Join Paul Herbert and Sam Whitehead at this one-off workshop in Melbourne, Victoria as they deliver what many say is a life changing experience.

Paul is a member of the Warlpiri Aboriginal nation, who are based in the Tanami desert of the Northern Territory. He returned to live on country in his early twenties. During his stay he completed all cultural obligations and was able to visit and work on many remote communities. Today he lives in Adelaide with his family where he has worked in forensic mental health for many years. He holds a Masters of Narrative Therapy and Community Work through Melbourne University and has spoken at local, national and international events. His goal is to share his unique cultural knowledge and experience with others, in a way that is currently not being done, and that would make his family proud.

Sam Whitehead a proud Adnyamathanha woman with family ties from Nepabunna, Far North Flinders Ranges in South Australia. She has lived and grown up on Kaurna Country in Adelaide, South Australia. Her professional accomplishments include over 14 years in SA Health, where she has completed her Diploma of Enrolled Nursing, Advanced Enrolled Nurse Diploma and her Bachelors of Midwifery. Sam has completed an Aboriginal Leadership Academy Program, Rainbow accreditation, Mental Health First Aid for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and more. She has worked most recently within the Social and Emotional Wellbeing sector in management for Indigenous people over the past 3 years and found that there is an extensive gap. Her goal is to help others at a higher level to have a better Cultural knowledge, understanding and connection to Culture through her skills and experience. She is professional and motivated to facilitate education and change, not just Yarning but actions and following through with change and promoting Culturally appropriate and safe education. Sam admires to be a role model for family and community.

Join Paul and Sam in this workshop, specifically designed to help professionals gain a deeper understanding of Aboriginal cultural values, beliefs, and practices, and to provide practical tools for incorporating this knowledge into their professional practice. With the guidance of Paul and Sam’s extensive experience, participants will explore topics such as communication, respect, and cultural protocols, all within the context of Aboriginal cultural safety. He will describe in detail, traditional aboriginal culture and traditional practice and how it relates to modern practice and service provision, in a way that has never been done before.

You will learn the following and participate in;

• Traditional Aboriginal culture and practice
• Kinship systems and how they work
• Aboriginal spiritual model of health and well-being
• The Aboriginal way of learning and how you can use it
• Aboriginal law and different world views
• Communication skills and techniques
• Creating safe and secure spaces
• The cultural handshake and how to create rapport
• What to say and do when someone passes away
• How to work with complex Aboriginal clients
• Visiting remote communities and what to do
• Understanding men’s and women’s only areas
• What works when working with Aboriginal people, families and communities
• Making your working environment more culturally safe and secure
• Cultural coping skills and strategies.
• Various role plays, case studies and scenario activities
• And much more.

All the examples and stories shared are lived experiences from Paul and Sam.

What the workshop won’t cover includes-

White privilege, data and statistics, past injustices, politics and local Aboriginal knowledge and tradition. The reason for this is that the workshop focusses on Aboriginal custom, traditional practice and learning new skills, techniques, methods and strategies that can be applied around Australia with as many Aboriginal people as possible. For local Aboriginal knowledge specific to your area, it is recommended that you attend local cultural events.

The goal is to empower you, so you leave feeling more confident and competent when working with Aboriginal people, families and communities. So you are more aware and are less likely to inadvertently offend people.

Having trained well over 2000 participants, the workshop scores 9’s and 10’s for cultural knowledge learnt, improved cultural competence and 100% of participants would recommend this workshop to others.

Feedback from previous workshops

Educator
All day ‘talks’ typically leave me feeling drained but the Cultural Awareness training left me feeling keen for more. I better understand how to approach communication and cultural differences.

Mental Health Specialist
Helped me thread parts of existing understanding together which will improve ways of working with Aboriginal people; interesting and useful. great that you relate the knowledge to your experience

Occupational Therapist
Informative and detailed, yes there is obviously so much more to learn. So different to other training because of many personal experiences/ explanations provided.

Nurse
Very comprehensive, understanding has increased, beneficial, vital for all staff to attend.

Support Worker
Very practical ideas; easy to understand, delivered respectfully; honoured to have learnt from you.

Don’t miss out on this invaluable learning experience – register today!