and find us at Fair Day! We will be there with our lubly Public Health team to talk all things sexy health and how to stay safe while having fun.

Plus, come on down and you can play our famous ‘Pin the Condom on the Budoo’ game. Guaranteed to be a laugh!

Swing past stall 9.14 (near the Red Bull Bar) to have a yarn and grab some goodies! Check out the map below:

Empowering First Nations Carer Voices: Transforming Policy and Practice Webinar

Posted on by Ashleigh Brissett

Wednesday 26February 2025 | 11.00am – 12.30pm AEDT via Zoom

Gain insights from research on the lived experiences of First Nations carers in Australia. This interactive event explores strategies to enhance First Nations carer voices and transform carer-related policy and practice.

Facilitator:
Judith Lovegrove, Indigenous Governance and Engagement Lead, ‘Stay Strong Program’, Menzies School of Health Research

Featuring:

  • Professor Tricia Nagel, ‘Stay Strong Program’, Menzies School of Health Research
  • Jasmine Williams, Girra Maa, University of Technology Sydney
  • Dr Zoe Staines, ‘Caring about Care’, School of Social Science, University of Queensland
  • Banok Rind, Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute, Australian National University

This webinar is ideal for policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and carers—both First Nations and non-First Nations—committed to creating culturally safe and inclusive carer-related policy and practice.

Register now to secure your spot and be part of this important conversation!

Psychiatrists Resignation in NSW

Posted on by Ashleigh Brissett

Update from NSW Health 7 Feb 2025:

A significant number of public health psychiatrists in NSW have signalled their intention to resign from the NSW Health public health system, in relation to a claim about their conditions of employment.

As a result, there may be disruptions to mental health services and the broader public health system, particularly in metropolitan areas. However, it is important for the community to be aware that our services remain available, and people will continue to receive care from our dedicated and highly skilled mental health staff.

Psychiatrists play a crucial role in providing specialist care to people experiencing serious mental illnesses, both in hospital and community settings.

NSW Health has a coordinated health wide response to try to minimise the impact of these resignations, considering all areas of the health service, our staff, and the communities we serve.

The response includes:

  • The Mental Health Emergency Operations Centre established to give a holistic view of the system to help monitor and respond to impacted services and the patients we care for.
  • Continued engagement with the private sector to support the psychiatry workforce.
  • Establishing virtual hubs for psychiatry to help our services deliver psychiatric care.
  • Closely monitoring call capacity of the existing Mental Health Line. · Working with healthdirect to ensure it is ready to scale its call centre to respond and triage appropriately if required.
  • Coordinating response in the community with NSW Ambulance, NSW Police, NSW Education and Department of Communities and Justice.

Importantly, public mental health services in NSW remain available for those who need care.

It is important for anyone experiencing mental health distress or concerns at any time to reach out for help and care. Please don’t delay – help is available if you need it:

  • If someone has attempted or is at immediate risk of attempting to harm themselves or someone else call Triple Zero (000) immediately.
  • If someone is experiencing mental health distress, or you are worried about your own or someone else’s mental health, contact:
    – Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 for 24/7 advice and connection to specialist mental health services
    – Lifeline on 13 11 14 for 24/7 crisis support and suicide prevention services
    – Kids Helpline on 1800 55 100 for confidential 24/7 phone counselling for young people aged 5 to 25
    – 13YARN on 13 92 76 for 24/7 connection to an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Crisis Supporter
  • If you or someone you know needs general mental health support, use NSW Health’s mental health service finder to find the right care.

January 29th 2025.

As you are likely already aware, there are psychiatrist resignations occurring in NSW. The effects may impact other public services including emergency departments in public hospitals. It may also have a direct impact on the number of patients presenting to primary health care services with mental health issues.  

We recognise the incredible support you are already providing to many patients with mental health issues. We also know that this situation is likely to add extra burden, but we have full confidence in your ability to manage it.

In line with the Chief Health Officer’s directions, we strongly recommend attempting to continue using your usual referral pathways for patients with mental health needs. If these pathways prove unsuccessful you are advised to escalate concerns through your Local Health District. 

However, if you encounter any difficulties or if the usual referral process is not functioning as expected, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our public health team at publichealth@ahmrc.org.au. We are committed to escalating any systemic or local concerns directly to the Ministry of Health to ensure a timely and effective resolution. 

The strain these resignations are potentially going to have on individual staff, your services and communities is clear to us, and AH&MRC wants to advise all our member services that we are here to support you and navigate this together. 

 

Webinar: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Adults’ Mental Health and Wellbeing 12 Months on From the Voice Referendum

Posted on by Ashleigh Brissett

Gayaa Dhuwi Australia will host a free webinar on the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults, 12 months after the Voice Referendum.

The webinar will present updated findings from the MayiKuwayu Study, a key longitudinal study that tracks health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults. 

Led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the MayiKuwayu Study gathers crucial data on various important health measures, including mental health, social and emotional wellbeing, family and community support, and cultural connection.

Dr Bronwyn Wilkes, a researcher at the study’s Yardhura Walani team, will lead the presentation, exploring how exposure to racism and discrimination has evolved since the Referendum. 

Date: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Time: 3:00pm – 3:30pm AEST
Cost: Free 

Click to register for this insightful session! 

Extreme Heat Reminder: Safety Messages for Community

Posted on by Ashleigh Brissett

Summer continues to bring extreme heat which kills more Australians than any other natural disaster.

Extreme heat can affect anybody, so it is important communities are informed and prepared.

Stay Informed: Awareness is key. Review our December Newsletter and the Hot Weather Safety: How to Stay Well this Summer – AH&MRC for detailed information with links to useful resources. 

Safety Tips: 

  • Hydrate and Stay Cool: Drink plenty of water and avoid outdoor activities during peak heat hours. 
  • Monitor Air Quality: Stay updated on weather conditions and air quality. 
  • Check on Vulnerable Groups: Ensure the safety of the elderly, children, pregnant individuals, those with health conditions and those who are socially isolated. 

By following these tips, you can protect yourself and your community from the dangers of extreme heat.  

 Stay safe and continue to support one another!