Tucked away near The Chittaway Point Trail, surrounded by wide open spaces and trees is The Glen Centre. The only male specific Central Coast Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre. The Glen is proud to take clients from all over NSW and Australia to help them on their road to recovery to eventually return to their families and community as active members.
I was introduced to Chris who led me on the tour of the Centre, with all the staff greeting me with a smile. With every introduction to a staff member, a story followed of their battle with addiction and how they came to The Glen and just never left.
What I cannot capture in words is the atmosphere, the tranquility. Chris led me to an area overlooking the veggie patch and beach volleyball area. “Close your eyes and breathe deeply with me” he said. Beyond the sound of the clients mowing the lawns and the genuine laughter of staff and clients, all I heard was the wind blowing through the trees and the sounds of birds I couldn’t name.
As I opened my eyes, I saw a kookaburra sitting on the volleyball net pole.
“That’s Cyril watching over us” Chris said.
Cyril Hennessy started The Glen in the early 90’s and the story is that he continues to watch over the place and the clients even today.
Kookaburra sitting near the beach netball area.
As I continued the tour, there was a story tied to every section of The Glen.
“The Glen Boys will always be here when we need them” Chris explained.
The clients who have been admitted into The Glen contribute to its foundations by building the house the doctor works in during appointments, the cement on the walkways and even the gym where a banner is proudly hung, with the hand-prints of the clients that build the space. The clients become part of The Glen, and teachings of The Glen become part of them.
The gym built by the clients of The Glen.
As we continued with the tour, I was able to really understand the purpose of the Centre. You can see it in the eyes of every person I walked past.
“It’s the family” Chris explained.
Addiction can be a result of isolation and loneliness and here at The Glen you are welcomed by a family. The staff are a family and the clients become a part of the family, all looking out for each other and all supporting each other through the program.
We made our way to the famous yarning circle of the Glen where most of the activities take place.
“The yarning circle is the heartbeat of The Glen.” said Chris.
The yarning circle. The centre of The Glen.
When a new client arrives, they are inducted here. The celebrations, meetings and even group counselling sessions are all held here.
Chris explained the significance of the circle and how everyone in the circle has a voice, there is no hierarchy. Everyone is on equal footing within the yarning circle.
I was fortunate to meet a few of the clients, some who have been here for 1 year, others who have been here for a few weeks. I was able to sit in the yarning circle during an induction with clients who had just arrived a day or so before. One of the staff; Lenny explained in detail the program and a range of activities clients participate in from volleyball to running, to work and chores. The rules are simple: Zero tolerance to alcohol and drugs and causing any trouble. Lenny also explained the support network that is available to the new clients, there was even a peer support person present who was familiar with the program and was in the process of transitioning back into society.
The beach volleyball court built by the clients of The Glen.
After the tour, I had a great chat with Alex. He talked about the Glen’s success and how it is centered around the five key ingredients:
An aligned purpose. This flows from the Board to the staff and then in turn to the clients.
Passionate people. Everyone I spoke to loved coming into work and loved the work that they were doing.
The place. The Glen being situated in a tranquil location that provides the perfect location for clients to reassess and reevaluate.
Process. The Glen has a team of 13 staff that work with 35 clients. The processes must work to ensure the longevity of the Centre.
Strong partnerships. The Glen has built some great relationships with the local community and corporates who are strong advocates for their work.
The holistic approach to health here is evident with a strong emphasis on resetting an individual’s mind, body and spirit. While saying goodbye to this place, I asked a client who had been at the Centre for 10 months: If the person he is today could meet the person he was when he arrived, what would you say to him?
“I’d say to trust the process and trust the program. I’d say to not be so scared, there are people here who care about you and will make you a better person.”
From the 9th – 11th of October AH&MRC attended the UNICEF Youth Living with Drought Summit 2019. Each day was an opportunity for young people from across NSW to discuss the impact that drought has had on their communities, families, and on themselves as individuals. The effects of drought are felt perhaps most strongly in Indigenous communities. Aboriginal youth are feeling disconnected from their culture as a result of the death of land and nature.
