Healing

13/10/2020
Author: David Clark on 13/10/2020
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Shocking History Impacts on Health & Wellbeing

As I wandered around York this weekend, on a weekend away, I was constantly reminded of the film project that my good friend Mike Liu and I conducted with Professor Marion Kickett, Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University. Marion, Mike and I spent a day […]
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14/09/2020
Author: David Clark on 14/09/2020
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Life-saving Optimism

Here is an by intriguing article by Chigozie Obioma entitled Life-saving optimism: what the west can learn from Africa from the Guardian online in 2018.  ‘Nigeria, like most African nations, has been taught and dictated to since its independence, largely seen by the rest of the world as a receptacle for […]
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03/08/2020
Leaning tree by Milton Jackson, pastel on paper, 41 x 33cm, c.1949. Noel & Lily White Collection, Berndt Museum of Anthropology. [WU7568]
Author: David Clark on 03/08/2020
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About Healing

Here are some important words about healing in the Social Justice Report 2008, a document by the Australian Human Rights Commission. ‘Indigenous concepts of healing are based on addressing the relationship between the spiritual, emotional and physical in a holistic manner. An essential element of Indigenous healing is recognising the […]
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15/07/2020
Judy Atkinson, Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Author: David Clark on 15/07/2020
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Judy Atkinson’s Fireside Yarns

Some of you will know that Judy Atkinson and her wonderful book Trauma Trails – Recreating Song Lines: The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia inspired me to start working in the healing trauma field. Now, Judy has taken over my Friday mid-afternoons with her Fireside Yarns, organised […]
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18/06/2020
The children of Carrolup in their schoolroom with the White family and visitors from Katanning. Photographer: Noelene White, late 1948 or early 1949. Noel & Lily White Collection.
Author: David Clark on 18/06/2020
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Key Elements Underlying the Healing of Trauma

In our forthcoming book Connection: Aboriginal Child Artists Captivate Europe, I have written two appendices, one reflecting on The Trauma and the other on The Healing. In my last blog, I provided a section of the first Appendix, The Trauma: Reflections. Here, I include the first part of […]
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10/06/2020
Author: David Clark on 10/06/2020
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The Impact of Removing Children From Their Families

At its heart, the story of Carrolup is about the innate emotional needs of human beings, like feeling a sense of belonging. What happens if these needs are not satisfied? And what can happen if satisfaction of these needs is restored? In our forthcoming book Connection: Aboriginal Child […]
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04/06/2020
Author: David Clark on 04/06/2020
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The Journey of Health and Wellbeing

I watched an excellent animated video on YouTube last week, The Journey of Health and Wellbeing, which was launched in conjunction with National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week. The 10-minute animation helps to promote understanding of Aboriginal people’s experience from colonisation to the present day. It shows how […]
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26/05/2020
Aboriginal children of Carrolup in the early 1940s. J. S. Battye Library of West Australian History.
Author: David Clark on 26/05/2020
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National Sorry Day

Today, 26th of May, is National Story Day here in Australia. National Sorry Day remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities. We now know these people as ‘The Stolen Generations’. National Sorry Day is […]
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21/04/2020
Author: David Clark on 21/04/2020
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Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu R.I.P.

In these troubled times, I’ve been listening to more music, as I’ve always found my favourite musicians and their songs lift my mood. I’ve been meaning to include more music in this Healing Blog for some time now, but just haven’t got around to it. Time to change […]
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10/04/2020
Author: David Clark on 10/04/2020
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Michael’s 42nd Birthday: 42 Years Sober

I’ve just been talking with my close friend Michael (Mike) Scott. It’s his 42nd birthday today. Not his belly-button birthday, but he is 42 years sober today. What an achievement! Mike started reading my first website, the drug and alcohol news portal Daily Dose, back in 2002, when […]
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09/04/2020
Author: David Clark on 09/04/2020
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Compassion in Today’s World

Many people are worried today, not just about the Covid-19 virus itself, but the impact it is indirectly having on their lives and on society as a whole, and what the future after the virus holds for us. Many people are looking for key information about these issues. […]
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17/03/2020
Author: David Clark on 17/03/2020
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Rest Reflect Regenerate: We Al-li Programs

Here are some thoughtful words in difficult times from a beautiful group of Aboriginal people, We Al-li Healing Programs. Please read this blog, the words might make you feel better and help you move forward in a positive way. When I saw We Al-li’s Facebook page, I contacted Carlie […]
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12/03/2020
Author: David Clark on 12/03/2020
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On Empathy

I’m reading a fascinating book at the moment, written by Maia Szalavitz and Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D., titled Born for Love: why empathy is essential—and endangered. Possessing empathy is a key attribute for people who are trying to help others heal or recover from trauma and its consequences, […]
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05/03/2020
Author: David Clark on 05/03/2020
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‘My stolen childhood, and a life to rebuild’: Sheila Humphries

In my last blog posting, I wrote about ‘Bringing them home’, the report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. This report tells the stories of many of the so-called Stolen Generations. I also provided a link to […]
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06/02/2020
Aboriginal children of Carrolup in the early 1940s. J. S. Battye Library of West Australian History.
Author: David Clark on 06/02/2020
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The ‘Bringing them home’ documentary

The documentary Bringing them home: separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, found on the Australian Human Rights Commission YouTube channel, ‘was produced in 1997 and forms part of the Bringing them home education resource for use in Australian classrooms. This resource is based on […]
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21/01/2020
Author: David Clark on 21/01/2020
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Sustainable Community Development: From What’s Wrong To What’s Strong – Cormac Russell

In a previous blog entitled Community Building, I introduced Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) as a way of facilitating healing in communities. I pointed out that the most common approach to ‘helping’ communities (and individuals) has involved focusing on the community’s needs, deficiencies and problems. This approach leads to […]
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13/11/2019
Author: David Clark on 13/11/2019
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Don Coyhis, White Bison & Wellbriety

Some time ago, I found a great biography on encore.org of a very special Native American, Don Coyhis. I first uploaded this biography onto my Recovery Stories website back in April 2014, but it’s time this biography is on our website as a celebration of Don’s amazing healing work […]
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07/11/2019
Judy Atkinson, Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Author: David Clark on 07/11/2019
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What Is Healing and How Does It Occur?

In past blogs, I have described the enormous impact that Judy Atkinson and her book Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines – The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia had on my personal beliefs and on the work I do. The book inspired me to develop the educational […]
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