MAYA Programs
The Healing Program is made up of five different projects.
There are:
Although each
area will specialise in a different aspect of healing, all five areas are
interconnected and inter-related in keeping with the holistic approach to
healing adopted by Maya.
A summary
of each is below.
Please note that
as this is the first Aboriginal Healing Centre in
Maya Healing Centre’s - Healing Program
Goal:
Heal the spirit of our people by strengthening the connections of
family, community, land and culture so that we can have inner peace and
the strength needed to live healthy, meaningful and love filled lives.
Expected Outcomes:
Justification:
Although there is no one single definition of
Aboriginal spirituality, generally it refers to connection to others,
family, community, land, seas, ancestors and to creation spirits.
It is through the observance and maintenance of these connections
through family and community celebrations, ritual and ceremony that
spiritual wellbeing is maintained.
Unfortunately under the violent process of colonisation and the trauma,
grief and loss that it has brought, this sense of belonging and
connectedness that has been at the core of our spirituality has been
severely damaged and the harmony between physical, mental, cultural,
environmental and spiritual well-being has been broken.
Many of the problems and difficulties encountered by Aboriginal peoples,
families and communities today including addiction, domestic violence,
family breakdown, poor health and high incidences of contact with the
justice system, stem from this damage to our spirit.
Thus Maya’s Healing Program is concerned with healing the spirit of our
peoples by strengthening and or rebuilding these connections, our self
esteem and sense of identity so that we can develop the inner peace
necessary to live healthy, meaningful and love filled lives.
Healing Individuals, Family and Community
Objective:
Improve the spiritual and physical health, well being and life skills of
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, their families and the community
through the operation of a healing centre and associated programs and
activities.
Expected Outcomes:
Justification
The need for a Healing Centre in the Aboriginal community had been well
documented. For example the
Indigenous Family Violence task force 2003 report stated the need for
“the establishment of healing centres within all regions of
During the planning stages for the Healing Centre Aboriginal women
stated the need for a safe place where women could come together with or
without their children on a regular basis, give strength to one another
in their journey of healing.
People suffering from addiction also identified the need for a type of
time out place where they could get support to assist them to overcome
their addiction and to stay away from places that are not good for their
well being such as pubs, clubs or pokies.
Method:
The Healing Centre will operate as a drop in centre where people can
come to when they simply need time out and want to go to a safe and
inviting environment.
Computers, internet and local phone calls will be made available to them
if they need to conduct some of their own business.
Community lunches will also be provided and “Welcome Packs” with
a list of different activities and programs at Maya as well as other
related organisations.
Maya will assist people from local hostels and groups, such as
Aboriginal elders from ACES to attend the centre by providing transport
with the Maya own mini bus.
Apart from the basic services as a drop in centre, the Maya Healing
Centre will also offer activities, programs, personal counselling and
referral services to people using the Centre.
Traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremonies will be held at the start and
end of each week and on other special occasions as a means to cleans the
spirit and reconnect to culture and land.
Meditation sessions will be offered twice weekly to assist people to
attain the inner peace necessary to start the journey of healing.
The Maya walking group will meet once a week to promote physical health
and exercise as well as positive social interaction.
Special Healing Walks to the Darebin Park Lands that celebrate
Aboriginal culture, will conducted by trained Aboriginal staff from Maya
as part of the Moving Around Project.
Life skills programs, such as basic literacy, computer skills, cooking
and financial management, will be developed in partnership with other
community organisations and delivered at Maya.
Apart from the inherent benefits of these programs they are also
important in developing positive social skills, which is particularly
important for people attempting to live a life free of drug and alcohol.
A Koori art program will also be offered.
For Aboriginal people this in an opportunity to learn more about
their culture, connect to land and strengthen identity.
For non Aboriginal people it is an opportunity to learn about
Aboriginal culture.
Special events such as NAIDOC week, Sorry Day, Youth Activities, Film
nights, Karaoke nights and Games nights will also be held at Maya.
As with all events and activities there will be a promotion and
celebration of Aboriginal culture.
Although all the above activities and services are targeted to
Aboriginal people, they are open to all members of the community as the
need for healing in the community does not discriminate.
By making its doors open to all, the Maya Healing Centre will
contribute to increased harmony between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
people and in the wider community in general.
Maya Healing Centre will work in partnership with other Aboriginal and
mainstream services, such as the Darebin legal services, Homeground, the
Mill, Pranic Healing, Centrelink, Turning Point or the Art of Living
program, who will come to the Centre to offer their programs and offer
information and discussions on the services they provide.
Through all of the above activities and events, staff and other people
associated with Maya will get to know people using the centre and thus
be able to refer them to specific programs within Maya and or other
organisations and services within the community – both Aboriginal and
mainstream.
Healing Aboriginal Men
Objective:
Improve Aboriginal men’s self esteem, health and parenting and
relationship skills, leading to healthier families and a reduction in
the incidence of family dysfunction and crime, including domestic
violence.
