Post on 31-Mar-2015
Finding a path to healing…Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities….
TRUDY HANSON OAM
National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc. Australia
NALAG Logo
Where we are….
.Bourke.Dubbo
Macquarie Dictionary definition of Bereavement
…to deprive ruthlessly, especially of hope and joy, to make desolate through loss, to take away by violence…
Original training group
Dot Martin a Ngemba woman and some of her family members
Bourke Healing Days
Flowers floating on Darling River at Bourke
Community sharing following the ceremony
Working creatively with Bourke community
Grief & loss are the predominant themes of this report tenacity and survival are also acknowledged
From ‘Bringing them Home’ Report
Grief and loss are the predominant themes in this report. Tenacity and survival are also acknowledged as most significant, the actions of the past resonate in the present and will continue to do so in the future.
RECOGNISED HISTORICAL LOSSES
CultureLanguageSickness (introduced by Europeans)LandLaws (traditional)Traditional medicinesCeremonies (particularly grieving ceremonies) Deaths by massacres
RECOGNISED CONTEMPORARY LOSSES
Removal of Aboriginal children from their families THE STOLEN GENERATION
The Assimilation Policy for Aboriginals
Assimilation
‘You spend your whole life wondering where you will fit. You’re not white enough to be white and your skin is not black enough to be black either, and it really does come down to that’.
Assimilation
“I remember all we children being herded up like a mob of cattle, and feeling the humiliation of being graded by the colour of our skins for the government records”
Confidential evidence 332 women removed in the 50s Bringing them home
Effects of Separation from Primary Carer (Assimilation Policy)
Depression
Inappropriate choice of partner
Learning difficulties
Parenting difficulties
Antisocial activity
Violence
Suicide(Australian Association of Mental Health submission citing Bowlby 1988
supported by Dr Nick Kowanenko, director of Child and adolescent Psychiatry at Royal North Shore Hospital NSW evidence 740)
UNRECOGNISED EMOTIONAL LOSSES
Loss of one’s sense of identity
Separation anxiety
Loss of a sense of power
Loss of trust
Loss of Confidence
Loss of Self-esteem
“Why me ; why was I taken? It’s like a hole in your heart that can never heal”
Confidential evidence 162 Bringing them home
Stolen Generation
“ My feelings throughout life, of hurt, pain and neglect began as far back as I can remember…I was taken from my family… along with my biological brother”
‘Actually what you see in a lot of us is the shell, and I believe as an Aboriginal person that everything is inside of me to heal me if I know how to use it, if I know how to maintain it, if I know how to bring it out and use it. But sometimes the past is just too hard to look at.’
Bringing them home confidential evidence 284
Stolen Generation
“ I’ve often thought, as old as I am, that it would have been lovely to have known a father and a mother, to know parents even for a little while, just to have had the opportunity of having a mother tuck you into bed and give you a good-night kiss-but it was never to be.”
Bringing them home confidential evidence 65 a child fostered at 2 months
NALAG Intervention
Education
Healing Days
Camps
Ritual
Mentoring young people
GOOD GRIEF CAMPS for Young people
Outdoor structured educational or therapeutic program
Experiential in nature and featuring outdoor settings in the bush
Ropes course
Education about Loss & Grief
Ritual
Camp Theme Symbol
By Aboriginal Artist Lewis Burns
Campfire
Hands of the ancestors
Men
Children
Women
NALAG & Aboriginals
Representing gathering, sharing and healing
TEAM BUILDING
ROPES CHALLENGE, TEAM BUILDING.
THEATRE
SPORTS
Typical Losses for Camp Participants
Parents / Grandparents / SiblingsHomePetsMovingIncarceration of parents and siblingsJob opportunitiesSelf EsteemIdentityAccidental death
What the Young people liked about the Camps
The crazy ‘old people’
The fun activities especially the ropes course
The food
Learning about grief stuff
It’s OK to talk about stuff that hurts
Other kids feel the same as I do
Typical Camp Rules
No weaponsNo put downsNo drugsHave lots of funNo fightingIts OK to cryNo stealingEveryone gets a chance to speak and be heardRespect each other
Finding a path to healing
Conference Paper
AVAILABLE
NALAG WEBSITE
www.nalag.org.au
Conference Paper