Ownership as part of change

Ngallu Wal Aboriginal Child & Family Centre

Daniella is a Family and Community engagement officer at Ngallu Wal Aboriginal Child and Family Centre which is an Organised Service Centre for the Child and Family that provides children up to age 6 with childcare services and support services to children up to age 8, as well as support to their families.

What are the main services provided by Ngalu Wal for the community and your role in organisation?

Daniella: Probably, there are lot of support services available in Ngallu Wal. I work as crisis support provider and its important for people to feel safe in service centre. My background is domestic violence (DV). DV and Mental Health go hand in hand and I feel our colleagues should be trained about basic mental health training. Moreover, treating other people like human beings is the basic thing.

Are children affected in DV situations?

Daniella: Yes, DV directly affects children’s mental health. Like not being able to sleep, not eating, over eating, not going to school and some certain behaviours of anxiety because of having DV cases in their families. We are also working in partnership with case workers in programs with children exposed to DV. It's really important to be aware about DV and mental health.

Are males ever in need of support in DV situations?

Daniella: Yes, we do have specific program for perpetrators of DV such as Wolkara Men’s group. It’s about the ownership that they could be the part of change. The first meeting for Wolkara men’s group was held on 3rd February at NgalluWal but the venue is scheduled to be changed each month and it’s a monthly program to be held on first Monday of the month. For booking a place in the meeting, one can contact Keeden at 0410125183.

How does the government support your work?

Daniella: Working in this sector, I find biggest issue among Aboriginal community is trust of government structures. We are bringing police in to talk about the various programs in our sessions to build trust and we are also engaging psychologists in our programs. There are also trust issues between communities because of the stolen generation history; Lots of the time, there is little child protection within the system as it exists. That's where our work fits in.

REFERENCES

Ngallu Wal - Aboriginal Child and Family Centre, Doonside. (n.d.). Ngallu Wal Aboriginal Child and Family Centre. https:// ngalluwal.org.au/