Empowering community members and the healing workforce through education and training is a key part of our work. For many of our people there is a lack of awareness of the impact that colonisation has had in their lives and the trauma they are carrying. Becoming aware of this is the first step on the journey to healing.
The Healing Foundation acknowledges the complex nature of the work our Indigenous workforce is asked to carry. Our emerging evidence is that when workers are supported to undertake their own healing journeys, their capacity to maintain employment and provide services to their community improves.
Our training and education work is focused on supporting healing training and development for our workforce across Australia increasing skills and self care to support quality healing for our communities. Since 2012 we have supported more than 60 community education and workforce development projects around Australia.
Our training and education projects aim to:
- increase knowledge about the impacts of trauma
- improve people’s ability to manage the impacts of trauma constructively
- increase community use of relevant support services
- build a workforce with increased capacity to recognise and respond to trauma, loss and grief
Evaluations of our education projects, indicated that a trauma informed workforce is being built, with workplaces becoming more culturally safe and increasingly aware of the historical and intergenerational nature of trauma.
However, we have also found that levels of trauma within Indigenous communities are much higher than previously thought, and noted the need for those who are leading healing responses to find their own healing and then develop longer-term strategies for self-care.
In recognition of this, the Healing Foundation funded the Heal the Healers initiative, to support people doing incredibly difficult healing work in their local communities. Our current Heal the Healers projects are:
