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Indigenous Men Conference highlights success stories
A SPECIAL conference devoted to Indigenous men is being staged in Cairns on October 13-15.
Indigenous Conference Services has developed the 2014 National Indigenous Men Conference in cooperation with MEES (Australia), with inspiring guest speakers from different states and territories of Australia.
An Indigenous Conference Services spokesperson said the overwhelming response of the Call for Papers clearly indicated the devoted interests of organisations and individuals working to improve Indigenous men’s services. 
More than 70 percent of the submitted papers were from community based organisations.
Among the featured speakers is Steve Widders, the current Aboriginal community liaison officer of Armidale Dumaresq Council in New South Wales.
Although declared medically and legally blind by the late professor Fred Hollows at age 35, Mr Widders sees himself as a “man of vision” and he prefers to talk of his ‘ability’ rather than his disability. He is a descendant of the Anaiwan/Kamiloaroi people of Northern NSW.
John Riley, the community counsellor and development officer of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, will be at the conference sharing the story of how the Wik Warrior’s Men’s Group breaks the cycle of Aurukun’s males passing away without the opportunity to pass on their tribal knowledge to younger generations.
A wealth of experience has come forward to present papers and many of these people will present at the conference.
Jack Bulman is the CEO of Mibbinbah who will be co-presenting with Dr Rick Hayes on The Mibbinbah Mad Bastard’s Guide: Be The Best You Can Be, an award winning outreach program that builds on the success of the movie,Mad Bastards.
Andrew Thorp, the men’s project manager of Beyondblue, will be presenting on The Proppa Deadly Project which aims to encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to take action against depression and anxiety through the telling of their own stories across Australia’s Indigenous community radio sector.
Terry Thommeny, the program officer of Royal Flying Doctors Service Queensland will be presenting an outline of a Baliner’s perspective to aged and senior males in Indigenous community. Mr Thommeny has a degree in nursing communication and is finishing his master’s degree in public health.
Jimmy Perry is the project officer of Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (SA) Inc. and he will be presenting on the Making Track Project. This is a mobile substance misuse program assisting Aboriginal communities in rural and remote parts of South Australia.
Madhu Panthee, the family violence mediation program coordinator of the Yuendumu Mediation and Justice Committee, in the Central Desert Regional Council NT, will be highlighting the impact of the Yuendumu Family Violence Mediation Program model in reducing violent confrontations among family feuds in Yuendumu and across Warlpiri region.
Kit Karunaratne, the ICT manager of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) based in ACT, will be showcasing a vision which looks at the emergence of a new information technology as a support service to break down cultural communication barriers in remote communities.
Government and non-government organisations are participating in choosing the agenda and as delegates as well.
The conference is a major forum for sharing of information on successful Indigenous men programs existing and being implemented all over Australia and interagency networking at a local, state and national level.
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