VACCHO News Winter 2017

Our languages matter Wominjeka to NAIDOC Week 2017

news June - August 2017

5000 stop to protest at Victorian Parliament House while on the Victorian NAIDOC March

The Victorian NAIDOC Committee was proud to host five NAIDOC events this year, as well as provide a Community NAIDOC listing and the very popular NAIDOC hoodies.

This year’s NAIDOC Awards were held at Charcoal Lane. All NAIDOC nominees were fantastic and represent our people well.

Congrats to Aunty Reio our Patron, Will Austin, Mr NAIDOC, Natarsha Bamblett Miss NAIDOC and our sports person Mikayla George Monday’s Flag Raising, supported by the City of Melbourne, had a record number in attadance and introduced the NAIDOC Girls’ choir! Check them out on the NAIDOC facebook page.

NAIDOC LGBTIQA+ This year the VICTORIAN NAIDOC Committee had their very first official LGBTIQA+ Crowning.

With the support of the MIDSUMMA FESTIVAL and the NAIDOC Committee, we saw five up and coming performers battle it out for the opportunity to be crowned the NAIDOC LGBTIQA+ Pride winners.

We also had the pleasure of having the one and only Steven Oliver and Sheralee Hood as our MCs to kick off this historic event. We saw two people crowned, Anadiction and Zoe Diaq who were invited to attend the NAIDOC Ball and sat with the Committee. The Pride winners then gave an amazing speech about themselves and their appreciation for being included into the NAIDOC calendar.

For more info on Victorian NAIDOC go to http://vicnaidoc.com.

MORE DEADLY PHOTOS ON PAGES 3 & 6-7

Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Inc. VACCHO is the the peak body for the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people living in Victoria

NAIDOC Committee Member Mark Nannup

Vibrant, healthy, selfdetermining Aboriginal communities

RTO No: 20739

VACCHO is offering opportunities for highly motivated trainers to work with the Victorian Aboriginal community in Aboriginal Health Work, Social Emotional Wellbeing and Cultural Safety.

BUILDING A WORKFORCE FOR THE FUTURE SENIOR CLINICAL EDUCATOR - ABORIGINAL HEALTH TRAINING $70K - $75K ‘Closing the Gap’ in Aboriginal health.

GO TO: VACCHO.ORG.AU/JOBS/C

Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation is the peak body for the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people living in Victoria.

SENIOR EDUCATOR - SEWB TRAINING $70K - $75K

TRAINER - CULTURAL SAFETY $65K - $70K

Big growth areas of service delivery.

EDUCATORS - SESSIONAL

Creating cultural safety for the mob.

A bank of sessional trainers.

VACCHO’s Education and Training Unit is committed to building on individual and community knowledge that values Aboriginal culture, and contributes to community self-determination.

VACCHO newsletters are available to view online at

www.vaccho.org.au/news-media/nl

Contents

01 Our language matters NAIDOC Week 2017

04 How a young fella can change the lives of others

05 Budja Budja’s resilient journey for a healthier mob

06 NAIDOC Victoria March 2017 liftout 08 Goolum Goolum looks to the future through their young ones

10 Ngwala Willumbong is 43 years strong and shows no signs of stopping

11 Out and about • VACCHO NAIDOC event • VACCHO Movement by Improvement Forum

12 VACCHO Members organisations and Board Members

Vic NAIDOC

Flag Raising Ceremony | 3 July, Federation Square, Melbourne Ball | 8 July, Melbourne Pavilion, Kensington LGBTIQA+ Crowning | 6 July, Vau d’vile, Fitzroy

Images L-R): (Back L-R) NAIDOC Committee Members Troy Benjamin, Chairperson Lidia Thorpe, Mark Nannup and Merinda Dryden (Front L-R) Aunty Pam Pederson and Hon Natalie Hutchins MP | (Back L-R) Councillor Cathy Oke, Miss NAIDOC Natarsha Bamblett, Ruby Hermann, Hon Natalie Hutchins MP, Aunty Pam Pederson, Lidia Thorpe, Mathew Gardiner, Gordon Ross and Mr NAIDOC Will Austin (Front) The NAIDOC Girls choir | (L-R) Ruby Hermann, Sophia and Miss NAIDOC Natarsha Bamblett.

Ball and Crowning images courtesy of Victorian NAIDOC.

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How a young fella can change the lives of others Image (L-R) Mens Group - Roydon Port, James Moore, Louis Delaney, Greg Pearce, Uncle Kevin Clarke, Wayne Pearce, and Brock Woods Below: Dhauwurd-Wurrung Receptionist Natasha Wilson and Louis Delaney VACCHO got word of a fella called Louis Delaney out at Portland, who’s worked hard to turn his life around and give back to community.

a bit of a drought on men’s activities down here.

We met up with Louis, Aboriginal Health Worker at Dhauwurd-Wurrung Elderly and Community Health Service from Noonuccal people in Stradbroke Island, to see what he’s up to and what gives him the inspiration to do the deadly work he does.

LEWIS: I’ve been here for a while, been part of the community for a long time, so that’s good. [Louis travelled down to Victoria be with his mum when he was 11].

I’ve been here six months [DhauwurdWurrung] in a week. End of the probation period so hopefully everything’s alright and I get to keep my job! I’m doing a bit of clinical and a bit of outreach with the community and I study Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care at VACCHO as well. It’s a pretty full load but it’s good.

I also do a bit of afterhours work as Chairperson of the Portland Aboriginal Community Justice Panel Program which keeps me a bit busy. The panel in Portland is called Kirtnapi Kutara, which is a Dhauwurd-Wurrung language name meaning ‘support all the time’.

Normally through the workdays I’m either helping out around the clinic or out doing some home visits and checking up on the men. I organise men’s groups and trips away for them, which is good because there’s been

At the start of this year, getting into this role, I took it on myself, as well as Uncle Kevin Clarke, to make sure that men have something. We have fortnightly gatherings. It’s between going and chilling out at the shed like they are today and play some pool, catch up, have a chat, or like the last one, where we went to we went out to the mouth of the Fitzroy. We went for a walk, had a little look around, got them out of the house for a bit, that’s always healthy for the mind I think. Then we had a barbeque back here at DhauwurdWurrung. They had a good feed so I think they were happy about that.

VACCHO: So the outreach you do, is that to sort of check up and make sure everyone’s alright, make sure everyone’s talking?

Yeah, so for example there’s a fella that’s a diabetic, he was quite proud, and a couple of weeks after we met, we engaged him at the men’s group when he first got here and then a couple of days later I went out and did a home visit and checked up on him and said, “how you going health wise, you got anything to worry about?”. He

was a diabetic and I got him in here to check with the doctor and luckily I did because his sugar was up in the 20s and he had to go to hospital for a couple of days. So yeah, we got that – hit the nail on the head and made sure it wouldn’t get any worse. We’re looking after him pretty well now and he was really grateful for that. He comes for regular check-ups now and he wasn’t doing that, he wasn’t looking after his diabetes properly before.

VACCHO: So why Aboriginal Health?

I’ve always had that ambition to advocate and assist community. I never thought of myself being where I am, being a health worker and all that before. JB [John Bell, CEO] was on my back about applying for this job, so I was like all right, I’ll apply for it, and I’m grateful that I did. It gives me that opportunity to advocate, to work and help our community. So that’s the main thing you know, it’s about time and it’s good to be helping build community and strengthen it rather than being the person I was years ago.

You know, drug and alcohol affected and destroying the community. Now I’ve got the chance to rebuild it and fix – well not fix it, well kind of like – yeah, fix what I’ve done and hopefully I can lead other young fellas away from that kind of path, you know.

To find out more about the deadly work Dhauwurd-Wurrung does contact them on 03 5521 7535 or reception@dwech.com.au

Budja Budja’s resilient journey for a healthier mob Since 2016, Budja Budja Aboriginal Co-operative (Budja Budja) has recorded over 5,750 individual patient contacts and services to both their Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal clients.

VACCHO sat down to yarn with Budja Budja’s CEO Tim Chatfield, a Traditional Owner of the area and Djabwurrung descendent, about the journey taken to provide quality health care to our mob.

I’ve been here most of my life, I’m a Framingham boy from down south.

I had the opportunity to come to Budja Budja (Halls Gap) in Gariwerd (the Grampians) to manage the Brambuk Cultural Centre and also develop its education programs.

A community was merging in the Gap so Brambuk’s core business was based around informative training. There was a lack of other social services during that time, but there was a group of people who lived here that decided we’d establish a co-op. The purpose of the co-op was to be a gathering place to come together, have a bit of a conversation about the needs required by our community for long term growth. Needs based around housing, education, employment opportunities, but more importantly dealing with the social disadvantage issues around health.

Aboriginal Affairs got this building for us [2006], which is now over 67 years old. The location is in the heart of Halls Gap, so we’re very lucky to have this facility.

