2024-akeyulerre-healing-website

Collaboration as Care: Working Together Around Families

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 02:05:04 GMT

Collaboration as Care: Working Together Around Families

Families navigating child protection and legal systems are often doing so at moments of deep stress and uncertainty. Appointments, paperwork, court dates and decisions can all arrive at once, layered over experiences of trauma, fatigue, and fear. This is why, at Akeyulerre, we run a Family Support Service that is client-led, Arrernte-led, place-based and grounded in cultural safety. Our work begins with listening. Families guide what they want to focus on, at their own pace, and in ways that make sense for their lives. We know that strong outcomes don’t come from services working alone. They come from relationships, between families, workers, and services walking alongside one another. Our collaboration between Akeyulerre’s Family Support Services (FSS) and the Central Australian Women’s Legal Service (CAWLS) offers a clear example of what this way of working can look like in practice.

Working Together: What Effective Collaboration Looks Like in Practice

From a legal perspective, Elise Gooley, a civil generalist lawyer at CAWLS, speaks about collaboration as something deeply human. “For me, it always starts with picking up the phone,” Elise reflects. “As soon as you hear someone’s voice, it changes everything. You both become more real to each other.” In legal work, written communication can often feel constrained: careful, formal, and distant. Direct conversations, however, create space for trust to grow. When Elise began working alongside our Family Support Services, early phone conversations helped establish a shared understanding : that we would keep each other informed, work together, and support families as a team. In child protection matters, where housing, health, transport, parenting support and legal processes are all intertwined, this coordination is essential. “Knowing that Family Support Services are supporting families across those practical and emotional areas meant I could focus my energy on the legal work,” Elise explains. “It eases pressure for everyone.” Not just lawyers or case workers, but families too.

Letting Families Lead: Our Client-led Approach

At Akeyulerre, our Family Support Services are built around a client-led approach . We don’t arrive with a fixed checklist. We start by listening to what families want, what they’re ready for, and what matters most to them right now. From Elise’s perspective, this approach changes how families engage with legal processes. “When families don’t feel pushed or judged, they’re more willing to engage,” she says. “Trust builds slowly, but once it’s there, you see people gain confidence.” That trust is created through small, consistent practices: paying attention to body language, allowing silence, noticing hesitation, and respecting when someone isn’t ready to talk yet. “At the same time, it’s about following through,” Elise explains. “When clients see that you do what you say you’ll do, that’s when they start to open up.” And we see this every day at our work. Trust doesn’t come from rushing; it comes from walking alongside.

Why Aboriginal Community Control Matters

Aboriginal community control is not just a principle; it shapes how families experience support, and Elise reflects on the broader history that makes this so important. “For a long time, people’s autonomy was taken away,” she says. “Community-controlled services are about restoring empowerment, supporting people to build skills and confidence, rather than doing everything for them.” Legal processes eventually come to an end. But families continue to move forward. That’s why our role at Akeyulerre is all about supporting families to strengthen their own capacity, whether that’s navigating systems, making decisions, or planning for what comes next.

The Importance of Place: Offering a Safe Space at Akeyulerre

One of the key elements of this collaboration has been the ability for access or visits to take place in a community-controlled, culturally safe space at Akeyulerre , rather than a statutory office. “The environment makes a real difference,” Elise shares. “Community spaces feel less intimidating. Families are more relaxed, and the focus can return to connection”. Safety, comfort and familiarity are not extras. They are central. “Feeling comfortable isn’t a soft issue,” Elise says. “It directly affects how people engage.”

Making Place-based Practice Visible

In recent years, “place-based” has become a common term used to highlight the importance of context and culture. While it can sound abstract, for Elise its meaning becomes clear the moment you step into Akeyulerre. “You see it in the Arrernte staff, in the relationships that already exist, in how the space feels,” she reflects. “The art, the openness, the warmth, it doesn’t feel clinical.” Place-based practice also means flexibility and understanding. “If someone doesn’t return a call, it’s not immediately seen as disengagement,” Elise explains. “There’s curiosity. Maybe something else is happening, sorry business, family responsibilities, being out bush.” Rather than closing doors, this approach keeps them gently open.

A Shared Way of Working

Reflecting on the collaboration, Elise returns to a simple truth. “When services truly collaborate, families aren’t left carrying everything on their own.” Working this way doesn’t remove complexity, but it makes it more humane. At Akeyulerre, we see every day how client-led, culturally grounded, place-based support , combined with strong inter-service relationships , creates space for families to breathe, to engage, and to move forward with dignity. This is not about a single success story. It’s about how we choose to walk alongside families. Together .

