A healing framework in context of Indigenous youth

Healing our young people: A framework to address the impacts of domestic and family violence

Published by
Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS)

2023

What it’s about
This resource is for policy makers and practitioners working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who have experienced domestic and family violence and have come into contact with child protection systems.

My takeaways

• The need for a healing-orientated system that is child focussed - that listening to children and young people (and responding and being seen to is act) is a process of healing.

• Leaders in our community need to come to work with young people with the right personal framework - with their hearts and minds engaged.

  • Have compassion

  • Understand the limits of our their knowledge

  • Be self reflective - don’t fall into the trap of victim-blaming

• The framework sets out some wonderful critical questions and thinking that will support children and young people overcome the legacy of trauma

  • These can be applied across a range of field, particularly if you are creating a youth advisory group and envision it as a place of healing, or may include young people described in this resource. Eg:
    - Have children and young people been provided opportunities to learn about their culture?
    - Do we have a community strategy for our young people who might be engaging in risk-taking behaviours that will support them back to a place of safety?
    - What are our ways to support our children to understand how we respectfully communicate?

Final thoughts

I will be using this resource to integrate it into my practice for setting up consultations and youth advisory groups - I’d love to hear how you would use it in your work!