We’ve come a long way in terms of being compliant and being able to run a professional Aboriginal service for our community which is growing year by year. In all we have a national park which tracks round about 1.3 million visitors

Image: Tim Chatfield, CEO and Alison Chatfield, Practice Manager Inset: Receptionist Kerrie Giles.

annually, we have a population in Halls Gap of residents at around about 350 to 400 people now in terms of its work opportunities and businesses.

when you’re talking about Closing the Gap or providing health services, no matter if there’s 1 or 100, you’ve still got a duty of care and that’s what we strongly believe in.

We started off small, but our membership base now is around about 280-300 and we’ve also got Aboriginal family groups within the area who do their own thing. Our catchment from a geographical point of view, you’ve got Ballarat and you’ve got Horsham, means we’re sort of the hub. It’s a big area when you think about providing services for the mob.

We’ve got to start thinking outside the square, no matter who we are, I keep saying, “How do we do things better as Aboriginal people? Let’s put our differences aside and see how can we advocate and lobby government? Everyone talks about a regional model, well what does a regional model look like?” If a regional model is going to work Government has got to commit to it, you know, proper resources and proper money so that they can be accountable to the hubs’ supervised.

There are around 6,000 Aboriginal people in this region alone, there may be more, and the increase of the Aboriginal population in our catchment is sadly due to the prisons in our area. We’re getting more families coming into the State wanting to be close to the people who are in the system.

We have a roaming population of Aboriginal people and trying to get Government to understand the way our mobs move around is very complex. When you start dealing with funding it’s very frustrating. However,

It can work in practice, as long as there’s proper structures in place so everyone has got a voice and a say.

Budja Budja offers an extensive range of services such as bulk billed GP consultations and Indigenous health checks. To see what they can offer you, go to http://budjabudjacoop.org.au or contact them directly on 03 5356 4751 or medical.reception@ budjabudjacoop.org.au.

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NAIDOC Victoria March 2017 liftout

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Goolum Goolum looks to the future through their young ones DEADLY DAN COMES TO THE WIMMERA

YOUNG BULLDOGS

Local Aboriginal kids from Horsham Primary Schools bumped shoulders with Indigenous Superhero – Deadly Dan, on Monday 6 June. Deadly Dan the smokefree man, travels Australia to rid local communities of the harmful effects of smoking and educate children on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

Jordan Lyall, Max Coleman and Cody Vigenser were all present at the Western Bulldogs Next Generation Induction Night.

Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative (Goolum Goolum) have partnered with Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) to develop an online comic book centred on Deadly Dan visiting the Wimmera River and empowering children to live a healthier lifestyle. Susan Sheridan from VAHS Healthy Lifestyle Team said “Deadly Dan is a familiar site in the streets of Melbourne but we wanted him to visit regional Victoria as well and spread the word on the harms of smoking”.

Dean O’Loughlin, Goolum Goolum’s Health and Wellbeing Manager said he was very excited to have Deadly Dan in town. “We have spent the whole day taking shots and setting scenes for the forthcoming online comic book. Deadly Dan works very well in Melbourne as an early intervention to engage kids in anti-smoking campaigns. Goolum will be launching its own ‘Smokefree’ character this year as part of NAIDOC celebrations in July”.

Goolum Goolum are developing an online interactive IT platform to engage community in Goolum Healthy Lifestyle programs and connect with services. The online comic, ‘Deadly Dan visits the Wimmera River’, will be just one of the highlights. “We had amazing success with our ‘Take the pledge’ campaign in 2016 and we want to build on that this year” Dean said.

Dean said that Goolum Goolum will continue to work with VAHS on upcoming projects if they can. “It’s a fantastic partnership”.

EIGHT Wimmera footballers travelled to Whitten Oval to take part in the Western Bulldog’s Next Generation Induction Day on 12 April.

The program gives opportunities and access to Indigenous and multicultural children from Western Victoria. Children ranging from 13 to 19 years old were invited to the induction day. These kids applied into the program in 2016 when Brett Goodes and Dave Newton visited to recruit kids and raise awareness of this program.

Goolum Goolum and the Next Generation Academy have struck up a partnership with the Wimmera set to be heavily involved in the program for years to come. The day included plenty for the young footballers to enjoy.

“They saw all of the Whitten Oval and went in the players’ dressing rooms”.

They also had a session with Western Bulldogs CEO Gary Kent and he talked everything Bulldogs.

There was an emphasis from the Western Bulldogs for female footballers to come along to the next academy and program benefits the young footballers in many ways.