When health professionals discuss drought it is often in the context of physical health and in relation to issues such as respiratory illnesses, dehydration and malnutrition. However, the impact of drought can also severely impact people’s mental health, specifically young peoples mental health. In the age of social media, young people are inundated with catastrophic news about the irreversible effects of global warming. To counteract this, and provide young people with hope in the face of adversity, UNIFEC hosted the Youth Living with Drought Summit. The Summit provided young people with an opportunity to voice their concerns about drought and brainstorm collaborative solutions.
Over the course of the three days, the group of 88 young people was broken off into smaller groups. This gave young people a comfortable setting to reflect and debrief on their mental health and how it had been affected by drought. It also gave young people an opportunity to share self-care strategies to handle the effects of drought.
Multiple Aboriginal young people (14-24) attended the conference and their voices were strong fierce, and most importantly heard.
‘’How the drought has impacted. Reliance on bore water makes Kidney problems worse and makes Dialysis IMPOSSIBLE’’.
‘’Multiple algae blooms and mass fish kills = Death of rivers, Death of rivers = Death of Sacred trees Death of trees = death of rites, rituals and DEATH OF CULTURE-Impossible to practice culture!’’
Overall, there was great initiative and leadership skills from each and every-one of the young people that attended the Summit, with powerful recommendations such as:
Water restrictions should be made in non-drought affected places, such as Sydney.
An agreement should be established between the NSW government, Aboriginal communities, elders and young people on water management.
Young people should be involved in formal decision-making, given access to relevant state and federal ministers, and be employed as Youth Liaison Officers.
Better mental health services, including mental health nurses and access to psychiatrists in every regional hospital, billed through Medicare.
Drought employment scheme to ease the “extreme financial stress” felt by their families and communities.
Our leaders of the future are making noise about the things that they want to change – and they are persistent.
‘We must ask, what, in concrete terms, was done in the meantime? What policy, what strategies, what water infrastructure? Unless we commit to long-term action, we will be having this conversation over and over and over again.” – Tameka O’Donnell, Barkindji Woman of Far Western NSW.
It’s a crisp, Spring morning for the visit to Waminda South Coast Women’s Health and Welfare Aboriginal Corporation. There’s been rain, so the pastures and bushland surrounding the NSW South Coast town of Nowra are lush and green. The town and its surrounds sit beside the Shoalhaven River, nestled between the Coolangatta Mountain and the sea: landforms of great significance for what is known as the Yuin Nation, and its peoples.
The area has a traumatic colonial history of dispossession, violence and family separation; its legacy continues for the Aboriginal community today, but this is not a story of defeat. It’s a story of strong women, strong community and strong culture. Of how doing healthcare the Waminda way brings wholeness to women and their families.
Waminda is much more than the sum of its clinics. No opportunity to connect with the community is missed. Clients from all over the Shoalhaven region – Jerrinja and Wreck Bay Aboriginal communities, Nowra/Bomaderry and as far afield as Ulladulla and Kiama – access Waminda’s services in various ways. These are just a few of them.
Nowra and its surrounds sit beside the Shoalhaven river (bottom), nestled between the Coolangatta Mountain and the sea: landforms of great significance for what is known as the Yuin Nation, and its peoples. Image credit: Ruth Armstrong
No Wrong Door: Holistic Health Clinic
There’s free fresh fruit at the reception desk in this downtown Nowra location, which hosts Waminda’s clinical services including Aboriginal Health Workers, General Practitioners, Nurse Practitioners and Midwives. It’s the place of first contact for many clients, while others are referred from elsewhere in the service. Every person is triaged by an Aboriginal Health Practitioner first up.
Practice Manager Sharon Trindall, says there are currently more than 1,400 Aboriginal women and family members on the books, after a period of exponential growth following her arrival at Waminda (straight out of acute care nursing) four years ago. Care is client-driven, and 715 health checks are offered to everyone who is eligible.
“We watch our data really closely – see where the gaps are; where we need to improve. What we’re picking up is complex. The checks identify chronic conditions, multiple comorbidities, social issues, family issues. They are holistic. Even if that person doesn’t elect to do their screening or preventive care you have the conversation with them” explains Trindall.
