Blog Archives
Public Forum presentations now online
Videos from CASSE’s recent public forum, ‘Reconciliation Australia: Psychological Perspectives’, are now available online.
Guest Speakers:
Lord John Alderdice
Professor Marcia Langton AM
Professor Stuart Twemlow
Professor Stuart Twemlow
In addition to the presentations by the guest speakers, the online presentations include a panel discussion; the ‘family reunion’ between Lord Alderdice and Aaron Paterson; and an introduction to the partnership between the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (CAAC) and CASSE by John Liddle and Des Rogers.
Walk In My Shoes
Following CASSE’s Reconciliation Public Forum in Melbourne on September 7, international Peace experts Lord John Alderdice and Professor Stuart Twemlow will travel with the CASSE team to the Northern Territory to participate in the ‘Walk In My Shoes’ public forums. To be held in Alice Springs on Tuesday 10th September and in Santa Teresa on Wednesday 11 September, these community forums are being presented by the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (CAAC) and are co-sponsored by CASSE. CASSE’s Aboriginal Program has been working with the CAAC since late 2011 to change minds and save lives.
Suggested reading before the forum…
The August edition of ‘InPsych’, the Australian Psychological Society’s bimonthly bulletin, focuses on ‘Psychological Perspectives of Racism’: www.psychology.org.au/publications/.
Timely reading in the lead-up to CASSE’s ‘Reconciliation Australia: Psychological Perspectives’ Public forum! http://www.casse.org.au/reconciliation-australia-psychological-perspectives-1
TIME RUNNING OUT TO REGISTER FOR RECONCILIATION PUBLIC FORUM
CASSE wants to spark a new psychological dialogue about reconciliation in Australia and we want YOU to be part of this conversation.
‘RECONCILIATION AUSTRALIA: Psychological Perspectives‘ is being held in less than 2 weeks – on September 7, 2013. This public forum will run from 10am – 5pm (so you will still have time to vote!) at The Melbourne Brain Centre, Kenneth Myer Building, University of Melbourne, 30 Royal Parade, Parkville.
Don’t miss you chance to hear this high-profile panel of speakers:
Lord John Alderdice
Professor Marcia Langton AM
Professor Stuart Twemlow
Professor Ian Anderson
REGISTRATION DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED, BUT MUST CLOSE SOON.
Register online at www.trybooking.com/CSOW
Phone 0450 540 366
Email enquiries@casse.org.au
Don’t forget to ‘LIKE’ CASSE Australia on Facebook for your chance to win two free tickets to ‘RECONCILIATION AUSTRALIA: Psychological Perspectives’!
Reconciliation about changing minds and saving lives
by Pamela Nathan, CASSE Aboriginal Program Director
2.5% of the Australian population. 25% of the prison population. Life expectancy almost 20 years lower than for non-indigenous Australians. Unemployment 50-300 percent higher. The enormous and shocking disparity between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is now firmly on the election and political agenda. As it should be. It’s time for all Australians to take part in generating a new dialogue about Reconciliation. Don’t wait for the election results to be part of this process. REGISTER NOW to attend RECONCILIATION AUSTRALIA: Psychological perspectives. It’s about changing minds and saving lives.
Phone 0450 540 366 or Click here to contact us.
REGISTER NOW FOR RECONCILIATION PUBLIC FORUM
RECONCILIATION AUSTRALIA: Psychological Perspectives
Saturday 7th September 2013
8.30am – 5.00pm
The Melbourne Brain Centre, Kenneth Myer Building, University of Melbourne
30 Royal Parade, Parkville
Register now to attend what is shaping up to be a ground-breaking public forum.
Join a panel of nationally and internationally renowned guest speakers:
Lord John Alderdice – psychiatrist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist, previously Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, currently Convener of Liberal Democrat Party in the House of Lords, who played a significant role in initiating the dialogues that led to the Good Friday Accord and peace in Northern Ireland.
Professor Stuart Twemlow – psychoanalyst, Professor of Mental Health Prevention, University of Kansas; an international authority in the application of psychoanalytic principles and systemic interventions to the prevention of bullying and violence.
