Report
Hear our voices: Community consultations for the development of an empowerment, healing and leadership program for Aboriginal people living in the Kimberley, Western Australia
Final Research Report. Empowerment, Healing and Leadership Project
Centre for Research Excellence Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing. Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia.
03/2012
Abstract
I welcome the publication of the Hear Our Voices as an important contribution to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention, not only for Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley but for other parts of Australia too. This Project was initiated in response to the high number of suicides in the Kimberley, northern Western Australia over more than ten years.
The outcomes of this Project underscore the importance to develop a culturally appropriate and locally responsive empowerment, healing and leadership strategies. The objectives are to restore the social and emotional wellbeing of communities thereby preventing further traumatic events from occurring as a result of community distress and suicide. This also enables communities to regain their resilience and to provide an environment that supports the recovery and healing of community members.
This Project is unusual and innovative in that it utilises traditional western academic approaches through formal literature and best practice research with the concept of community empowerment, ownership and leadership. The Project sought the views of community members in Broome, Halls Creek and Beagle Bay in the Kimberley region on the need for a dedicated new Aboriginal-led empowerment, healing and leadership program. Knowledge was gained through these extensive community consultations, as well as a national review of literature and programs concerning empowerment, leadership and healing. The Project showed that where consultations took place, there was an overwhelming consensus that there is a real need to support individuals to change their lives. People spoke of needing to “build self first” and to “make ourselves strong” and to focus on “rebuilding family”. Aboriginal people said they wanted to learn how to talk to one another again, to share and care for one another and to praise those who do good things for themselves and their communities.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Advisory Group, of which I am Chair, is currently working with the Menzies School of Health Research to develop Australia’s first national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy. Projects such as Hear our Voice will inform our work and hopefully inspire others in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to develop their own empowerment initiatives. I look forward to the outcomes of the national roll-out of this project with great anticipation.
Details
- Title
- Hear our voices: Community consultations for the development of an empowerment, healing and leadership program for Aboriginal people living in the Kimberley, Western Australia
- Authors/Creators
- Pat Dudgeon - The University of Western AustraliaKathleen CoxDivinia D'AnnaCheryl DunkleyKatherine HamsKerrie KellyClair Scrine - The Kids Research Institute AustraliaRoz Walker - Murdoch University, Ngangk Yira Institute for Change
- Publication Details
- Final Research Report. Empowerment, Healing and Leadership Project
- Publisher
- Centre for Research Excellence Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing. Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia.
- Number of pages
- 124
- Identifiers
- 991005689068207891
- Copyright
- © Commonwealth of Australia 2012
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Ngangk Yira Institute for Change
- Resource Type
- Report
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