Indigenous Young Women's Group

Real. Raw. Culture. Connection. Resilience. Inclusion. Identity. Love. Sharing. Support. Wisdom. Laughter. Safety. No shame.

This is the essence of the Young Women's Group that is emerging in response to a growing need in young Indigenous women's lives in Inala.

Please help by contributing to our fundraising page. We are starting a support group for young Indigenous women in Inala who are struggling with multiple, complex and interrelated issues. Help us raise $30,000 for a bus so we can help them rebuild themselves and their connection to culture and country with wellbeing programs and activities that will involve trips out of Inala.

Indigenous young women in Inala need hope. A growing number of young women are aimless, hardened, uneducated, under-skilled, taking up drugs and alcohol and are uninspired by life.

The recent suicide of a young 18 year old Indigenous man in Inala has affected many people in the community. We know the ripple affect this can cause and understand the structural inequalities that become barriers for young Indigenous people, and want to create an end to the cycle of depression, drugs & alcohol and suicide.

We are a volunteer, grassroots gathering of 4 women with a strong passion for this cause: for supporting and empowering a group of young Indigenous women to believe in themselves enough to make positive changes in their lives and become successful in their own right and role models for other young women in their community. We want to instil hope and motivation in these young women, support them through their challenges and barriers they face, build up their confidence, skills and leadership capacity, and give them a chance for changing the cycle.

One of the young women in this group is the girlfriend of the deceased young man. We can see the impact this has had on her and that she, like many others, struggles to see a way out of their situation.

We want to raise funds for purchasing a Toyota Hi-ace 14 seater bus/van. We will use this to transport the group of young women to our activities, outings, programs and gatherings. As they are below driving age and without their own transport or money, we intend on this being their inspiration for 'a way out'. We would be happy to start off with a second hand vehicle at this stage until we grow. If funds exceed the target, this will go towards the ongoing running costs and upkeep of the vehicle (petrol, registration, servicing, maintenance, etc).

The goals of this group are:
- to focus on cultural connections, strengthening their individual cultural journey and understanding
- to strengthen the relationships, peer support and connection between the young women
- to build mentoring relationships between the young women and older women of the community
- to give them some respite out and away from their usual community of Inala, reminding them of all different ways you can have fun (for example, day trips to the beach, free arts/music/cultural events in Brisbane and surrounds, exposure to other people and places, etc)
- to build their self-confidence and self-belief through gentle self care, exercise and wellbeing activities (for example, bushwalking, cycling, yoga, dancing, circus, etc)

Please help us reach out to these young women in practical ways. We know the value of connecting and relating, resilience building and wellbeing strategies, and getting to the real crux of issues. All four of us have backgrounds and qualifications in social work, teaching, cultural awareness, community development and youth work.

We are looking in all directions for support of any kind to help us get started - networking, sponsorship, partnership, financial, donations, anything.

We invite you to join with us in this cause and to help us kick start this project. We believe strongly in women supporting women, and that empowering young women, really can have ongoing change effects in their lives, their families lives, their community, their networks, and their future.


For more information on Inala please visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inala,_Queensland