One of the areas of greatest focuses for us over the past five years has been on improving our services for some of the most vulnerable in our community, including Aboriginal people and communities. Leaders at Richmond Wellbeing have been working alongside Aboriginal Elders, Uncle Albert and Aunty Irene McNamara, as part of the Looking Forward Project led by Dr Michael Wright, to implement a range of cultural initiatives to help Aboriginal clients to connect and feel more comfortable within our services. We’ve made significant progress in that time, creating a more culturally safe place to engage with the Aboriginal community, including:
- We now employ more than 15 Aboriginal staff in a range of positions across our organisation, and
- Across our programs an average of around 9.5% of our clients identify as Aboriginal
But we know we still have a long way to go, and over the past year we have worked closely with Uncle Albert, Aunty Irene and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff across our organisation to develop a “stretch” Reconciliation Action Plan for the next three years.
The Richmond Wellbeing Reconciliation Action Plan was formally launched at the Art of Wellbeing Auction event on November 14th 2017. Our Plan sets out some clear and ambitious commitments to build on what we have achieved so far. We are focused on implementing longer-term strategies targeting participation, cultural awareness, recruitment, retention and promotion, and procurement.
Recently approved by Reconciliation Australia, a summary of our Plan is available under Reports.
