ADM and the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship partner together for Phase Two of the Our Story: Finding Hope Beyond Grief workshop program
– 26 September 2022
ADM is delighted to announce the next phase of the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship’s (AEF) grief, loss, and trauma care workshop program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Since 2017, members from the AEF and ADM have worked together to develop Our Story: Finding Hope Beyond Grief – a clinically informed workshop program supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women as they explore and process their experiences of loss, grief, and trauma. The workshop program facilitates healing through creative expression and a biblical framework anchored in the love of Christ.
Having completed and evaluated the first pilot of the workshop program in Eastern Australia, the program pilot is now being delivered in Western Australia – building on the learnings and insights of the first phase of the program.
Project Beginnings
At the 2016 AEF Women’s National Conference in Brisbane, clinical counsellor Keren Masters presented historical and clinical material on Aboriginal experiences of grief, loss and trauma, and integrated a Biblical theology for understanding and responding to this. Following this conference, and reflecting on the impact of this presentation for those present, the AEF and ADM began to explore ways of taking this content to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, and the Our Story: Finding Hope Beyond Grief workshop program was born.
Ladies from the AEF gathering for the May 2022 evaluation workshop.
During 2017, the team from the AEF and ADM worked together to develop the workshop program and materials, and to train volunteer ‘Master Trainers’, who then piloted the delivery of these workshops in pairs primarily across Eastern Australia. Community workshops were delivered in Cherbourg (QLD), Gilgandra (NSW), Newcastle (NSW), Glebe (NSW), Adelaide (SA), Melbourne (VIC) and at the 2018 AEF National Conference in Western Australia.
Once this first pilot phase was completed during 2018-early 2019, an evaluation workshop with Master Trainers was planned to reflect on how workshops went, and to see if the program pilot was ready to deliver in the western states of Australia. However, unexpected delays and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic (including lockdowns and state border closures), meant that this long-awaited gathering was postponed until May 2022.
The Next Chapter
Some of the wonderful workshop team members.
Following the successful rollout of the first phase of the pilot program, ADM is delighted to provide funding and support towards the next stage of the program, where the workshop program is being piloted in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. New Master Trainers will receive training, and the workshop program will continue to provide culturally safe spaces for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to explore grief, trauma and loss, and to move towards healing together.
We would love you to join us in prayer for the ladies of the AEF as they continue to bring Christ’s love to their communities in countless ways, including through this workshop program. Pray for the Master Trainers who will deliver this phase of the workshop program, and for each and every one of the women who will attend these workshops.