Welcome to Nunyara News Welcome to the first edition of the ‘new look’ Nunyara News. This newsletter will be produced three times per year and distributed to our members, affiliates and community. If you have anything you wish to contribute, please don’t hesitate to contact Maree Ellis on 8649 4366.

Nunyara is a support centre for the network of individual agencies and institutions committed to meeting community needs through increased resources, support and learning opportunities for youth, families and members of the Aboriginal community.

We provide culturally appropriate primary health care and health promotion programs for the Aboriginal community in Whyalla, as well as education and advice to help families access the services they need from government and mainstream services.

Sorry - a Great Day

13 February 2008 will be remembered as one of the greatest days in Australia’s history as Prime Minister Rudd apologised to all Indigenous Australians for the past policies of Australia’s governments and said ‘Sorry’ to the Stolen Generations, their families, and communities.

Media around the world captured the event and hailed it as a step forward for Australia. In SA, Premier Mike Rann reaffirmed his 1997 apology to the Stolen Generations as well.

For Aboriginal people, we can now finally move forward to healing the pain, suffering and hurt, and look forward to a future of understanding and equal opportunity. Thank you Mr Rudd!

New Look and WebsiteNunyara Wellbeing Centre Inc. has just undergone a transformation of our corporate image including a revamp of our logo, letterhead, business card and brochure.

Our website is now online at www.nunyara.org.au and we also had some mugs and Christmas cards produced with our logo and slogan ‘Working together to improve our health – our way’.

Manager Cindy Zbierski has been working with Dreamtime Public Relations since July 2007 to achieve the desired results.

Cindy said, “At Nunyara Wellbeing Centre we were looking for ways to promote ourselves, our services and our partners in a broader manner than just locally via flyers and word of mouth.

“After investigation of a few web designers locally and nationally, we came across Dreamtime Public Relations – who lucky enough for us are based in Adelaide.

“Dreamtime have, in a limited amount of time, developed a website and taken care of all the ‘administrative nightmares’ like registering a domain name etc., and developed a website we thought, with limited experience, would take us years to build.

“Dreamtime liaised with us constantly about how we wanted things to look, made very useful suggestions, and was also very patient with us. During the development of the website we have developed a sound relationship, and call on Dreamtime for all our other graphic, printing and promotional resources.”

If anyone would like to contact Dreamtime, call (08) 8223 2576 or email info@dreamtimepr.com Dreamtime has been established for 5 years, has over 10 years experience working with Indigenous organisations and employs Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. For further information see www.dreamtimepr.com

Ida at Nunyara undertaking Cert III in Aboriginal Primary Health Care

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Nunyara BoardNunyara is governed by a board comprising community members as follows:

Wilhelmine Lieberwith Chairperson

Les Taylor Secretary

Jenny Dunn Office Bearer

Wayne Champion Treasurer

Rose Hillman Board Member

Lloyd Wilson Board Member

Brenda Carter Staff Representative - no vote

Anita Taylor Deputy Member

Debra Slater Deputy Member

‘Working together to improve our health – our way’

Nunyara News

Coordinator: Maree (Rhonda) Ellis Nunyara Wellbeing Centre Inc. 17-23 Tully Street, Whyalla Stuart, SA 5608 (PO Box 2253, Whyalla Norrie, SA 5608) Tel: (08) 8649 4366 Fax: (08) 8649 4185 Web: www.nunyara.org.au

Editing and Design: Dreamtime Public Relations Tel: (08) 8223 2576 Fax: (08) 8223 4093 Email: info@dreamtimepr.com Web: www.dreamtimepr.com

Copyright: This newsletter is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process, either in whole or part, without the prior written approval of Nunyara.

Disclaimer: This newsletter may contain photos of people who have passed away. Whilst every care is taken to ensure that the information contained in this newsletter is accurate, errors and omissions may occur.

