Are you Kardiya, non Indigenous or from outside the community, and in a position leading people in remote Indigenous communities?
Have you experienced heartbreak, anxiety, culture shock, reverse culture shock, trauma, secondary trauma (vicarious), grief in the work? (or want to avoid its potential full impact)
Have you left the remote field before due to being worn-out, struggled to reintegrate to your ‘old life’ or urban lifestyle, and then returned to a remote community - but then soon feel worn-out again?
Do you go to all lengths to support your team as best you can, but sometimes feel like its impossible to meet all the requirements well as one person?
Are you time poor and often lack resources, to no one’s fault but by forces outside of your control?
Do you sometimes experience the weight of the world on your shoulders, trying to deal with all the macro and micro injustices of the system, funding requirements, reporting, wider community issues, organisational change, cleaning, driving, preparing, caring, supporting staff, all whilst tending to a child’s wounds, facilitating services, organising events, and before having room to consider your own personal and family needs?
Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed, exhausted, strung out?
Do you feel like your soul is tired?
Do you spend a lot of time developing the capacity of your teams, but then see a lot of people come and go from your workplace?
Do you have strong networks, good friends and tight community, but often don’t want to talk with them about work issues because of confidentiality purposes, and it’s all too close to home & opens a ‘can of worms’?
Do you have employee assistance counsellors available, but feel its ‘too hard’ because 99% of them have zero understanding of the context, and could be sitting on the phone in a capital city never having been to remote Indigenous community?
Do you have trouble accessing the support you really need, with someone who is both highly experienced in your context, qualified AND has is removed by a degree of separation (independent and confidential)?
Have you made big sacrifices for the work, but feel your own needs are unfulfilled?
WHAT our ‘Two-Way Leadership’ Program offers...
World Central’s ‘Two-Way Leadership’ supports leaders in very remote Indigenous Australian communities at literally bridging two very different worlds. It is practicing as both teacher and student simultaneously, allowing local leaders to lead, whilst harnessing the best of set funding objectives for sustainable outcomes. Effective leaders in this space learn a very specific set of niche skills, and live in a world entirely unique from mainstream, urban Australia. The ‘Two-Way Leadership’ support program offers Kardiya (or non-indigenous people) support from both experienced professional Kardiya + Indigenous Leaders themselves. Unlike employee assistance programs, whilst they may be effective elsewhere, 99% of the time don’t understand the context of remote Indigenous communities - at World Central, everyone who offers support has lived experience OR is Indigenous.
Once you have lived and worked in remote communities for a substantial period of time, you are never the same again. It has great benefits and rewards, particularly in coming to live the sense of belonging and connectedness in the everyday sense. When the love of the work gets into your bloodstream, mundane urban life will often never compare. The burnout rate is very high though, and sometimes people are forced to leave due to their health, family or organisational change.
Whether you are new to a remote area and want to go well with safe practice (for you and the people), are experiencing culture shock, loneliness and isolation, at a middle-stage unsure of when or IF you will ever leave, you may need an exit strategy and support to make that transition, or on the other hand have been in a leadership role long enough to become inert, burnt-out or afraid to change at risk of losing the sense of meaning you have found in what you do, the World Central team can offer you one-to-one support. We’re here for your reflective practice and wellbeing needs, in doing the work or to make big transitions with more supported ease.
We are both qualified professionals, and we’ve been there - a combo often hard to find. The ‘we’ve been there’ part is why we do what we do at World Central. We’ve been there, made every mistake in the book, experienced burnout, heartache, grief and injustices ourselves or on behalf of the community! We blundered along adapting our own community & team development approaches, and failed many a time before finding highly effective collaborative frameworks. We’ve been 21 years old, alone and looking after 55 kids between 3 and 25yrs old in the middle of summer with no resources or support. We’ve got wild and wonderful stories, experienced the highs and lows of being in the middle of nowhere and the centre of everything, the big love, the heart-wrenching trauma, grief and injustice, the sense of meaning and community, the long gruelling hours with every kind of work from changing nappies to collecting wood, to writing grants. We’ve still got the friendships and family with our Indigenous families from our own journey, and maintain those relationships living in two worlds.
The “Living & Working in Remote Indigenous Communities” Research Report (which can be found here https://www.worldcentral.com.au/blog/) conducted by the World Central Team, shows evidence that a shocking 3 of 5 people working in remote Indigenous communities do not receive adequate support in the work; and subsequently experience a whole range of symptoms that often lead to extreme burnout or health conditions.
Extreme burnout or workplace stress is real and even now acknowledged by the World Health Organisation https://www.who.int/occupational_health/topics/stressatwp/en/). It is a much higher risk when working in isolated contexts without the right support, and may cause long-term damage to peoples mental health, inner resilience system and/or health & wellbeing. Sometimes we don’t always understand our limits or wellbeing needs; or push them aside due to multiple responsibilities; which is why we need support, mentors, people to lean on who ‘have been there done that’. At World Central, we all have our own mentors and support networks, and you can read more about the team on our website. You are a warrior and our equal, and we want you to have the support you deserve.
Contact us today to get real-time support in the #MiddleofNowhereCentreofEverything
To get one-to-one independent & confidential support contact us here by email or phone, or request a call back
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