How to watch

1. Watch the recordings from your desktop, laptop or meeting room TV and be part of the conversation.
2. Host a series of lunches at your office and invite others to watch with you. 
3. Watch the recordings and then share with your colleagues and encourage them to watch too.

Resources to support the CDoH Webcast Series can be found at the bottom of this page. These will be added to throughout the series.

The webcasts

Introduction:
A Cultural Reset with Wayapa

Recorded Tuesday 31 March 

A Cultural Reset with Wayapa was an opportunity to re-anchor ones self to work with the ebb and flow of waves, of nature, of life during a time of uncertainty.

Professor Kerry Arabena and Wayapa Wuurrk practitioner Alana Marsh introduced participants to the Indigenous mindfulness exercise, Wayapa, an earth connection practice. The word “Wayapa” translates to “Connection” and the modality draws upon physical movement, storytelling and Earth-based meditation to catalyse an embodied connection to the Earth.

Following an introduction to the practice, Alana guided participants through the 14 elements of Wayapa, an energising movement sequence that is suitable for all abilities. This was followed by a Q&A session.

Learn more about Wayapa >

Webcast 1:
A Framework for Action*

Recorded 23 April 2021 

The process of learning culture, in and of itself, is healing. Learning culture builds resilience.

A cultural determinants of health approach to wellbeing is a relevant and effective way to improve outcomes across the social determinants of health. Any development endeavours (education, employment, economic independence) that fail to acknowledge and promote cultural perspectives is akin to assimilation and risk further negative impacts.

This webinar explored themes related to questions of strategy, governance, tools and capacity building. Panellists will review experiences with an eye to understanding practice, innovations, and encouraging frank debate on the connections between health and Indigenous culture. Topics discussed include:

• Historical truth telling
• Current directions in CDoH theory
• Pathways and mechanisms through which CDoH can influence health and wellbeing
• Purpose of constructing a framework for the CDoH

Panellists include:

• Wes Morris, Coordinator, Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC)
• Professor Pat Dudgeon, School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia
• Richard Weston, Deputy Children’s Guardian for Aboriginal Children and Young People
• Joanne Atkinson, Manager, Koori Courts

Webcast 2:
Connection to Land and Country*

Recorded 21 May 2021 

Relationships to land and Country are complex and interrelated. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ laws and customs and ways of knowing and being in the world are intimately connected to the land and waters.

Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples believe that ancestral beings created landscapes and geographic features, as well as human society and the languages and customs for living. These spirits remain in the landscape, the sky and the waters — their life-giving and sustaining powers still exist within each living thing to this day.

Connection to land and Country respects values, places, resources, stories and cultural obligations associated with that area and its features. It describes the entirety of ancestral domains. Connection to land and Country is therefore essential to the continued cultural survival of Indigenous Australians as well as their economic and social development.

Topics discussed include:

• qualitative research on Aboriginal peoples’ relationship to their traditional land
• disciplines that illuminate an understanding of the significance of contact with the natural world
• measures that assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ to acquire, reclaim, and/or manage land, natural resources and waters, in a way that enhances social, cultural, spiritual, economic and environmental wellbeing.
• Governmental policies and practices that respect the right of First Nations peoples to self-determination and improvement of their social and economic conditions
• cultural and intellectual property and heritage rights invested in traditional knowledge
• land rights and sovereignty of First Nations peoples
• ceremony and everyday cultural praxis

Panellists:

Jason Eades, CEO, Welcome to Country

Tony Capon, Director, Monash Sustainable Development Institute

Jessica Spencer, Regional Project Officer, Aboriginal Environmental Health Unit

Gavin Singleton, Manager, Yirriganydji Land and Sea Ranger Program

Arthur Walker, CEO Ngopamuldi Aboriginal Corporation

Webcast 3:
Connection to Spirituality and Ancestors*

Recorded 16 July 2021 

Part of listening, learning and living in respectful relationship with one another involves seeking to understand Indigenous spirituality, which is fundamental to many Indigenous people’s identity and worldview.

Aboriginal cosmogony begins at the ‘Dreamtime’. Hidden in the sky, in the sea and under the surface of the Earth are dreamtime heroes, also called creation ancestors. The creation ancestors laid down not only the foundations of all life, but also what people had to do to maintain their part of this interdependence. Lore ensures that each person knows his or her connectedness and responsibilities for other people (their kin), for country (including watercourses, landforms, the species and the universe), and for their ongoing relationship with the ancestor spirits themselves.

A healthy respect for the power of spirit and ancestors is crucial for those working in the health and welfare space. Topics discussed include:

• guiding principles for respecting cultural and spiritual identity
• conditions for effective relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
• effective engagement between governments and Indigenous communities
• resources that support physical, personal and spiritual dimensions of Aboriginal culture with past, present and future life
• contemporary Aboriginal healing practices

Panelists

Tyson Yunkaporta, Senior lecturer in Indigenous Knowledges at Deakin University in Melbourne and Author of Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Change the World

Dr. Tjanara Goreng Goreng, Founder and Chief Visionary at OneINMA Global

Kyle Slabb, Director, Banaam Applied Cultural Intelligence

Julie Tongs, CEO, Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services

Webcast 4:
Connection to Family, Kinship & Community*

Recorded 13 August 2021 

In Western societies the structures of social interaction and roles and obligations change as individuals move out from the immediate family circle to the wider society. In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies, the family structures and the sets of rights and obligations underlying them are extended to the whole society.

Family, kinship and community are cohesive forces that bind Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people together. It is the kinship ties which determine a person’s rights, responsibilities and behaviour – the basis of all social interaction. Topics discussed in this webcast include:

• Aboriginal social structures and how these are different to Western societies
• Whole identity relationships and bonds across Nations and Clans
• Aboriginal kinship systems and how they operate
• Potential conflict in working with people from differing cultural backgrounds
• Cultural load and leadership in the community
• Family structures and the sets of rights and obligations underlying them

Panelists

Karen Milward, Consultant and Chair, Community First Development

Dr Richard Franklin, Musician, Author, Screen Writer and Associate Professor Cross Disciplinary Practice, University of Melbourne

Robyn Forester, CEO, Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre

Graham Toomey, CEO and Executive Director, Gunawirra

Webcast 5:
Connection to Mind and Body*

Recorded: 17 September 2021 

Connection to mind and body reflects the holistic concepts of health and wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Connection to body is about physical wellbeing and includes all the normal biological markers and indices that reflect the physical health of a person (i.e. age, weight, nutrition, illness and disability, mortality).

Connection to mind refers not only to an individual’s experience of mental wellbeing (or mental ill-health) but also the whole spectrum of basic cognitive, emotional and psychological human experience, including fundamental human needs such as: the experience of safety and security, a sense of belonging, control or mastery, self-esteem, meaning making, values and motivation, and the need for secure relationships.

Topics explored in this webcast include:

• Conceptual understanding of holistic health
• Community resilient responses to oppression and change
• Measuring meaningful and culturally appropriate collaboration
• Appropriate referral pathways when recognising signs and symptoms of mind and body distress

Panelists:

Joshua Toole | Founder of BlackFit Fitness

Bonnie (Bronwyn) Cochrane | CEO of TIPIAC

Dr Mark Lock | Academic writer and cultural safety editor

Gail Daylight | Project Lead at Caring for Spirit