Reconciliation Action Plan

Emerging Minds’ reconciliation vision is for an inclusive, equitable Australia in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and stories of strength and hope are listened-to and honoured.

Emerging Minds’ ‘Innovate’ Reconciliation Action Plan was endorsed by Reconciliation Australia in August 2021. We held an internal online event to launch and celebrate our newly developed RAP on 2 December 2021, which included a Q&A discussion with members from our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander National Consultancy Group. Our RAP was also launched on the Emerging Minds website and shared amongst our networks via newsletter and social media.

Our ‘Innovate’ RAP is an exciting milestone for Emerging Minds, building on the important groundwork achieved in our first ‘Reflect’ RAP. We continue to learn and grow on our reconciliation journey as an organisation.

A brief summary of the RAP commitments we’ve met in the 2021/22 financial year.

Engagement, connections and events

Advancing reconciliation is just one of our aims in partnering with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and services, as we have during 2021/22 in a number of ways by working with:

• DS Consultancy, cultural consultants for co-creation of the development of Emerging Minds resources and organisational processes
• Aboriginal Art Designs and Darwin Indigenous Men’s Services (DIMS) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for co-creation of the Rebuilding our shields: sharing the stories of deadly dads documentary and course and Stories of deadly dads: How Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fathers keep strong guide
• Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future project under Onemda, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Wellbeing, Equity and Healing unit within the University of Melbourne, for co-creation of the Healing the past by nurturing the future: Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families course
• the Emerging Minds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander National Consultancy Group comprising of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experts across the country who provide support and guidance to Emerging Minds in building an evidence base to support effective work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.

We acknowledge and value the contributions of our Lived Experience Advocates and thank the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, women, children and communities who share their stories so generously with us.

We continue to engage with various Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and consultants, commissioning artwork to utilise and increase visibility in our Aboriginal content in our online courses, resources, website and social media. These artworks are on display in our Adelaide office.

National Reconciliation Week 2022

This year we held an online National Reconciliation Week event for Emerging Minds staff that included informative videos, a quiz and informal discussions about allyship and reconciliation. Emerging Minds also participated in the Wear It Yellow 2022 campaign where we raised funds to donate to Children’s Ground to help create opportunities for and brighten the futures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families.

NAIDOC Week 2022

As part of our NAIDOC Week activities for 2022, Emerging Minds staff came together to each paint a eucalypt leaf from the Country where they live and work, and share the words and messages that come to mind when we think about what reconciliation means. The decorated leaves were then scanned and pieced together to form our colourful Reconciliation Tree, with words on what reconciliation means to us filling the tree’s trunk.

This artwork reflects our organisation’s commitment to and vision for reconciliation. By displaying this artwork proudly in our engagement with stakeholders, we hope it will inspire conversations around reconciliation and advance the journey that we are all on together.

Challenges

Emerging Minds, like many other organisations, has been restricted with some of our RAP activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But we look forward to reconnecting with community face-to-face and further engagement opportunities in the coming year.

Strengthening our team

Emerging Minds welcomed new staff members in May 2022, Lou Turner, Senior Advisor, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing, and Nancy Jeffrey, Advisor, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing. It has been great to have Lou and Nancy on board and we look forward to the wealth of knowledge that they bring to our organisation and our work.