Expected Outcomes:
Justification:
Aboriginal men today face a number of different issues and pressures in
their lives such as loss of role, identity and self worth whilst also
facing challenges in parenting and relationships.
Often this leads to addiction and further problems, such as
domestic violence and family breakdown.
The downward spiral continues, fuelled by grief and shame.
And unfortunately many of these men find they are repeating the
experience and behaviour of their own fathers.
This is a cycle that must be broken.
In 2005 the Indigenous Family Violence Action Group, in consultation
with the indigenous community identified a lack of culturally
appropriate programs and services aimed at addressing the specific needs
and issues of Aboriginal men.
One major gap that was identified was healing and or behavioural
change programs that worked with those men who had committed violence
against their families.
Method:
Any responses that attempt to deal with the problems outlined above need
to recognise that men who enter into this downward spiral have complex
and multiple needs and therefore require access to a range of services
and programs.
For those men who experience the above problems and who are also
suffering from addiction, the first step is treating the addiction,
which will be assisted by the Koori Drug and Alcohol worker under the
Healing Addiction Program.
For the men in general there will be a variety of activities, workshops
and camps that will promote positive roles and behaviour for men,
particularly in relation to parenting and relationships.
Through these processes the men will be empowered, assisted and
supported to take responsibility to make positive changes in their own
lives. For example, men’s
camps will be followed by regular “men’s circles” that will ensure that
commitments made on the camps are followed through on and to provide
ongoing support to ensure that positive behavioural change is promoted
and realised.
These programs will form part of the Healing Service partnership with
the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and Elizabeth Hoffman House
which seeks to provide early intervention programs.
In addition to these programs Maya will provide case management for men who have been referred to the organisation in relation to the carrying out of family violence. These men will be assessed for their safety and needs and individual counselling will be provided for men who have committed domestic violence to work through their specific problems and ensure they do not repeat offend.
Healing Aboriginal Women
Objective:
Improve Aboriginal women’s self esteem, health and parenting and
relationship skills, leading to healthier families and a reduction in
the incidence of children being separated from their mothers.
Expected Outcomes:
Justification:
Women have maintained their focus on keeping their families together
under the most challenging of circumstances. The ongoing impact of the
Stolen Generation, family breakdown, family violence and substance abuse
makes children particularly vulnerable to high levels of DHS involvement
(Protection Orders and Foster Care placement). For mothers and
grandmothers, this creates an additional burden of negotiating with
government authorities to keep children within families. The high levels
of stress associated with maintaining family connections negatively
impacts on the health of Aboriginal women already dealing with
intergenerational trauma.
Many Aboriginal women in the community, particularly single mothers,
feel very isolated in trying to bring up their families.
The situation is even more difficult for women who have addiction
problems themselves and those who have been affected by addiction
problems of their partners or other members of their family.
One group of women who have been identified as needing far more support
and healing are those whom, for various reasons, have had their own
children removed from them.
The implications of this in terms of the physical, psychological and
spiritual health of the women who suffer this loss are enormous and
currently are not being adequately addressed.
Method:
For women who are suffering from addiction, the first step is treating
the addiction, which will be assisted by the Koori Drug and Alcohol
worker under the Healing Addiction Project.
The healing process for the women will be centred around the creation of
self-help and support groups in which the women come together to share
their stories and support one another.
This process is facilitated primarily through the Women’s Day
which is held on Wednesdays where the women share lunch, undertake group
activities such as art and craft classes and listen to guest speakers
who come to speak about services available in both Aboriginal and
mainstream services. The
Maya Program Co-ordinator will assisted to access these services.
The women’s day is an opportunity for the women to come to a safe
environment, where they can bring their children and have some rest.
The interaction with the other women also assists them,
particularly the younger ones in developing the strength and skills for
parenting and relationships.
It is through talking, sharing stories/experiences and actively
listening that women are able to identify what their needs are. In the
process, the Women’s Day program will continue to adapt to these needs,
tailoring group work, inviting speakers and running healing workshops to
reflect the requirements of the women.
The art studio is already established as a core, healing program. Others
include “guests” to engage with art therapy, mandala work, meditation
and writing/ drawing women’s personal narratives and self-care.
Building partnership relationships with individuals and
organizations working in therapeutic styles that reflect the Aboriginal
Health model will facilitate access to practitioners, therapists etc.
Maya Women’s program also provides a meeting place for Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal community workers to gather. Sharing information,
networking and, more importantly, building relationships within the
group, enables a greater understanding of the complexities faced by the
women participants. The “yarning” between the women and workers provides
deeper insight into the specific and general issues that are present in
the women’s lives. This enables more options and solutions to be
explored and practical assistance provided. The development of a more
comprehensive, culturally appropriate referral process is envisaged as
these inter-relationships develop.
A counsellor, with experience in trauma and family violence, also offers
the opportunity for the women to have on-the-spot support for processing
emotional responses that can emerge during healing work. Women attending
Women’s Day will also have access to counselling for ongoing issues
present in their lives.
