GEGAC CEO Kenton Winsley addresses the Aboriginal Children’s Forum in Bairnsdale last month.
GEGAC CEO Kenton Winsley has issued a passionate appeal for more resources and investment to support the staff of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), to help them cope with the acute social and cultural pressures they face inside and outside the workplace.
Speaking to a large audience of Victorian government representatives and Aboriginal leaders at the Aboriginal Children’s Forum in Bairnsdale last month, Kenton said Aboriginal workers and workers with Aboriginal families, in particular, faced a mounting risk of burnout due to the additional burden they carried as members of the same communities they served.
“Scaling investment in workforce and infrastructure must start with recognising the emotional and cultural burdens ACCO staff carry every day,” Kenton said.
“We often say that Aboriginal affairs are best placed in Aboriginal hands. And that’s true. But it is also we who carry the wounds. We hold space for our people. We walk in both worlds, every day. We show up, because we know what’s at stake if we don’t.”
The recent Workforce Wellbeing position statement by Gayaa Dhuwi Australia, the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing, mental health, and suicide prevention, drew attention to the issue of cultural load, “the often-invisible responsibilities that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees and other employees from diverse backgrounds endure as a result of their cultural identities and obligations.”
“This load is often unrecognised by workplaces and oftentimes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff report feeling an unconscious expectation from workplaces to perform additional duties which have not been formalised in a position description,” the Gayaa Dhuwi statement read.
“Funding for positions is disproportionate to the need identified within the community which can often result in working beyond contractual hours. This leads to workforce strain, burnout, and exposure to mental health vulnerabilities.”
“This is far greater for our staff as they already carry a level of intergenerational trauma which is compounded by high workload and unrealistic expectations, vicarious traumatisation, and compassion fatigue, as well as community obligations which all combined create burnout.”
In his speech to the ACF, Kenton urged government representatives in the room to take proper heed of the messages they were hearing from Aboriginal organisations, and support the investments and interventions they are advocating for.
“To our partners in government, thank you,” he said. “But I say this with respect: Trust us. Trust in our leadership. Trust in our knowledge. Trust that our way works. Don’t just fund the work. Believe in and back our vision.”
“If evidence is required, then start with our stories. Start with our truths. Start with the data we hold, which is grounded in lived experience.”
Kenton said the issue of under-resourcing was especially pressing outside of Metropolitan Melbourne, referring to what he called “generations of underinvestment, particularly in rural and regional infrastructure.”
“Rural and regional ACCOs carry even more… because 56% of Aboriginal children in Victoria live outside of Melbourne.”
“We are not the fringe. We are the frontline.”