There are currently more than 1,400 Aboriginal women and family members on the books at Waminda, which prides itself on a holistic, ‘no wrong door’ approach. Image credit: Ruth Armstrong
Hayley Longbottom, Waminda’s Health and Wellbeing Manager and also an Aboriginal Health Practitioner, explains the service’s woman-led, integrated and holistic ethos.
“Here there’s no wrong door approach,” Longbottom says. “A woman walks through that door and we deal with everything she brings with her. We walk beside her, not in front of or behind, but right beside her. People are their own healers. Everyone’s on their own journey. We’re talking about a whole person in terms of her family, her community” says Hayley Longbottom.
This approach is beautifully illustrated in two key graphics, the Waminda Model of Care, and the Balaang (Women’s) Healing framework, which was developed through women’s yarning circles.
The Waminda Model of Care (top) and Balaang (Women’s) Healing Framework (bottom). Image credit: Supplied
Led since 2007 by dynamic CEO Faye Worner, Waminda’s 110-plus staff are a tight-knit bunch. It’s a uniquely collaborative environment and, as we yarn, people frequently finish each other’s sentences in a way that is amplifying and supportive. Many are from the Yuin nation and have grown up locally. There’s an immense satisfaction in giving back to community.
“One of the things I’m proudest of isn’t clinical. It’s the fact that since I’ve been here so many family members have followed me over. They were seeing mainstream doctors or not getting much healthcare at all. Here they feel comfortable and safe, and happy to see mob around. They’re not going to be judged”
Loretta Longbottom
“You get people coming in and saying, ‘I wouldn’t be alive without Waminda’. That’s a powerful thing”
Case management: connecting to country
Tamara Ardler, Drug and Alcohol Caseworker says most of her clients’ problems with addiction relate to past or ongoing trauma. Rather than focusing on addiction, she tries to bring hope and focus on strengths.
Support available within Waminda includes Healing Counsellors, physical and mental health checkups through the doctors, and referral to Dead or Deadly or Balaang Gunyah (see below). Connecting women back to country and community is a major aim.
“Through drug and alcohol use a lot of people lose their connections. It’s about bringing them back,” Ardler says.
Birthing on Country
Melanie Briggs is an Aboriginal midwife and Waminda’s Project Officer for Birthing on Country. For Waminda, that means making birthing culturally safe for women so that they feel connected to their culture and feel safe in the space: bringing culture back in to birthing practices.
Currently, Waminda provides a maternity model of care to women who are having an Aboriginal baby through the Minga Goodjaga (Mother and Baby) program. Midwives deliver antenatal and postnatal care through pregnancy and the first six months postpartum, but Briggs wants to do much more.
In the short term that entails working with Nowra’s hospitals and stakeholders, so that women can have continuity across the spectrum of midwifery care with their chosen Aboriginal or culturally sensitive and competent non-Aboriginal midwife. In the long term, there’s a proposal on the desks of the State and Federal Ministers for health, and the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, for a purpose-built service, designed by and for Aboriginal women.
“ACCHOs are the highest employer of Aboriginal people in the country – over 6,000 –, and yet we’re still having to access mainstream services to get birthing support. There’s so much to do” says Briggs.
Innovations in comprehensive care
Kristine Falzon is Waminda’s Cancer Care & Wellness Project Coordinator, supporting programs for health and wellbeing, tobacco control, palliative care, and cancer prevention, investigation and management. It’s “a whole of life approach to health care, from prevention, right through to screening, investigation, treatment support, palliative and end of life care,” she says.
Waminda’s regular pamper days in outlying communities are popular. Along with beauty and self-care services, these events provide opportunities for cancer screening and education, and identification of social and other needs, acting as a “soft” referral pathway.
Much of Falzon’s work involves advocacy, preparing submissions, working with external bodies like Cancer Australia, and looking at opportunities arising from funding for specific initiatives. She recently presented on behalf of Waminda’s cancer services at the World Indigenous Cancer Conference in Calgary.