“It gives them exposure to things they don’t normally have the chance to see or do. ”They travel to Melbourne, to the city, and rub shoulders with kids they wouldn’t normally”. Goolum Goolum’s Health and Wellbeing Team encourages aspiring young footballers, both male and female (13-19 yrs) to contact them to apply for this program.

scenes for the forthcoming online comic book. Deadly Dan works very well in Melbourne as an early intervention to engage kids in anti-smoking campaigns. Goolum will be launching its own ‘Smokefree’ character this year as part of NAIDOC celebrations in July”.

INDIGENOUS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY On Wednesday 24 May 2017; aspiring future community leaders, Danae McDonald, Kynan Clarke, Sarah Jane Kennedy and Tanisha Lovett, along with Goolum Goolum staff members Dean O’Loughlin and Stevie Graymore, and Volunteer Katrina Hughan, headed off to Melbourne to participate in the Indigenous Leadership Academy. Four days full of activities and opportunities that provide participants with insight to new and different industries. Each activity and location provided fully guided behind the scenes tours, keynote speakers, and relevant and interesting information on career paths and leadership skills.

Not only were there participants McDonald, Kynan Clarke, from Horsham On Wednesday 24th May 2017; aspiring future community leaders, Danae in attendance, but also from Sarah Jane Kennedy and Tanisha Lovett, along with Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-Operative staff Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative, members Dean O’Loughlin and Stevie Graymore, and Volunteer Katrina Hughan, headed off toThe Long Walk, and Borroloola in the Northern Territory. The ages ranged 11-18, and Melbourne, Victoria to participate in the Indigenous Leadership Academy. with so many people coming together from different 4 days full of activities and opportunities that would provide the participants with insight to new and walks of life, there were many a great story shared; different industries. activity and location provided fully guided behind the scenes tours, DEADLYEach DAN including Sonny from Borroloola being a local radio host! keynote speakers, and relevant and interesting information on career paths and leadership skills.

Vision/Goals of the camp

To inspire and support young Indigenous people to: • Make good decisions about their ongoing health and wellness • Set personal goals • Provide students with a resilient approach to learning • Continue to engage with education • Become leaders in their communities Participants were mentored by INDIGENOUS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY high level personnel such as marketing executives, CEOs, coaches of elite athletes, Not only were there participants from Horsham in attendance, but also Bendigothemselves. and District and from the athletes

Aboriginal Co-Operative, The Long Walk, and Borroloola in the Northern Territory. The ages ranged All students were afforded 11-18, and with so many people coming together from different walks of life, there were many athe opportunity to meet, talk and discuss future work experience, job opportunities great story shared; including Sonny from Borroloola being a local radio host!

YOUNG BULLDOGS

Jordan Lyall, Max Coleman and Cody Vigenser

and career pathways with all partner organisations.

The Indigenous Leadership Academy was initiated

by Anglicare Victoria to provide opportunities for Indigenous youth throughout Victoria to participate in leadership workshops, industry tours and corporate mentoring by sporting/business community. David Law, Youth Engagement Manager for Anglicare said that Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-Operative have been involved since the Academy’s inception and we are proud to be able to offer these opportunities to emerging Indigenous leaders in rural Western Victoria.

If you’d like more information on Goolum Goolum’s many programs contact them on reception@ goolumgoolum.org.au or 03 5381 6333.

Articles and images provided by Goolum Goolum.

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Image: Top Row (L-R): Sugi Navaratnam, Fernanda Dal Pozzo - HR/Admin, Alex Papadatos - Finance Assistant, Liza Vanspall - ATAR, Nava - CEO, Dan Laws - VISHN Co-ordinator, Karen Derschow - SHS | Middle Row (L-R): Carlie Potter - IHSHY, Jida McCartney Youth Justice | Bottom Row (L-R): Dylan Potter - ATAR, Triphina Bradshaw, Ruby Coltzau - SHSCEO

Ngwala Willumbong is 43 years strong and shows no signs of stopping

Ngwala Willumbong (Pitjantjatjara for ‘dry place’) Ltd (Ngwala) is a key service provider offering specialist alcohol and drug rehabilitation, and outreach support services to Aboriginal communities in Victoria.

It began as a support group, set up by the community, for recovering alcoholics in 1974. It now employs close to 60 staff, has seven branches, including two rehabilitation centres for men and one for women.

Ngwala operates around 30 outreach programs.