Maya Women’s Day seeks to create a child friendly environment to
encourage women caring for children to share and socialise with other
women and children, creating informal support networks in the process.
The Women’s Program is also a safe place for Aboriginal women and
children who are from the country or interstate to come to for
connection and support. It can be easy for people to lose their way in
an unfamiliar and problematic urban environment. By developing awareness
within the community that Maya is a point of contact for non-urban
people struggling with city life, further trauma may be pre-empted and
reconnection with “home” re-established.
Healing from Addiction
Objective:
Heal the spirit of people suffering from drug and alcohol addiction and
their associated problems through the creation and maintenance of
self-help groups, counselling and programs that address the underlying
causes of addiction, particularly that of trauma, grief and loss.
Expected Outcomes:
Justification:
The problems of addiction in relation to the Aboriginal Community extend
far beyond social, health and legal issues but also to the very core of
Aboriginal identity – its spirituality.
Val Bryand-Carol, founder of
“Aboriginality is based on spirituality. By spirituality we mean that first we connect to other people. When this is in place we connect to the Earth and then our God. These spiritual connections were the basis of Aboriginal life and are maintained by giving and sharing. But the addict is a taker both materially and emotionally from those around him. Thus addiction is not just a health or court problem for us but attacks the roots of our spirituality, the order of our society and the very reason of our existence.
Mainstream drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs have tended to
ignore or undervalue the spiritual component of healing and have
concentrated on ‘practical’ approaches, such as prescribing medication,
withdrawal programs and finding employment.
These are often accompanied with education and prevention
campaigns.
Theses approaches are necessary and positive but on their own are
insufficient for the overall healing process as they fail to address the
underlying causes of the addiction, particularly that of trauma, grief
and loss. Experience has
shown that when the underlying causes are not acknowledged and
understood but instead repressed, healing is limited and when
difficulties such as job loss or relationship problems occur the first
response is to turn back to drugs and alcohol.
Thus Maya is striving to achieve real and lasting healing.
Method:
For real and lasting healing to be achieved, then the person needs to be
assisted to build the inner strength necessary to control and overcome
their own addiction. The
source of this strength is a person’s spirit.
All of the programs and activities at Maya share the same objective of
healing by strengthening a person’s spirit.
Some of the ways in which Maya seeks out to achieve this have
already been mentioned.
More specifically in relation to addiction, Maya will offer ongoing
individual counselling with people with addiction and where appropriate
refer them to the available services such as withdrawal programs.
Maya will also conduct specific workshops that:
Maya will also be running a residential supported accommodation for
addicts in recovery who will participate in the programs on offer at the
Healing Centre.
There are also regular AA and NA meetings held at Maya which form an
integral part of the healing process.
Maya is currently in the process of developing a working partnership
with Turning Point under which the Koori Drug and Alcohol worker will
receive support and training from Turning Point, whilst the Koori worker
will refer Koori clients to Turning Point and the services they have on
offer. Over the course of
the relationship a more detailed, culturally appropriate healing model
will be developed.
Heal the Healers - Staff support and organisational
strengthening
Objective:
Ensure that the health and well being of staff and
other workers is maintained through the provision of adequate
supervision, debriefing, administrative support and opportunities to
come together and support one another.
Expected Outcomes:
Justification:
As a Healing Centre, the staff at Maya are regularly called on to listen
to and offer support and counsel to people who use the Centre.
Such work can be extremely draining on the workers and so it is
very important that they are given adequate support and supervision so
that they act as healers themselves.
As the organisation continues to expand, the administrative requirements
continue to grow and these extra demands on staff often make it
difficult for them to attend to the people who are coming to the Centre.
Apart from the demands on the staff at Maya, most other workers in
Aboriginal community organisations are working under difficult
conditions and also often suffer burnout.
Method:
Maya will not be open to the public on Thursdays – except for special
events - as this will be a day set aside specifically for staff
development, training, staff meetings and time to catch up on
administrative work.
Specific training programs will be developed to meet the different needs
of staff. So as not to
overburden existing staff external assistance will be sort for specific
areas such as
financial management of the centre’s accounts, writing up funding
proposals, documenting, monitoring and evaluating the activities of the
Centre and writing up reports for donors and members.
To counter the high stress related to this type of work and in
recognition of the need for workers to spend time on their own creative
pursuits and with their families, the general policy is for workers not
to work more than four days a week.
Qualified supervisors will be made available for staff so that they have
adequate opportunity to debrief and unwind and are not overburdened by
their work and receive assistance with case management.
It is important that as well as the staff meeting their responsibilities
to the organisation that they are supported by the committee and thus
the committee will be involved in staff development.
Training and workshops with both the staff and committee will
also be organised to facilitate greater cohesion and shared vision.
Maya also operates as a place where workers from other organisations can
come and have lunch, undertake meditation and participate in specific
workshops such as those on healing or on trauma, grief and loss, which
will re-energise them as well as building up relationships and networks
between workers from different organisations.
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