A big win for the community was a Cancer Institute Grant Partnership with Shoalhaven Cancer Care Centre when the Centre was first being built seven years ago.
With good leadership on both sides, the project resulted in “cross-learning rather than coming from a deficit or superiority position” Falzon says. Aboriginal Health Workers act as conduits between the community and mainstream services, helping to make the Centre more culturally safe. The model is described in further detail here. Though a great example of “how things can be done effectively and appropriately in collaboration” Falzon notes that the partnership was not extended beyond 2012/13, meaning lobbying has had to continue.
Asked what it is about Waminda that allows innovation to flourish, Falzon underscores connectedness to the community and a deep understanding of its needs as pivotal to their success.
“We’re accountable to our community first and foremost and we are community women,” she says. “It’s also about being brave and fierce enough to be able to stand your ground and say, no that’s not right for our community.”
Going the extra mile at Nabu
Behind a double shopfront, on a leafy downtown street, sits the headquarters of Nabu, Waminda’s Intensive Family Support Service. Nabu works for preservation (keeping children with their families) and restoration (restoring children in out-of-home care to family). Sitting with the team, their shared passion and commitment is evident, and their success rate (100% for preservation and 91% for restoration in 2016/17) reflects this.
The team consists of Caseworkers, Family Support Workers, Cultural Mentors, and Elder/Cultural Mentors. The caseload is shared, and all Waminda’s resources can be called upon when the families need them.
With all activities led by what their clients need at any given time, no two days are the same. Whether it’s going the extra mile to support a client in court or packing boxes to help someone move house, this team goes all out to support their families.
“Nabu, known as grandmother for being the beholder, the mother of all being, the circle of Family, that cycle of life & creation. First tier Grandmother was and always a mother, second tier woman becoming binji (pregnant) and the last tier is giving birth of a Boori (child) and so the cycle begins and never ends”. Image credit: Ruth Armstrong
Nabu was recently funded for twelve months through Their Futures Matter and is about to expand, in response to a burgeoning waitlist.
Nabu HQ is also the home of Waminda’s Healing Counsellors. Debra Bowman, who trained through Nunkuwarrin Yunti in Aboriginal narrative practice, explains that she provides therapeutic support across the whole of Waminda, wherever it’s needed.
“My work involves walking beside the woman and letting her reconnect to who she is, because every person is their own healer, it’s just about providing that space and that support,” Bowman says.
Tina Dickson, Cultural mentor
“Growing up, I had experience with out of home care. When I see these families coming together and mum standing her ground and being the strong woman keeping her family together, it’s a healing thing for them and me”
Moo Morunga, Caseworker
“When our families are in crisis, we sit with them and listen. Let them unpack and just sit with it. We don’t have to give advice – just sit, listen and respect ”
Tehika Hepi, Community Mentor
“Our referrals from Family and Community Services look at the risks, whereas we look at the strengths”
Dead or Deadly
Though it is situated in an unassuming dwelling in suburban Nowra, Waminda’s flagship healthy lifestyle service is a bit famous. It was singled out in 2018, by then-Minister for Indigenous Health and Aged Care Ken Wyatt as a success story in chronic disease prevention and management.
It’s been a labour of love for Waminda, with the service “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, even depending on contest prize winnings to keep Dead or Deadly afloat because “we knew women wanted and needed the program,” says health and wellbeing manager Hayley Longbottom.
When a woman comes in, “it’s not just about her jumping on a treadmill. It’s about her journey, her wellness,” the team explains. Every person’s needs are assessed by an Aboriginal Health Worker and a plan is made.
Smoking, diet, risk factors, diabetes screening and management, mental health and social isolation are all on the agenda – if the woman wants them to be. Over the past couple of years, shared medical appointments have been instituted. These health-focused yarning circles, which include a facilitator, a doctor and an Aboriginal Health Clinician (sometimes with the in-house cook on hand), have proved a huge success.
The cook also gets involved when Youth Social Worker, Olivia De Pietro, leads after-school outreach to girls aged 12 to 18, in Dead or Deadly’s Bulwul Balaang (young women’s) program.
