Equipping First Nations leaders in Wellbeing

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First Peoples of Australia

A Tearfund-supported course is training First Nations Leaders and equipping participants to respond to issues of domestic and family violence and trauma through a lens of Wellbeing.

In 2020, Tearfund supported Nungalinya College to develop a new course for First Nations Christian leaders from remote communities in the Northern Territory. This course, called Faith and Family Wellbeing, was a response to lived experiences of students living in their communities and the challenges they face living as Christians and leaders.

The structure of the course was designed in consultation with community leaders. Participants in the course come in groups from a number of remote communities across the Northern territory and over time the number of students having completed the course from each community has grown. In the first three years of the course, it had cohorts of students from Wadeye, Maningrida, Milingimbi, Ngukurr and Numbulwar. Altogether 64 students have participated in the course – with two of these class groups running in 2023.

The Faith and Family Wellbeing course equips participants to respond to issues of domestic and family violence and trauma through a lens of Wellbeing. This is part of Nungalinya’s ‘Standing Strong’ suite of courses – staying strong in our faith, strong in our family and strong in our wellbeing. The course supports the desire for communities to be strong in these areas.

The Faith and Family Wellbeing course is based on core Christian truths of: being made in God’s image, living with hope in a fallen world, and being called to care for others in love. Based on these underlying Christian truths, the course is practical and responds to the real-life experiences of students living and leading in their communities. There are many opportunities for students to respond to the call to a culturally appropriate faith and behaviour response as they consider Christian living in their own context.

Nungalinya College equipping first nations leaders in wellbeing 3 — Photo by Nungalinya College. Used with permission.

Nungalinya has witnessed a number of significant responses to some of the issues raised in this course. Some of the responses include:

A student was equipped to be able to support his nephew and de-escalate a violent situation – staying calm and listening rather than previous behavioural responses.
A student who lost their partner just weeks after the course said that she felt strong to be able to work through her grief and to support her children because of what she learnt in the course.
A student who had heard some rumours about him and was ready to respond in an aggressive way, which was his usual practice, was able to practise self-control and anger management and respond differently to that situation.
A student decided to give up smoking in response to discussions of wellbeing (saving over $200 per week!)
A group of students travelled from one community to another community to act as peacemakers during a volatile funeral situation – organising prayer walks through the community and leading fellowship to facilitate a peaceful funeral without payback or retribution.

It is a privilege to walk alongside Nungalinya and our First Nations brothers and sisters in Christ as they navigate what it means to be God’s children in the unique context that he has placed them.

Nungalinya College equipping first nations leaders in wellbeing 2 — Photo by Nungalinya College. Used with permission.

Support a First Nations Leader

You can help train First Nations community leaders to work with families in their communities and support positive change, through Tearfund’s Useful Gifts. Supporting training in culturally appropriate techniques to strengthen relationships, the gift that supports a First Nations Leader will equip these leaders to be better able to support people to live in healthy families and stronger communities.

Support a First Nations Leader

Text adapted from the Nungalinya College 50th Jubilee Booklet 2023