DEADLY THINKING YOUTH WORKSHOP

YARNING

On perfectly sunny Tuesday 10 Indigenous KSC students left Boonwurrung Country and headed over to Morwell East Football Club, on GunaiKurnai Country for the Deadly Thinking Youth workshop to yarn about wellbeing and mental health topics with trained and passionate facilitators, AJ Williams and Emma Andrews-Hendrikx. Our students showed up with great self-respect, respect for Country and respect for culture. We shared our time with two impressive young people from Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) and their mentor, Belinda.

We all came away with a GunaiKurnai ‘passport’ to bring with us when we return to GunaiKurnai Country. Over the course of the day and in between sessions we were asked to collect a rock, a stick and a leaf from the grounds of the football club and hold onto these at our tables. To conclude the workshop we were asked to reflect upon what ‘rocked’ our day, what would ‘stick’ with us from the day and what we wanted to leave behind (the leaf). The responses to this activity were raw and powerful, demonstrating a big shift in mindset. We are keen to host AJ and Emma again. 

Ms Kennedy and Amy would like to thank these students for the privilege of accompanying them on this very successful outing to learn more about themselves.

If you are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, you are most welcome to join the Yarning Circle, by contacting Ms Kennedy at Iznaya.kennedy@education.vic.gov.au. Typically, we meet twice a term and we are planning NAIDOC week events to celebrate the oldest living and continuous culture in the world.