THE NEW WAY TO CONNECT TO ANCIENT WISDOM

We are an R.T.O that has been providing government accredited holistic health training to Aboriginal people free of charge since 2002 and non accredited training free of charge for seventeen years before that. We provide education and training nationally and internationally for people of all other cultures as well.   
The courses have "as you go" qualifications which means you can gradually work towards whatever qualification you would like to have. The courses are a blend of western medical and indigenous health perspectives/models; for example anatomy and physiology, bio-chemistry, nutrition, along with Aboriginal healing philosophies and practices. We offer Certificate IV, Diploma, Advanced Diploma, as well as short courses that have participatory acknowledgement or up-skilling certification.
The courses are practical as well as focussed on self development within your own life goals. Skills are developed quickly which you can use immediately to improve the quality of your life.

WE ARE COMMITTED TO PARTNERSHIPS WITH ABORIGINAL PEOPLE

Does your organisation or government department need holistically trained staff to tackle problems of health and well being in Aboriginal communities? Get together a group of people wanting to train and we will provide a course specifically suited to your time and location needs. We provide short courses and intensive courses with web classroom back up so you can continue studying on line at home or in your region.

SPECIAL COURSES IN ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID

We offer a course presented by Aboriginal people qualified in mental health and cultural education. The two day course was developed by the University of Melbourne and the ORYGEN research centre. This course is invaluable for people in organisations, government departments, schools, communities and individuals needing better skills to identify and work appropriately with problems of mental health.

RECENT EVENTS

On the 9th of October we were asked to speak before the Federal Senate Select Committee on Indigenous Regional and Remote Communities in connection to our work within the Waitch Project submission which can be viewed on the Federal Parliamentary website under Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities, submission 98.

SCHOLARSHIPS

The state government offers scholarships under its Office of Aboriginal Health of amounts up to $6,000 a year. All our accredited courses are ABstudy approved.
Students can also apply for scholarships under the LiFE Academy Aboriginal Scholarship scheme.

PLEASE NOTE that for the year 2010 applications to the Office of Aboriginal Health will close in March and funds are limited, so it is best to apply early.

TALK TO US! We have twenty five years of experience in working with Aboriginal health issues, our staff are here to help you apply, get qualified and help others with their journey of healing and well being.

STUDENT TESTIMONIAL

My name is Willhemina Farmer I am a Noongar woman from the Ngadju/Merninga people I reside and work in Albany and the Great Southern of W.A.. I am also a counsellor contracted by Relationships Australia and Regional Counselling Services in Albany and a private consultant currently contracted to deliver a number of services and holistic counselling based within mainstream services for Red Ochre Consulting.

I am writing this letter for the purpose and reference of my experience in introducing Flower Essence Therapy to individuals and families of the Great Southern communities. This knowledge is based on 7 years experience and a life time of cultural and traditional healing methods passed on to me by my mother and her mother before her.

Firstly I want to pay respect to members of the Life Academy and for reintroducing the practices of Flower Essence Therapy as a form of counselling and healing, for myself and my Noongar people. They have been respectful and honouring of the ways of the people and the commitment of maintaining the Aboriginal Ways of Working when teaching techniques of the Flower Therapy that enhance the values of the culture can only be applauded.

The Great Southern Aboriginal community shares similar challenges with many other rural Aboriginal communities. According to some Aboriginal Elders and other community members, the effects of 'the stolen generation' are still playing out in the lives of Aboriginal people all over Australia. The Great Southern noongars are not exempt from this effect; where many Aboriginal parents face significant challenges with the range of choices open to their young people, again the effects of forced removals is played out and trans-generational problems repeated.

Many programs have been developed by State and Federal Aboriginal 'welfare agencies', and called many different names but inevitably the results are nearly always the same: little effective change for Aboriginal people. Many of their people are in pain emotionally, mentally, physically or in some way at the depths of their spirit.

As mentioned previously I have counselled and trained in many western models of therapy in my 17 years of being employed in the health industry. I have worked with many, many Noongar people in my role as an Aboriginal Health Worker and Counsellor and now consultant all delivered within a clinical framework, western model and ways of working. I saw very few shifts for my people and more than often with the end result and alternative for crisis is only to be hospitalised or repeatedly being locked into a medical model and medication and a victim of the treatment itself. The cycle of grief and losses of the communities only impacting and oppressing the healing process.

I have worked with noongar people in a clinical environment for 19 years as an Aboriginal Health Worker and hold a Diploma in Aboriginal Health and Advanced Certificate in Aboriginal Health and studied in Narrative Therapy.
I began practicing the use of Flower Essence Therapy since 2002.

I have witnessed the hand on experiences of the powerful energies of the flowers in supporting my people and being highly effective and very safe to use to shift years of grief and loss of issues that have affected them in childhood.

I myself would highly recommend the promotion of Flower Essence Therapy into all options when recommending counselling.

I have worked with people suffering from clinical depression or other mental health issues and have treated them with the Flower Essence Treatment, with very successful results. I have used the Flower Essences to assist in the process of detox and to support the mental fragile state when withdrawing from drugs or alcohol and to address the issues that have introduced drug use as a way of coping with life.

The Flowers have allowed the individual to draw on their own inner strengths and inner growth and awareness of issues in their lives, with out the feelings associated with memories of the traumatic events suffered from removal and abandonment. I have used the holistic treatments to support individuals attempting to work through sexual abuse issues it has allowed the individual to search for a deeper sense of quiet spiritual reflection, meditation, self observation and inner space to externalise the sometimes horrific events suffered by them from a very young age.

These issues have then crippled their relationship to many areas of their lives, their work, their relationships. I tend to combine the tools I learnt from LiFE Academy with practices of my Noongar culture and other plants that were traditionally used for healing with very pleasing and valuable results for all parties. If required I am able to supply testaments of individuals from all walks of life and professions of the communities black and white, whom I have successfully used the treatment on.

Willhemina Farmer
Relationships Australia Counsellor
Regional Counselling & Mentoring Services REDRESS Officer
Member National “Stolen Generation” Alliance
Senior Consultant Red Ochre Consulting
8/10/09