Waminda’s flagship healthy lifestyle service Dead or Deadly is about so much more than jumping on a treadmill. As well as a gym (bottom), the centre features a kitchen (centre), with an in-house cook who attends shared medical appointments and is involved in Bulwul Balaang, the after-school outreach program for young girls. Image credit: Ruth Armstrong
Anita Mongta, Aboriginal Health Worker.
“We all work with our clients to support their mental health and wellbeing. We cater to everybody; make them feel welcome. And once they do identify mental health issues, our healing counsellors can come into our space, or they can meet clients somewhere else where they feel comfortable. We don’t isolate mental health from the rest of care”
Kalinda Wills, Aboriginal Health Worker
“A lot of our clients do have anxiety and depression. They’re coming in here because it’s a safe space where they feel welcome; where they don’t focus on their anxiety and depression. They focus on their health, and coming in and socialising, and getting their needs catered for”
Clever fearlessness, and a garden by the Shoalhaven
It’s back in the car for our next stop, as we follow the Shoalhaven river out towards the coast, then turn down a country lane and into the driveway of a redbrick house. The first thing to notice is the garden, home to Kareela Ngura (country of trees and water), Waminda’s sustainable permaculture and bush tucker rural industry project.
Upstairs, the small NDIS team endeavours to address the “massive unmet need” for assistance in the Shoalhaven region for women with disabilities. Alison Moyle is Program manager of Waranj Dhurawaraga (growing strong together). She and Aboriginal Health Worker, Stephanie Rooney, support people to access and use their NDIS funding.
This can be very labour-intensive. For instance, many people will need support to apply for NDIS several times before they are deemed eligible, but here again the Waminda way – walking beside people as they exercise their own choice and control – prevails.
“I love Waminda’s clever fearlessness. Looking at things strategically but saying, ‘Look there is the need there so we’re going to step into this space and do what we can” – Says Moyle.
Following the Shoalhaven River (top), you come to Kareela Ngura, Waminda’s sustainable permaculture and bush tucker rural industry project. Image credit: Ruth Armstrong
Respite and healing at Balaang Gunyah
Out by the coast at Orient Point we reach today’s final destination, Balaang Gunyah (Women’s place). It’s a rambling old beach house with a wide, inbuilt verandah. There’s a safe play area out front and huge, mature eucalypts surround the compound. Cullunghutti can be seen in the distance, and Jerrinja Aboriginal community is just down the road.
Balaang Gunyah feels like the place where all Waminda’s services intersect. People have been talking about it all day as a place of congregation, respite, yarning, culture and healing. Open for about three and a half years, it’s the only Aboriginal women’s place in the Shoalhaven region, and was much needed.
Following the Shoalhaven River (top), you come to Kareela Ngura, Waminda’s sustainable permaculture and bush tucker rural industry project. Image credit: Ruth Armstrong
Cultural Mentor Tresia Farrellis from Jerrinja. Along with facilitating Balaang Gunyah’s very popular Arts and Crafts Group and other activities, part of her job is to take people out on country, show them significant places, share yarns about those places and help them reconnect. She’s seen women “blossom” when they replace social isolation with connection.
Donya Whaddy, a Support Officer, is from Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community. She has been involved with Waminda for a long time, including as a client when she faced some difficulties of her own. Like everyone who works there, she’s immensely proud to be part of everything that Waminda stands for.
“Our Elders worked really hard to get this place off the ground. It’s been a long journey and it’s powerful to be able to work and give back to women, our community. All respect to my Elders past and present who made this happen. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here” says Whaddy.
Balaang Gunyah’s Tresia Farrell (L) and Donya Whaddy. Image credit: Ruth Armstrong
Tucked away on reclaimed farmland outside Cowra, there’s something rather special going on. People who have been marginalised are finding a way back into the life they want to lead. But it’s no miracle. Here, at the Weigelli Residential Drug and Alcohol Service, understanding, not demonising, is seen as key to confronting problem drug use, with an individual’s context, education and skills viewed as assets to recovery. An unmade bed is not taken as wilful disruption, for example, but considered the act of a person who has, perhaps, never had anyone in their life to show them how.
