Vision

Yorgum’s purpose is to provide a nurturing place in an environment which promotes the cultural well-being of the Indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia and their families through a healing process that supports their spiritual, physical, emotional and mental needs.

Yorgum provides an alternative and cultural approach to healing Aboriginal people who have been affected by family violence, sexual abuse and the underlying causes associated. The service operates metropolitan wide and works in a manner that is holistic and within the Aboriginal Terms of Reference. The Yorgum Clinical Supervisor (Psychologist) and Counsellors work with children and adults on an individual basis and as a family unit.

Philosophy

The name “Yorgum” is a Noongar name for a large red flowering gum tree which has healing properties. Aboriginal people have used the Gum for many years in the treatment of numerous ailments, including diseases of the eyes.

The name is an expression of the life-sustaining image of the living tree. The deep roots, rising sap, branches reaching to the sky, the shelter given and the home provided to the many forms of life-insects, reptiles, birds and other animals. It is a symbol of connectedness and inter-dependence in the diversity of living beings. This image conveys the philosophy of the Yorgum staff and the way in which they work.

The underlying philosophy is the valuing of our diversity; in different individuals, different families; language groups and people from places who are included and respected; that human differences can be accepted as expressions of our uniqueness and capacity to survive.

Abuse can be compared to a tree with the root system being affected by some of the factors such as loss of culture, identity, low self-esteem, unresolved cultural traumatic experiences.

The lack of consistent, supportive and loving relationships and the absence of positive life enhancing values are like the soil in which the tree grows. A tree is an organic system. If the whole system is diseased, you can’t just treat one of the roots and expect the rest of the tree to be healthy. You must treat the whole tree as swell as the soil within which it grows.

Background

Yorgum Aboriginal Corporation is essentially an Aboriginal community-based organization which was established through a self-help group of concerned Aboriginal women and men in 1991.

The genesis of Yorgum was a group of women and children in women’s refuges who were experiencing spiritual, emotional and psychological pain. There were no appropriate services available to them at the time. They decided on the need for healing rather than a continual ‘patch up’ approach. A training course was implemented in psychotherapy. Their consistent belief was that psychology and psychiatry professions are not culturally effective in producing healing results for Aboriginal victims and perpetrators of family violence and child abuse.

Yorgum representatives believe that ‘huge numbers’ of Aboriginal people are not being serviced and there are ‘things’ occurring in Aboriginal communities that members find difficult to talk about. Initially, there were two groups of women (approximately 25 each) and a group of men (about 12) who thirteen years ago commenced a two-year cycle of study to do some fundamental personal healing around their own lives. ATSIC provided the initial funding. At the end of the training course, the participants established Yorgum and the incorporation was accomplished in 1993.

This was a big step for the people involved, but changes in the external environment assisted in gaining a wide recognition of Aboriginal counsellors – the follow-up on the recommendations from the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Report, the Bringing them Home Report and the Swan Mental Health Report. The ‘Graduates’ from the training course provided the core of the intellectual resource for the unique Yorgum counselling approach.

The Yorgum leadership developed relationships with funding organizations, such as World Vision. World Vision provided the funds for Yorgum’s administration functions. Following this, Yorgum received minimal funding from the Department for Community Development to develop a child sexual abuse treatment service for families (focusing on the children) and then further funding for family violence counselling.

There has been a concern for many years in the Aboriginal Community that family violence and sexual abuse issues are not being addressed appropriately for Aboriginal people and that the issues are highly attributed to alcohol and/or substance abuse. The affects of family violence and sexual abuse are enormous and are linked to many other issues such as; health, finances, employment, education, crime, deaths in custody, family fragmentation, loss of identity and the cycle continues.
Yorgum plays an integral part in the healing of Aboriginal people. Yorgum has 15 Aboriginal staff who employ a holistic approach and take into account historical issues which may affect the clients. Yorgum is governed by an all Aboriginal Management Committee which consists of a broad range of skills and expertise.

Yorgum provides an alternative and cultural approach to healing Aboriginal people who have been affected by family violence, sexual abuse and the underlying issues associated. The service operates metropolitan wide and works in a manner that is holistic and within Aboriginal Terms of Reference. The Yorgum social worker and counsellors work with children, youth and adults on an individual basis and as a family unit.

Yorgum is now located at 176 Wittenoom Street, East Perth. Clients can access Yorgum by train (the train station is within walking distance); by bus (the CAT bus) or by car (there is a parking area across the road). East Perth is a central location and since relocating from Northbridge, the client numbers have increased.

Mission Statement

To provide a nurturing place and an environment which promotes the cultural strength of the Aboriginal people of Australia and their families through a healing process that supports their spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional well being.