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Page 1: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Finding a path to healing…Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities….

TRUDY HANSON OAM

National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc. Australia

Page 2: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

NALAG Logo

Page 3: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Where we are….

.Bourke.Dubbo

Page 4: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Macquarie Dictionary definition of Bereavement

…to deprive ruthlessly, especially of hope and joy, to make desolate through loss, to take away by violence…

Page 5: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 6: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 7: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Original training group

Page 8: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Dot Martin a Ngemba woman and some of her family members

Page 9: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 10: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 11: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Bourke Healing Days

Flowers floating on Darling River at Bourke

Community sharing following the ceremony

Page 12: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 13: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Working creatively with Bourke community

Page 14: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Grief & loss are the predominant themes of this report tenacity and survival are also acknowledged

Page 15: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

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.

Page 16: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

RECOGNISED HISTORICAL LOSSES

CultureLanguageSickness (introduced by Europeans)LandLaws (traditional)Traditional medicinesCeremonies (particularly grieving ceremonies) Deaths by massacres

Page 17: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

RECOGNISED CONTEMPORARY LOSSES

Removal of Aboriginal children from their families THE STOLEN GENERATION

The Assimilation Policy for Aboriginals

Page 18: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

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’.

Page 19: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

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

Page 20: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

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)

Page 21: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

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

Page 22: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

“Why me ; why was I taken? It’s like a hole in your heart that can never heal”

Confidential evidence 162 Bringing them home

Page 23: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

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”

Page 24: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

‘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

Page 25: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

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

Page 26: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

NALAG Intervention

Education

Healing Days

Camps

Ritual

Mentoring young people

Page 27: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

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

Page 28: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Camp Theme Symbol

By Aboriginal Artist Lewis Burns

Campfire

Hands of the ancestors

Men

Children

Women

NALAG & Aboriginals

Representing gathering, sharing and healing

Page 29: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 30: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 31: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 32: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

TEAM BUILDING

Page 33: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

ROPES CHALLENGE, TEAM BUILDING.

Page 34: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
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THEATRE

SPORTS

Page 36: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 37: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 38: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 39: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 40: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 41: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 42: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 43: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 44: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Typical Losses for Camp Participants

Parents / Grandparents / SiblingsHomePetsMovingIncarceration of parents and siblingsJob opportunitiesSelf EsteemIdentityAccidental death

Page 45: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

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

Page 46: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

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

Page 47: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Finding a path to healing

Page 48: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 49: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.
Page 50: Finding a path to healing… Loss and Grief support in remote Aboriginal communities…. TRUDY HANSON OAM National Association for Loss & Grief (NSW) Inc.

Conference Paper

AVAILABLE

NALAG WEBSITE

www.nalag.org.au

Conference Paper