Our vision of an inclusive community means supporting self-determination and social and emotional wellbeing for First Nations people, and acting as trustworthy partners in the work we do.
Our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) is our public commitment to meaningful action towards reconciliation while documenting our own reconciliation journey.
Our RAP is guided by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – colleagues, community partners, mentors – and shapes how we serve the people we support and behave with each other.
To make sure our RAP is alive within the whole of our organisation and front of mind every day, we asked First Nations staff and senior management to come together and set goals that feel like a stretch for us – that feel courageous.
Commitments Wellways binds itself to
We will build sustained, trusting and meaningful relationships with First Nations communities and organisations to ensure our services are truly inclusive for all and to strengthen our communities.
We will:
Share our power and resources and be publicly accountable when working with First Nations communities and organisations. We will make decisions with and not on behalf of our First Nations partners.
Measure our success through the feedback of our First Nations partners.
Create a First Nations staff working group that reviews the way Wellways works with First Nations communities and holds all staff accountable for culturally safe and competent practices. This group will have direct contact with the CEO to reflect on decisions and learnings.
We respect and honour First Nations culture and experiences and are grateful to leaders and communities who have paved the way for our work today.
We will:
Act as public advocates and ‘action takers’ for racial justice and First Nations justice, using our platforms to share the expertise of First Nations leaders.
Learn more by undertaking culturally competent and anti-racist training and practice and ensure every staff member has a learning plan that covers this.
Set individual plans to learn the history and stories of First Nations communities and of the land we work and live on, so we can meaningfully acknowledge the country we are on.
Make sure our senior managers engage and listen to Elders in the community in regards to the direction of our work, to ensure it aligns with community needs and wishes.
We will create opportunities for First Nations people to work and thrive at Wellways because First Nations peoples skills, knowledge, experience and thinking is vital to achieving an inclusive society for all.
We will:
Set explicit employment targets for First Nations staff, and ensure succession plans, retention strategies and supports for First Nations staff members are in place.
Create more First Nations identified positions, including management positions.
Codesign and consult First Nations communities and organisations before applying or planning for work that clearly impacts First Nations people.
Community strengthening community
Award-winning artist Heather Kamarra Shearer was commissioned to create an artwork interpreting how the programs and services of Wellways can provide support, advice and ongoing partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with mental health issues or disability and their families, friends and carers.
When Heather was first commissioned to do the artwork for Wellways, she was inspired by the organisation and the way in which we work, as our emphasis on community and cohesion shares similarities with the ethos of the Aboriginal family.
“It is about providing support. It’s not just about delivering the service to an individual. It is looking at holistically how the community—how the family, the extended family—can all be part of this. That is very much a way within the Aboriginal family … that’s what I liked about Wellways. The areas of the service delivery, whether it was working individually, whether it was providing to the family, it all interconnected.”
Our Reconciliation Promises were co-produced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and senior managers.