“We do a lot more than just physically have the person here… We talk about their whole wellbeing – physical, dental, emotional, grief and loss.” Norm Henderson, Senior Alcohol and Other Drug Worker.
Established 26 years ago by the local Aboriginal community, Weigelli was both a response to a growing local need for residential rehab and a rebuke to the prevailing 12-step treatment orthodoxy. Known variously as ‘The Medical Model’ or the ‘AA approach’, these conventional methods centred and sought to treat the problem drug use rather than the person seeking treatment. Weigelli flipped this on its head.
Jannet Grey is the Aboriginal Mental Health Worker and Caseworker and was one of those involved in Weigelli’s foundation back in 1996. There was heavy resistance, at the time, from local residents, with several attempts at securing a site falling through at the eleventh hour due to an abrupt withdrawal of support. Not to be deterred, Grey kept the conversation going, and the more she talked with people, the more stories she heard about families touched by problem drug use. One such family eventually offered their farm, which was up for sale, to be used to set up Weigelli. It remains on the same site to this day, with images of the complex at different points in time on display.
Cultural Meeting Area – Photo Credit: Dr Tim Senior
Weigelli offers up to 21 places for a 12-week residential rehabilitation program after people have gone through detox. Everyone I speak to stresses the importance of keeping numbers low.
“It means we can get to know people well,” says Steven Taylor, the Aboriginal Alcohol and Other Drug Worker on the Community and Family Support team. “We can be individually responsive.”
“It feels like one big family”, adds Kerri-Anne Cutmore on reception.
Kerri-Anne Cutmore – Photo Credit: Dr Tim Senior
Flexibility and responsiveness are at the heart of what Weigelli do, and a critical factor in their success, explains Sandy Whiteman, leader of the Community and Family Support team.
“Being regimented is not culturally appropriate… There is some space for reflection. People can start thinking and planning.”
This isn’t to say the 12-week program is unstructured. There is a formal evaluation at the six-week mark, and discharge planning starts in week eight. During their admission, people have to work and do chores around the site. They are given more responsibility as their stay goes on. When I visit, residents are building a new roof over an outdoor area, under the supervision of a local TAFE instructor. The aim is to equip people with life skills and work skills they can continue to use, says Henderson.
“We create an environment where people feel like they are in a community,” he says. “We’re not chasing people with clipboards and questionnaires.”
Art room at Weigelli – Photo Credit: Dr Tim Senior
Community and mutual respect
How this works in practice soon becomes apparent. “Hello,” I say to one person who approaches as I am shown around the site. He tells me his name, and I ask, “So, what do you do here?”
“I am one of the residents,” he responds with a smile. There’s not a clear hierarchy between staff and those receiving treatment, because everyone subscribes to the community view. As we chat, he shares many of the same benefits I’ve already heard from several of the staff.
Weigelli Warriors Gym – Photo Credit: Dr Tim Senior
Over lunch with the staff and residents, the sense of community and mutual respect is palpable, with the same kind of collegial banter and good humour you’d expect in any workplace.
There’s frustration about the environment that people go back to after rehab. There aren’t interventions available for other family members and there is no network of safe houses for people to go back to. The ongoing impacts of trauma are significant; Henderson tells me 1 in 2 of the women and 1 in 3 of the men have been sexually abused.
“Even three months clean and sober is a win, though … It gives them a rest, and it gives family a rest.”
There’s an understanding that attachment to culture is important in recovery, and it suffuses the program, with Weigelli’s Aboriginal staff playing an essential role. Celebrations peak in NAIDOC week, with a march, cooking of bush breads and other traditional foods, cultural site visits, art workshops and activities to mark men’s and women’s business. The service also remains accountable to the local community through its board of Wiradjuri elders.
“Many of our residents don’t know where they are from,” says Taylor, reflecting on the importance of belonging, of place. He takes me to a beautiful spot he has crafted on the grounds for outdoor cultural activities, a trail winding through eucalyptus trees to a circular meeting area, with a separate path out.
