Indigenous schools talk cultural safety in Broome

Embrace and Healing Kids, Healing Families have shared findings from their cultural safety research with independent school staff from across WA and the NT.

The 2026 Aboriginal Independent Community Schools Conference was attended by principals, support workers and staff from the Tiwi Islands down to Esperance.

The Kids project officers Thomas Betts and Sarah Cattermole presented findings from Building a Culturally Safe Mental Health System for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People, then provided safe yarning cards that were developed in consultation with advisory groups who supported this work.

“It was really exciting to share our findings, talk about upcoming projects and reflect on the importance of our work,” Sarah said.

“It’s also reassuring to see people get really excited about the yarning cards and how they can use them.”

Kristy Ninyette, the Coordinator of Future Footprints at the Australian Independent Schools of WA (AISWA) and lead organiser of the conference, said she had recognised the value of the yarning cards after attending Dandjoo Kooliny last year.

Future Footprints is an AISWA initiative that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students within the education system.

“I feel like the resource is extremely beneficial to our children and young people,” Kristy said.

“Extending further beyond Perth metro, I thought it would be beneficial to our staff and educators as part of the Aboriginal Independent Community Schools Conference right here in Yawuru Booja.”

AISWA First Nations Leadership and Partnerships Manager Andrew Beck added “having resources that are culturally sound, ready for our schools to use is really important.”

“The participants are already thinking about how they could use language in there and change some of the words to suit their context and it was absolutely well received. You could see schools get excited as soon as they heard the word safe yarning card and it’s important there are resources out there to keep our young people safe.”

Discussions were also held with local service providers including headspace Broome, Helping Minds, Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services and the Kimberley CAMHS following the AISWA-run conference.

“Engaging with community in a small town is a little different to in Perth,” Sarah said. “People work together, they think about who they can link you up with – it’s not so much about emailing, it’s about showing up and having a yarn – and that was so important.”

“In our work,” Thomas said, “it’s important to be able to step into Broome time and go with the flow. We didn’t show up with any expectations, we just took the time to find connections that we will be able to rely on in the future.”

Mental health services operating in the Kimberley were already advanced in their pursuit of cultural safety, the pair added.

“You can see the safe space, you can feel the warm environment, in these services,” Sarah said. “Another thing that was really powerful was that there was an eagerness to learn, to see how we could work together to improve. Everyone we spoke to truly listened.”

“When we talk about cultural safety, we talk about it being a journey,” Thomas said. “These services are prepared for that journey – they are committed to taking those steps forward, no matter how far they’ve already walked.”