Northern
Territory
Stories
Healing our Kids Our Way project in Ntaria, NT
A child trauma counsellor and an Aboriginal family worker provide counselling and support to 30 children and young people in the remote community.
For the past 18 months, the Foundation has been working with Ntaria, a community of about 1800 people, about an hour from Alice Springs. This year, we started a new program that sees the employment of a Child Trauma Counsellor and an Aboriginal Family Worker to provide counselling and support to 30 children and young people in the community. Our staff live in the community and support the school to help children make sense of their experiences. They also help teachers and others know how to respond to these children in the classroom, making it more possible for them to learn. The team also supports the families of traumatised children with strategies to look after their children so that they all start to feel safe again.
Working with NPY Women’s Council in Alice Springs, NT
Working in partnership with the Domestic Violence Team to develop a new approach to preventing family and community violence in remote communities across the NT, WA and SA borders.
The NPY Women’s Council is a strong organisation that works from Alice Springs and supports remote Aboriginal communities in the area that covers the NT, WA and SA border. Our team has worked in partnership with the Domestic Violence Team to develop a new approach to preventing family and community violence in these remote communities. The approach helps individuals to identify the small acts of resistance to violence that they have managed to hold onto when they are overwhelmed with the impact of the trauma they feel. This can take the form of a mum who was able to move her children to her sister’s home to escape the violence, or a community member who mediated the departure of a man who was not able to manage his violent behaviour. This model has now been adopted and is starting to make a difference in the way people on community feel empowered to stand up to the violence that occurs, and keep themselves and their children safe.
Bringing Up Great Kids parenting program, Darwin
Training delivered to more than 3000 professionals working with children and families to support them to run the Bringing Up Great Kids parenting program in their own communities.
Across the country, more than 3000 professionals who work with children and families have been trained in how to run the Bringing Up Great Kids parenting program. One of these workshops happened recently in Darwin and attracted 30 parenting educators, social workers, early childhood workers from as far as Katherine and Tiwi. These 30 professionals run parenting programs back in their own community for up to 10 people per group each year. From the group trained in Darwin, we expect that more than 450 parents will be supported over the next year.
Supporting Intensive Youth Support Service in Katherine
One of our therapeutic specialists from Darwin travels to Katherine (a 3-hour drive) every fortnight to spend three days supporting Anglicare NT’s Intensive Youth Support Service Workers.
One of our Therapeutic Specialists from Darwin travels down to Katherine (a 3-hour drive) every fortnight to spend three days supporting Intensive Youth Support Service Workers who work for Anglicare NT. These IYSS workers provide outreach support to young people in crisis. Often, the young people are homeless or involved in some form of youth crime. By understanding their background and the way that trauma has shaped their pattern of responding to issues as they arise, these IYSS staff can engage these young people more closely, follow them through the crisis and positive times and keep them away from engaging in more serious harmful behaviour.