NT Administrator Hugh Heggie visits Akeyulerre

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 06:27:47 GMT

NT Administrator Hugh Heggie visits Akeyulerre

Akeyulerre was visited by the Administrator of the Northern Territory, the Honourable Hugh Heggie AO PSM as part of his farewell tour of the Territory.

Professor Heggie finishes his term as NT Administrator next January 30 and is visiting Territory communities, with Katherine and Alice Springs in November.

Professor Heggie met with Akeyulerre staff where he toured Akeyulerre, visiting our shop, our medicinal bush rubs lab, took part in a smoking ceremony and was presented one of our gift packs with bush rub, soap and body oil.

Akeyulerre Winners At Indigenous Australian Datathon

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 01:38:55 GMT

Akeyulerre At Indigenous Australian Datathon

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Akeyulerre was among the winners at this year's 2025 Indigenous Australian Datathon held in Gimuy (Cairns) on the weekend.

The conference, in its fourth year, puts Indigenous Australians' knowledge and technicians' technology together to solve problems in communities.

Akeyulerre's Benedict Stevens and David Liddle were part of the winning Health group, using large drones to deliver urgent medical supplies to Torres Strait Islands.

Akeyulerre's Andrew Alice was one of the presenters from the Water group, which looked at providing cleaner water to the Yarabah community outside of Cairns using technology.

Akeyulerre's Randy Wallace was part of the Disaster Management group.

Akeyulerre Family Support workers upskilling

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 06:10:42 GMT

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Akeyulerre’s Family Support Services Case Officers Aileen Matthews, Jasmine Campbell, and Cheryl Campbell have officially commenced their Certificate III in Community Services through Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education RTO 0383 .

All three have been valued team members at Akeyulerre for several years and are now taking the next step by undertaking this qualification to deepen their knowledge and continue growing within Akeyulerre.

CEO, Marli Banks is excited to see them embrace the traineeship pathway and is proud to support their journey of local growth and learning.

These new traineeships represent more than just formal qualifications, they embody the Akeyulerre way – “Our Way”, where Arrernte people lead, guided by the wisdom of Elders, and communities are strengthened through culture and knowledge.

Arrernte Skin Name Tees

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 03:11:34 GMT

Arrernte Skin Name Tees

Akeyulerre’s Arrernte Skin Name Tee Shirts are available at Akeyulerre's Gift Shop at 3 Stuart Terrace….for $50 each.

The Skin Name Tee Shirts feature the eight Arrernte Skin Names - Perrurle, Kemarre, Ampetyane, Angale, Kngwarraye, Peltharre, Penangke & Pengarte.

They come in sizes - small, medium, large, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL.

Bush Rubs

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 06:01:17 GMT

At Akeyulerre Healing Centre, part of a healing includes our bush rubs and balms made using traditional methods and traditional plants and medicines that have been used by Arrernte for thousands of years.

The plants are harvested by Arrernte women and then prepared at our laboratory at Akeyulerre.

You can visit the Akeyulerre Shop at 3 Stuart Terrace Mparntwe-Alice Springs Our Aherre-Intenhe or Red Poverty Bush (eremophila duttonii) grows in gravelly soils on the plains around the Central Australian region. It has sticky leaves that Arrernte women grind up by hand and mix with a blend of natural plant oils to make these Interrentye Aherre - Intenhe bush rubs and body oils.

It’s used to soothe joint and muscle pain as well as soothing skin sores. Our Body Rub Utnerrenge - Weeping Emu Bush - (eremophila longifolia) grows in many different habitats around Central Australia and is used in traditional smoking. It was mainly traditionally an important medical plant. It grows on rocky hillsides around Central Australia where Arrernte women harvest it in good seasons.

They are then ground up to make Interrentye Arrethe Bush Rubs and Body Oils that can be used as chest rubs for colds and flu. It also soothes dry and irritated skin. Arrethe - Rock Fuchsia Bush - (eremophila freelingii) Arrethe is traditionally an important medical plant. It grows on rocky hillsides around Central Australia where Arrernte women harvest it in good seasons. They are then ground up to make Interrentye Arrethe Bush Rubs and Body Oils that can be used as chest rubs for colds and flu. Ilpengke - Gidgee Fuchsia - (eremophila dalyana) grows in the Utopia homelands in the Northern Territory. It is a broom-like shrub or small tree with thin leaves and pale pink to white flowers. It is also found in south-western Queensland, the extreme north-east of South Australia and the small area in the Northern Territory.

Interrentye Ilpengke Bush Rubs and Oil can be used for multiple uses such healing sores, dry skin and for colds and flu