Indigenous Youth SuccessIn the first year of the Australian Technical College Spencer Gulf & Outback, three Indigenous students completed year 12 SACE. Two of these students commenced an Apprenticeship in Commercial Cookery and Machining and the third is interested in becoming an Electrician.

The College is an initiative of the Australian Government aimed at helping year 10 and 11 students complete SACE and commence an Apprenticeship in a traditional trade.

There are 25 such colleges Australia wide with a primary focus on providing quality education in areas including Metals & Engineering, Electro-technology, Automotive, Building & Construction and Commercial Cookery.

The Australian Technical College Spencer Gulf & Outback caters for the needs of students in the Northern Regions of South Australia with campuses in Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie. There are 70 students enrolled at the three campuses with five being Indigenous.

It’s a wonderful achievement that three of the five Indigenous students successfully completed SACE and are moving on with their chosen careers. All three students are role models for Indigenous youth throughout the region.

Manuel Gonzalez Completed SACE at Edward John Eyre High School and the Australian Technical College in Whyalla. Manuel continues to investigate the Electrical field for an Apprenticeship.

Matthew McCarthy

Completed SACE at Port Augusta Secondary School and the Australian Technical College and is currently employed as a Machining Apprentice.

Jessie Cowan Completed SACE at Saint Johns College and the Australian Technical College in Whyalla. She is currently employed as an Apprentice Chef.

NAIDOC Committee 2008In order to get a headstart in planning activities for this year’s NAIDOC events, to be held from 6-13 July, Nunyara invites interested people to a meeting on Friday 7 March 2008, 10:30am at the Nunyara Wellbeing Centre.

The aim of the meeting is to:

• Establish this year’s organising committee.• Elect 1 or 2 people to coordinate the committee.• Start to brainstorm ideas or activities.• Plan regular meeting dates.

If you are interested in attending the meeting on 7 March, please telephone Nunyara on 8649 4366 so that we can organise suitable quantities of refreshments.

If you can’t attend but would like to be kept up to date on what’s being planned or have any ideas for NAIDOC week celebrations in Whyalla, let us know and we will keep you informed.

Healthy for LifeThrough the Healthy for Life (HFL) program, funded by the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Nunyara aims to improve the health of Aboriginal people in Whyalla by offering services and programs that are easy to access and in an environment that feels culturally and socially comfortable.These services and programs will help detect when someone has a chronic disease (such as Diabetes) or is getting close to developing a chronic disease, and assist the individual and their family to try to fix it or stop it from getting any worse.

Some programs and services will work with pregnant women, babies, mums, dads, little kids and families to ensure that babies get the best head start to having a healthy life free from, or at a lower chance of getting a chronic disease.

How are we going to do it?

Nunyara will employ:• Another female health worker in the Birthing Program to help

mums have a healthy pregnancy and breast feed successfully. • A male health worker to work with dads and men to increase the

health of babies, children and families.• A Registered Nurse to run a daily clinic where adults and children

can get health checks, have care plans developed, and access other services and programs.

• A Coordinator to set up the services and systems to get these programs running well and to ensure we have good information.

Nunyara will also help the community to:• Get healthy and stay healthy through specialist clinics providing

immunisations, diabetes management, respiratory/asthma management and women’s health.

• Get the most out of every day even though they may have a sickness by working with other services to provide programs.

• Manage smoking, nutrition, physical inactivity and stress better.

For further information contact Cindy Zbierski.

Male Aboriginal Carers of KidsTwo MACK (Male Aboriginal Carers of Kids) programs will be offered in the first half of 2008 in the Whyalla community. MACK aims to develop and provide a model of parenting education specific to Aboriginal men. The program will address and acknowledge the role male carers of children play, and provide strategies to positively reinforce consistent behaviour management skills in children.

Nunyara is working in partnership with the University of South Australia Whyalla Campus to deliver MACK one day a fortnight. Nunyara has employed Aboriginal Health Worker, Leonard Miller, and the University is providing mentoring, education and support to Co-facilitator, Peter Griffin.

