Healing Foundation Public Forum and Webinar

Thank you to the Healing Foundation for the Public Forum and Webinar they produced today, titled ‘Healing Our Stolen Generations’. A passionate, emotional and informative account of stolen generation experiences by Auntie Lorraine, Ian Hamm, Florence Onus and Mark Bin Bakar. Following are jut a few of the important points raised for consideration and contemplation:

• One doesn’t get over being ‘stolen’, merely gets used to it, but may remain unsure of who they are and where they fit into the world.
• It takes a long time to ‘come home’, some may never make it ‘home’.
• One must reflect on the past and accept it to develop the future.
• One cannot underestimate the absolute devastating impact stealing children and separating families had on the Aboriginal people.
• So much more healing has to occur – a good start would be to educate all Australians what the Aboriginal people are healing from, most non-Indigenous people do not know about this past and do not understand what healing has to take place. They often have more of a ‘That’s in the past, get over it’ attitude.
• A question was asked ‘What role does language and culture play in the healing process?’. The answer was that language and culture play a massive role in the healing process – language and culture is the essence of who you are.
• Healing has to come from the Aboriginal people themselves and from inside their own families. The provision of culturally appropriate healing services would assist in this process.