AHCSA and members attend NACCHO annual conference

This year's National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) Members’ Conference was held 25–26 October on Noongar Boodjar (Perth). The conference is an annual gathering of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector leaders from across the country.

Elder Uncle Walter McGuire welcomes attendees on to Noongar Boondjar

Surrounding the theme Working Together, we are Stronger, the conference did just that – with feedback from delegates reporting the collaborative nature of the conference was invaluable. Members and affiliates attended numerous sessions on topics spanning from cancer screening to syphilis outbreak response in ACCHOs, prison health care, and many more. The sessions saw the sector celebrate successes, provide advice and guidance, and advocate for community-developed health solutions that contribute to the quality of life and improved health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

In her address to the conference, NACCHO Chair Donnella Mills touched on the referendum result and the role of the sector moving forward, “If anyone can lead us out of a crisis, a crisis of division, it is this sector. In the context of our disappointment in the wake of the 14 October result, we now, more than ever, need to build a stronger NACCHO and get a stronger commitment from the nine governments to the Coalition of Peaks National Agreement on Closing the Gap,” she said.

--NACCHO

This year's conference program saw AHCSA's Rob Gerrie and others from the Culture Care Connect suicide prevention program present, emotionally, about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing; AHCSA's Simon Haereroa Garlick also participated in a lively seminar regarding best practices and the challenges of health communications in the ACCHO space.

Rob Gerrie at the podium presenting on the Culture Care Connect suicide prevention program

With over 400 delegates, the conference brought opportunities for attendees to network, learn, influence and celebrate the ongoing drive for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination. The AHCSA attendees all appreciated the rare opportunity to spend time with so many representatives of member services at once.