MACK is based on the objectives of the Positive Parent Program, which aims to increase parental competence and confidence in raising children by managing common behaviour problems, reducing cohersive and punitive methods of discipline, reducing stress associated with raising children, empowering caregivers with positive strategies in line with their own family dynamics, values and culture, and creating a supporting learning environment where caregivers can share stories and support each other through discussion based activities.

The program has been developed to offer participants a blend of education, information and activities that will encourage, promote and reinforce the ‘sharing of care’ model that is well practiced and accepted in Aboriginal communities.

For further enquiries contact Cindy Zbierski, Peter Griffin or Leonard Miller.

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Nunyara Nunyaranews news

Staff ProfilesCindy ZbierskiManagerCindy has been employed as Manager, Nunyara Wellbeing Centre Inc. for nearly four years and has contributed to facilitating the development of various programs and services for the Whyalla Aboriginal Community.

A life long resident of Whyalla, Cindy is well connected in the community and understands the local issues impacting on Aboriginal people’s health and emotional wellbeing.

As an advocate for Aboriginal health issues from a local level, Cindy’s vision is to strengthen community participation by looking for ways to manage the great diversity found in the Whyalla community.

Brenda CarterSenior Aboriginal Health WorkerBrenda, a Narungga woman from Point Pearce, has been employed as a Health Worker for over 17 years in Whyalla and has participated in the expansion of programs and services for the local community. A main highlight was the development of Nunyara after so many years of Whyalla people not having a dedicated Aboriginal Health Service.

Brenda would like to see the introduction of specific medical services for her community and is working toward that goal this year.

Leonard MillerAboriginal Health Worker Leonard Miller is one of four children from Leonard Miller Snr and Elizabeth Richards. He has lived in Whyalla for the past four years and in South Australia for 33 years, working throughout the state in many country areas as well as in the city for over 17 years.

Leonard’s father is a Wirangu man from the West Coast of South Australia and has strong connections and lineage to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara peoples. His mother is also from the West Coast and many of her mother’s Kokatha family live there while her father’s people are from Parachilna/Hawker in the Northern Flinders Ranges and have a strong connection and lineage to Pankala country and families.

Leonard recently transferred his knowledge and experience over into the Primary Health Care area. He recently completed Certificates III & IV through the Aboriginal Health Council of SA Inc. Leonard is currently employed as the Aboriginal Men’s Health Worker at Nunyara and is also responsible for the Mental Health Outreach Service and Cultural Awareness projects.

Sonia BeattieAMIC Worker Sonia works as the Aboriginal Maternal Infant Care Worker and has held this position at Nunyara for just over 12 months. She is near completion of the Aboriginal Primary Health Care Certificate III and is looking forward to further study in order to enhance her current role.

Sonia enjoys working with Aboriginal women before, during and after pregnancy and provides education and advocacy whilst assisting midwifery staff on a clinical level. Her family is from Point Pearce originally and she is married with one child.

Maree EllisAdministrationMaree Ellis is a Wongi/Koori woman originally from Western Australia but has resided in South Australia for most of her life.

Maree works as the administrative support for Nunyara and so wears many ‘hats’ in her day to day work. She says that “working in health has encouraged her to help her people work towards a better future for themselves and generations to come”.

Maree has worked at Nunyara since 2004 and enjoys working in customer service. She plans to complete her Certificate III in Business this year.

Peter GriffinMACK Program & Transport Peter is a Nawo man born near Wallaroo in South Australia who has worked in Aboriginal organisations for a large part of his life, predominantly in the Northern Territory. He has just completed 11 of the 17 modules of the Aboriginal Primary Health Care Certificate III and plans to complete this study in early 2008.

As co-facilitator of the MACK (Male Aboriginal Carers of Kids) program, Peter will undertake mentoring from the University of South Australia Centre for Regional Engagement and work with other staff at Nunyara to achieve positive outcomes for participants of the program.

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Nunyara news