The Bringing Them Home Forum was established following a meeting of BTH (Bringing Them Home), grief and loss counsellors, Link-Up workers, OATSIH representatives and members of the Stolen Generations in April 2006 at the Western Sydney Aboriginal Medical Service (then known as Daruk AMS). The Forum is convened by Mr Dennis Dunn from the AMS.
The first, formal Bringing Them Home Forum occurred on Thursday 31st August 2006 in Wellington NSW, and was attended by traditional owners of the Land around Wellington, representatives from OATSIH and VACCHO, and workers in the field from all over NSW. There were about 25 people attending this seminal meeting.
The second Forum was conducted on November 23rd 2006 in Leura NSW, and was attended by 12 participants from a range of stakeholder organisations.
A third Forum took place on 13th March 2007 in Sydney with a team from Muru Marri Indigenous Health (MMIHU) Unit as facilitators at the University of New South Wales. During this meeting, the need to clarify the Terms of Reference and to draft a core BTH Counsellor job description was identified as critical. Participants also identified a number of areas of further education, sharing and tasks to take forward to future fora.
Forum four took place on 2nd August 2007. During this Forum, two participants gave a short presentation of their BTH work and it was decided to continue this at future fora. An overview of the ‘Evaluation of the Bringing Them Home and Indigenous Mental Health Programs’ by Urbis Keys Young, was given by the facilitators and to follow up on this, Forum members agreed to invite a representative from OATISH’s central office to Forum five. Also at Forum four, participants learnt about the work of Aunty Lorraine Peeters and the Marumali program. A number of Forum members participated in the Marumali program in the intervening months between Forum four and Forum five.
Forum five was held on 11th March 2008 a Core Job description draft was finalised a fantastic achievement by the forum to guide Aboriginal Medical Services on the core goals of Bringing Them home counsellors. This was followed by a 2 day workshop presented by Aunty Lorraine Peeters on the Marumali Risk Assessment Training.
Forum six was held in Sydney on 6th August, 2008. Approximately 20 participants were in attendance and a decision was made to have this website as a voice for the forum. The group is developing as a consultative forum for policy development regarding Counselling Services for the Stolen Generations. The forum was followed by a one day workshop on Project Management presented by Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit.
Forum seven will be held in Sydney on 5th November, 2008. The forum have been invited to present at the NSW Aboriginal Mental Health Conference in Sydney on 6th & 7th November, 2008.
