Indigenous perspectives on holistic wellbeing Event as iCalendar

Community Care (Northern Beaches) is an organisation that provides over 20 independent community care programs across the Northern Sydney region. CCNB specializes in aged care, disability and mental health services, with an operational budget of approximately $15M.

Most recently, CCNB has developed a specific interest and expertise in the development and delivery of services to Australian First People (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders). As a mainstream organisation, in the absence of any Aboriginal owned/run organisation, this has been seen as essential in ensuring our First People receive the support they require, in light of significant relative disadvantage our people continue to experience. We have employed a First Peoples Wellness Consultant, the first position of its kind that we are aware of, to work on such initiatives. More specifically, we are investigating opportunities for the integration of First Peoples’ philosophy into mainstream service provision, as a complimentary strategy to ensure our communities’ needs are more effectively met across Indigenous-specific and mainstream service provision.

Speakers

Eliza Pross is the Director Strategy at CCNB, and has worked for the organisation for 11 years. Eliza is a proud Indigenous woman, whose ancestry originated from Tasmania. She is involved in a range of formal and informal community initiatives, including state-wide policy advisory committees, community development programs and Australian First Peoples service model development. Eliza has been responsible for developing and building the organisation’s capacity to undertake effective work with Australian First People’s.

Susan Moylan-Coombs is employed by CCNB as the Australian First Peoples Wellness Consultant. New to CCNB, Susan has extensive experience in television production, as well as community development and social planning. Susan is an Gurindji woman from the Northern Territory, and is also a member of the Stolen Generation(s) the group of people who were forcibly removed from their families by the Australian Government. Susan has extensive experience working with Australian First Peoples nationally, with specific expertise in hearing, capturing and sharing stories to facilitate change.

Our topic/s of discussion:

Based on the work we are currently undertaking, we would be interested in presenting, and getting feedback, based on the NZ Māori (and/or other Indigenous perspectives) on:

• Creating models of holistic well-being (particularly in the context of mental health service provision) based on First Peoples’ philosophies, that can improve outcomes for all people;
• Supporting the development and survival of Indigenous owned and run services in the context of broader sector reforms;
• Exploring the differential constructions of ageing and the role of ‘the aged’, including the contrast in First Peoples v’s mainstream constructions and what this means for older people and younger generations (and service model development based on current reforms in the Australian context);
• Exploring definitions of wellness and illness and looking at what this means for traditional service delivery;
• Hearing the voices of our community and Elders, and undertaking cultural translation in a policy context to ensure their needs are effectively met;
• Strategies for driving change within traditional, culturally inappropriate, mainstream service provision. We really look forward to the opportunity to connect with you, and particularly, to share experiences and insights cross-culturally.

For further information or to RSVP please contact r.mules@auckland.ac.nz or r.speck@auckland.ac.nz