Headspace Collingwood

On Wednesday the 8th of December a small group of Reservoir High Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students attended a cultural excursion organised by Headspace Collingwood and the Wurundjeri Land Council, as part of their ‘Take a Step’ campaign which focuses on supporting and strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing. The campaign has been informed directly by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people’s experiences and aims to empower young people with practical knowledge and skills they can use in taking steps to address their own social and emotional wellbeing. 

Damian from Headspace picked us up on the bus, graciously let students DJ on the journey and dropped us off at Dights Falls in Abbotsford. Upon arrival we met Lucy, Alan and Sophie from Headspace Collingwood, who gifted us with some amazing ‘Take A Step’ tshirt and hats merch, which was fabulously designed by the ATSI Headspace Youth Group. We met another school group from William Ruthven Secondary College who was also joining us for the day – for some of us, it was a chance to meet up with friends we havent seen for a while, and for others, an opportunity for meeting new people.

We were then introduced to Uncle Bill, a Wurundjeri Elder from the Wurundjeri Land Council who Welcomed us to Country and guided us on a walk by the Yarra and Dights falls. Uncle Bill shared many stories of creation, including stories about Bunjil and Waa; shared with us Woi wurrung language; educated us on Aboriginal Seasons, traditional communication – song, dance, art; we learnt about some native vegetation, customs and rituals. Uncle Bill also shared a lot of his personal recollections and what he has learnt in researching the Wurundjeri culture, a lot of which has not been recorded in history books – Uncle Bill described his striving for information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture like trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together without all the pieces - the ongoing journey this is and the hunt for puzzle pieces. This collection and preservation of stories, culture and history is something that the Wurundjeri Land Council is super passionate about and committed to, so feel free to check them out if your are interested. Details below.  

Our time with Uncle Bill was real privilege, a rich two hours of story telling, learning and connection - Thank you Uncle Bill. 

After our time by the Yarra, we ventured to Headspace Collingwood (*which is the old Collingwood ALF ground at Victoria Park, stellar views of the oval – we even sat at their old boardroom table with the Pied logo etched into the middle of the table) where they had kindly arranged lunch boxes for all of us from STREAT café (a fab organisation that works to reduce youth homelessness and disadvantage). We received giftbags from the Headspace folks and the wonderful Lucy then shared some information about mental health & wellbeing, and Headspace services.

We had a quick run on the Vic Park oval, a few frisbee throws, farewelled our William Ruthven friends and then boarded the mini bus to return to school

Thank you to the students who attended, the families who supported the event, to Uncle Bill for the Welcome to Country and Cultural walk, and a massive thank you to Headspace Collingwood for funding the event and putting on such a special and important day for all of us.

Bec Norton, Mental Health Practitioner and Lily Popovski, Year 9 Leader

You can access more information about these services and initiatives here:

https://www.wurundjeri.com.au/

https://headspace.org.au/takeastep/

https://headspace.org.au/headspace-centres/headspace-collingwood/

https://www.streat.com.au/about/streat

Rebecca Norton | Mental Health Practitioner