Professor Ian Anderson – Foundation Chair of Indigenous Higher Education, Assistant Vice Chancellor (Indigenous Higher Education Policy), Director, Murrup Barak Melbourne Institute for Indigenous Development.
Professor Marcia Langton AM – anthropologist, geographer and one of Australia’s leading Aboriginal scholars, Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne.
Help us to create a new psychological dialogue about Reconciliation.
Click here to find out more.
Lost Voice finds its Language
by Pamela Nathan, CASSE Aboriginal Program Director
Re: Dan Harrison’s article in The Age on 9 July 2013 “Lost Voice finds its Language”.
Shellie Morris and the Borroloola Songwomen have made a CD – Together We Are Strong – a double album sung entirely in Aboriginal languages. Already one of the songs has become a community anthem. Shellie studied the four languages of the Gulf region and then drew on the traditional songs and stories of the region. In 2011 Shellie returned to Borroloola on the Gulf of Carpentaria to record an album to give indigenous musicians the chance to work with traditional links.
What is remarkable is that Shellie was given up for adoption by her indigenous mother and adopted by a non-indigenous family. Twenty years ago Shellie travelled to the Northern Territory to sing gospel music and in the community of Wugularr became overcome with emotion. Shellie said “I didn’t really understand what all these feelings were. I’d never really felt such a connection to a place before”. Later that year a mining worker mistook Shellie for, as it turns out, her sister in Kakadu. When he discovered the mistaken identity he told her she had a sister who “looks like you, walks like you, talks like you..same everything”. What wonderful fate! She rang her sister and she said “We know who you are. Your family has been looking for you since you were born”.
Stories and song in language of country and kin revive and recapture lost cultural and emotional worlds of identity and connection providing new life and a home for lost connections; together we are strong! This CD is on my must list to buy.
Pamela Nathan, 10 July 2013
RECONCILIATION AUSTRALIA: Psychological Perspectives
‘RECONCILIATION AUSTRALIA: Psychological Perspectives’ public forum, hosted by CASSE and co-sponsored by Murrup Barak, promises to be a ground-breaking public forum.
WHEN: Saturday 7 September 2013, 8.30am – 5.00pm
WHERE: The Melbourne Brain Centre, Kenneth Myer Building
University of Melbourne
30 Royal Parade (cnr Genetics Lane), Parkville
SPEAKERS:
- Lord John Alderdice
- Professor Stuart Twemlow
- Professor Ian Anderson
- Professor Marcia Langton AM
Find out more at : http://www.casse.org.au/reconciliation-australia-psychological-perspectives-1
Register online at www.trybooking.com/CSOW
Now it’s about ‘bringing indigenous into the fold’
by Pamela Nathan
RE: The Age, Monday 27 May 2013
Last weekend saw Michael Long set off on the first leg of the Journey of Reconciliation relay to build support for the recognition of indigenous people within the constitution. Michael Gordon in his article in the Age places this walk within the historical context, charting the changes since the initial Long Walk 2004 to 2013 (http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/now-its-about-bringing-indigenous-into-the-fold-20130526-2n5dk.html).
Gordon captures the sentiment of the gathered crowd of politicians and supporters that the nature of this walk is more than symbolic. As Professor Marcia Langton states “the formal respect that will flow will ‘give young indigenous people the feeling that they are entitled to the opportunities the nation has to offer”.
Creating a Safe Supportive Environment (CASSE) is an organisation that has been working in partnership with the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (CAAC) to seek to move beyond symbolic gestures, in order to understand and address issues of violence and underlying trauma that currently exists in Aboriginal communities.
CASSE in conjunctions with Murrup Barak Melbourne Institute for Indigenous Development will be holding a public forum Reconciliation Australia: Psychological Perspectives on September 7 2013.
This forum invites a meeting of two worlds – Aboriginal and non Aboriginal Australians, to promote a psychological dialogue about reconciliation. It will provide a place to move beyond the symbolic and engage in the thinking that will bring the indigenous into the fold so that non Aboriginal and Aboriginal people can begin the long march of minds together on equal and respectful ground.
For more information about the public forum go to http://www.casse.org.au/reconciliation-australia-psychological-perspectives-1
Pamela Nathan is the Director of CASSE’s Aboriginal Program
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