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Goolum Goolum’s HAND UP Shortlisted for regional award
campaign 'HAND UP shortlisted for a 2023 Tidy Towns and Cities Sustainability Award in an Indigenous Culture section.
HAND UP is our mental health awareness campaign and annual community event for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The event at Horsham’s Sawyer Park included a welcome to country and smoking ceremony from Aunty Jenny Beer and Uncle Ron Marks and dancing by Chunky Move. Proud Ngarrindjeri man, comedian and artist Kevin Kropinyeri MC’d the day and performed a stand-up comedy routine for our community. We also premiered a music video featuring several community members rapping about their experiences with mental health.
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The HAND UP campaign and event achieved tangible and measurable benefits for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. After the event, inquiries for mental health support to Goolum Goolum increased by a staggering 300 percent. Goolum Goolum General health and wellbeing services like Goolum Goolum have a huge role to play in helping to destigmatise the job’ of seeking support.
“We need to be proactive in starting this conversation with our community. Fronting up to a health service seeking mental health support can be confronting for our mob,” he said.
“Research shows being a part of a strongly connected mob will enhance every member’s mental health. It is not easy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be vulnerable and talk about their mental health. But this campaign has shown us that when we as the health and wellbeing service take the lead, we can empower our community to take the steps needed to seek support.”
Fun and games in Stawell and Horsham for Childrens’ Week
Earlier this month, Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative celebrated this year’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Week with a morning tea for children and their families. This year’s theme was ‘Little Voices, Loud Futures’, all to raise awareness for the bright futures of children and the potential for their voices to pave a new path for Australia.