Cultural Meeting Area Entrance – Photo Credit: Dr Tim Senior
As a rehabilitation service, KPIs remain a necessary evil, tracking progress against conventional treatment metrics. But the success stories I hear can’t be measured with statistics. It is the mother with a 20-year addiction who first came in with her partner. He is now in custody, but she is working and has access to her children. The man who celebrated his 45th birthday in rehab and cried as the residents and staff brought him a cake and sang Happy Birthday, because it was the first time anyone had done that in his life. It is the couples who get their children back in their care.
Norm Henderson says it best of all: “We love people back to life.”
Everyone at Weigelli leaves a handprint – Photo Credit: Dr Tim Senior
Vignettes
Jannet Grey – Aboriginal Mental Health Worker/Caseworker
Jannet Grey is a fine example of the diverse roles taken on by Aboriginal Health Workers. In her current position, she supports and counsels residents, helping them to problem-solve and identify their strengths, as well as planning and coordinating activities for the groups, in conjunction with the rest of the team. A respected local Elder, Grey has been part of the community for many decades, with vital connections to local people and culture. She was instrumental in Weigelli’s establishment, recognising that there was a need for residential drug rehab that wasn’t being met by mainstream services. While her job title is Aboriginal Health Worker, Grey’s achievements at Weigelli are a continuation of her life’s work, doing whatever is required to serve the needs of her community.
Janet Grey – Photo Credit: Dr Tim Senior
Steven Taylor – Alcohol and other drug worker, community and family support team
Steven Taylor is an Aboriginal health worker whose influence extends across every activity at Weigelli. He works through the 12 week program with residents, and sits down with them to prepare for their return to the community. After discharge, he stays in contact with residents for as long as necessary through Facebook Messenger, so he hears firsthand about their setbacks and successes. Taylor is connected to the local community and culture and arranges the Weigelli NAIDOC celebrations. He has crafted an outdoor cultural meeting space among the eucalypts on the grounds. Taylor sees reconnecting people to culture as a central part of their recovery. “This isn’t about staff and residents,” he says, “ it’s about everyone learning together. Everyone is learning and developing.”
Steve Taylor (left) and Norm Henderson (right) – Photo Credit: Dr Tim Senior
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The Closing the Gap on Indigenous Health Conference was held on the 30th and 31st of July in Brisbane. Delegates in Aboriginal health from across the country gathered to discuss the Closing the Gap Report and its failures to address health inequity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The format of the conference was collaborative with panels and yarning circles aimed at addressing the failures of the Closing the Gap campaign and spring-boarding solutions. AH&MRC staff members, Lucy, Nina and Sophie, attended the conference and several AH&MRC’s members were speakers over the two-day conference. Our Members contributions to discussions over the two days were invaluable and highlighted the great work NSW Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) are doing in closing the gap.
ACCHSs achieving self-determination was another key priority addressed at the Closing the Gap conference. On the second day of the conference, Orange Aboriginal Medical Service (OAMS), discussed how OAMS diversified their service in order to become more self-sufficient. OAMS has introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) into its service as a result of community needs. Not only has the provision of this service allowed OAMS to be able to better service their local community, but it has also increased funding as a result of more patients coming through the service doors.
In their presentation, the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Network (ADAN) had a yarn about self-determination and their plans of becoming an incorporated body. ADAN was created by AH&MRC to provide a forum for Aboriginal Drug & Alcohol workers to share information, access professional and cultural support and discuss issues affecting their workforce and Aboriginal communities in NSW.
ADAN discussed how closing the gap on Indigenous health meant adopting a holistic approach aimed at addressing social and emotional health as well as physical health. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people often turn to drugs and alcohol as a result of feeling disconnected from their culture and land. ADAN discussed how their treatment approach aims to reconnect Aboriginal people to their culture through individual therapy and therapeutic communities (residential rehabs).
It’s been 11 years since Close The Gap was introduced and the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations has widened, not closed. This is because Aboriginal Medical Services and their respective communities have not been in charge of their own health outcomes. In order to bridge the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, Indigenous health needs to be community controlled.