VACCHO sat down with Ngwala CEO, E.N. Navaratnam (Nava), to find out what’s ahead for Ngwala and what drives him to keep working towards a healthier community.

Nava: I’m originally from Sri Lanka. I completed my higher education in London and migrated to Australia in 1983. I joined Ngwala in January 1984 and at the time there was only Galiamble with about five staff. I was appointed as Administrator of Ngwala when the then Program Director Max Wood retired in mid-1985.

We started building the Winja Ulupna Women’s Recovery Centre in 1985. The Valley Halfway House in Shepparton was about to close down and I was asked by our Chairperson Kevin Coombs if Ngwala could take over it. So we took over that facility in 1987 and then around 1990/91 the name was changed to Percy Green Centre (now Yitjawudik). The number of outreach programs has continued to grow to include Youth Justice, Drug and Alcohol, Housing, Family Violence, etc - almost 30 outreach programs.

VACCHO: So has staff had to do a whole lot of training to deal with the size and scope of the work now.

Nava: Yes, We make sure that our staff are up-todate with training and abreast with current practices.

We avail our staff with advice and support from VACCHO. We are planning a three-day training course in November. It will be run by First Nation Canadians, covering areas like lateral violence and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

VACCHO: Do you have any problems because there’s so many locations?

Nava: It would be easier if we were centralised, however getting a big place in St Kilda is very difficult.

Plus if we move away from the city, a lot of our clients – especially those in the rehabilitation program - will have problems in accessing other services. Maybe if we come across some capital money we could rebuild this place or one of the branches in St Kilda to bring the programs together under one roof.

VACCHO: So what keeps you here?

I have had committed staff and definitely very committed board members. I have had the privilege of working with community leaders like Richard Ambrose, Kevin Coombs, Joan Vickery, Marion Hanson, Joe Day (our current Chairperson) and John Murray (who has been on our board for nearly 20 years) and Roslyn Gardner and Marcia Guild who have been associated with Ngwala for nearly 25 years.

This is my thirty-fourth year with Ngwala and this association has inculcated a strong sense of belonging and enjoyment towards working for the community.

For more information on the great work that Ngwala do, contact them on reception@ngwala.org.au or 03 9510 3233.

Images: Left Top - Bottom: SEWB Project Officer and dancer Phillip Eagan with Brent Watkins on didgeridoo. | Cultural Safety Administration and Customer Service Officer Laura Burgess leads hand painting session | Statewide Eye Health Project Officer Levi Lovett leads Smoking Ceremony

VACCHO staff event

VICNAIDOC 5 July 2017 VACCHO, Collingwood

VACCHO Movement by Improvement Forum Continuous Quality Improvement 22-23 June 2017 Mantra Bell City, Preston

Forum attendees | Inset: Guest speaker Dr Richard Mills, Medical Educator - Institute for Urban Indigenous Health

Out and about Follow us on

VACCHO NEWS June - August 2017

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VACCHO Board Members John Mitchell: Chairperson Karen Heap: Vice Chairperson John Gorton: Board Member Rod Jackson: Board Member Hilary Saunders: Board Member Suzie Squires: Board Member Daphne Yarram: Board Member

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VACCHO Members • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Aboriginal Community Elders Services Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service Ballarat & District Aboriginal Co-operative Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-operative Boorndawan Willam Aboriginal Healing Service Bubup Wilam for Early Learning Aboriginal Child and Family Centre Budja Budja Aboriginal Co-operative Cummeragunja Housing and Development Aboriginal Corporation (Viney Morgan AMS) Dandenong & District Aborigines Co-operative Dhauwurd Wurrung Elderly and Community Health Service Gippsland & East Gippsland Aboriginal Co-operative Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative Gunditjmara Aboriginal Co-operative Healesville Indigenous Community Services Association Kirrae Health Service Inc. Lake Tyers Health and Children’s Service Note »» Auspiced

• Lakes Entrance Aboriginal Health Association • Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport & Recreation Co-operative • Mallee District Aboriginal Services »» Kerang Aboriginal Community Centre »» Swan Hill and District Aboriginal Co-operative • Moogji Aboriginal Council East Gippsland Inc. • Mungabareena Aboriginal Corporation • Murray Valley Aboriginal Co-operative • Ngwala Willumbong Cooperative • Njernda Aboriginal Corporation • Ramahyuck District Aboriginal Corporation »» Central Gippsland Aboriginal Health Services • Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative Ltd • Victorian Aboriginal Health Service • Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative • Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation • Weenthunga Health Network Inc VACCHO News Winter 2017

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