Page 3507 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 12 September 2017
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The Ngunnawal Bush Healing Farm is at its heart a place of healing. The centre’s program and design will strengthen safety and support mechanisms offered to vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT who are suffering from substance abuse. Construction of the centre has been completed following productive collaboration between ACT Health and the Ngunnawal Bush Healing Farm working group, which has also helped to develop the service model.
The bush healing farm builds on the long preserved teachings and cultures of Canberra’s original custodians. It will provide support through these teachings, led by the community of leaders and role models in a non-clinical setting. There is no doubt that this centre will take a unique approach to the healing process. By incorporating the support of elders and cultural healers, the centre will empower individuals through skills and knowledge to tackle the challenges of substance abuse and treatment setbacks.
The centre will offer prevention and education programs to be delivered by staff, the majority of whom identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Assistance will be provided to participants with emphasis on individuals reconnecting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and their own personal wellbeing. These goals will be pursued through many positive programs including life skills training, land management training, cultural programs, physical health and wellbeing programs and recreational activities. The centre will start helping 12 to 15 clients next month in its first 10-week program.
Joining local elders and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders will be other culturally significant groups and organisations. Members of the Yurauna Centre from the Canberra Institute of Technology will help by guiding the centre’s foundational skills program. This program has been designed for clients with a focus on education-based skills training, advice and cultural support.
Aboriginal rangers from ACT parks and conservation’s healthy country initiative will help in delivering the centre’s reconnection to country and culture program. The rangers will offer their considerable knowledge of Canberra’s cultural heritage and environment to help clients re-establish these fundamental touchstones. Nutrition Australia will help conduct the centre’s nutrition and food skills program. The organisation will help the centre’s clients by providing their expertise in teaching the importance of healthy lifestyles. The program will teach the centre’s clients to have confidence in cooking good, nutritious food for themselves and expand their healthy eating options.
The ACT’s alcohol and drug service will deliver the centre’s relapse prevention program. This self-management and recovery-based program will focus on aiding clients along the difficult path of recovery from substance and abuse addiction. The program will aim to support clients through positive wellbeing and self-reflection strategies, such as meditation, stress management and mindfulness.
This is a new approach to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT, and that is why it is so important that we get this right. We need to make
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