Facilitator
Ash is a Larrakia artist, storyteller, adventurer and educator from Darwin in the Top End. As a cultural ambassador for the Northern Territory throughout the 2000’s he reached a global audience and achieved worldwide acclaim for his unique style of storytelling and live musical performance. He has received multiple national and international nominations for his recorded works.
Ash gained his Masters of Indigenous Studies under Dr. Judy Atkinson following her work in Trauma Informed approaches to community recovery as the Australian Federal Government moved to set up and fund the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation. Since that time he has held State and Territory senior leadership positions across the Education, Justice and Community Service sectors. He was one of the founding members of the Larrakia Healing Group that produced one of Australia’s leading resources on ‘place based’ Transgenerational Trauma and how to heal from its compounding effects within a historical framework. He was the coordinator during the alpha phase of development of the i-bobbly app created by the Black Dog Institute. The first of its kind in the world, the i-bobbly app is an early intervention and culturally informed therapeutic app for mobile devices that helps reduce suicidal ideation in Aboriginal youth. Ash also worked for a number of years as NT coordinator for the Federal Initiative MindMatters that was responsible for delivering and implementing Social and Emotional Wellbeing frameworks into all schools Nationally.
Ash is passionate about leading change processes that enable better and fairer outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As a critically reflective thinker he bridges the cultural divide allowing ideas to flow into actions that make sense for services and consumers.
Ash currently lives on the lands of the Wurundjeri in Victoria engaging with State and local Government, NGO’s and community services as a consultant, educator and workforce trainer in all aspects of building cultural competency.
- Master of Indigenous Studies (Wellbeing) Southern Cross University
- Lead team for the inaugural Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Trauma Recovery Practice (University of Wollongong)
- The Larrakia Healing Group (Founding member)
- Black Dog Institute: i-Bobbly mindfulness app for iOS and Android mobile devices
- MindMatters: Federal initiative for Social and Emotional Wellbeing frameworks in all schools nationally
- Healing Our Way: Culturally informed therapeutic men’s Justice program funded by the Attorney Generals Department
