Details about Services
The Aboriginal Males Healing Centre (AMHC) is a not for profit, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation providing culturally appropriate family and domestic violence services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the Pilbara. The service is located and operated within the Newman township.
AMHC currently operate from Newman House in premises leased by the Shire of East Pilbara (the Shire). Sitting under the umbrella of AMHC is our counselling service, the Parnpajinya Aboriginal Males Healing Service (PAMHS). Grants fund the service. Current staffing is through “goodwill”.
The positions and staff work pro bono. Mr Cuimara has invested his superannuation into AMHC and financially supports operations. Existing services provided by PAMHS include counselling, group therapy, men’s health services, cultural healing, and Aboriginal Lore programmes. These services are available for Aboriginal men and women.
AMHC seeks to provide a residential healing and wellbeing centre for men who perpetrate violence against women, called the Parnpajinya Aboriginal Community Safety (PACS) project. AMHC’s overarching goal is to provide services to men who commit violence against women in a mandatory residential setting. Land 10 kilometres south-east of Newman has a suitable site, and the Shire of East Pilbara has transferred a parcel of land from this area to the AMHC. AMHC plans to build a purpose-built residential facility on this site into the future. The property is of cultural significance and is on a significant dreaming path known as “Kangaroo dreaming”. The track is a male ceremonial pathway.
At a local level, AMHC is working with Newman Police to develop a memorandum of understanding, with a focus on shared knowledge across AMHC service delivery and ways of working collaboratively. PACS will operate a residential accommodation complex located together in Armstrong Way, East Newman. It is envisaged BHP shall provide these. These properties will be rent-free during the 12-month pilot programme. The makeup of the residence is as follows, one house for staffing and one for office space. The third residence is for the short-term safe stay, and the remaining utilised within the residential model (both discussed below).
PACS applies the same principle of the women’s shelter concept (a safe place for women to stay free of violence). The PACS points of difference are the residential model provides short/longer-term residential options and is for Aboriginal men only. AMHC has developed a crisis prevention and management plan for participants presenting/or the potential to perform with severe behavioural issues, including identifying and managing escalating behaviours. The AMHC interdisciplinary team has developed a management plan and.
Summarily, the AMHC shall offer residents therapeutic, culturally sound centre where they will participate in a range of culturally relevant and main-stream re-integrative and rehabilitative treatment programmes and activities each day. The length of the full program is twelve months; however, participants will complete a minimum of:
• 15 week – three days a week, intensive Family
Violence Healing Program.
o A Stage-Specific Model for Trauma
(Psychodynamic Psychotherapy)
o Core Profile Training (Triggers)
o AMHC Integrating Spirituality and Family
Violence Treatment of Aboriginal Men - Yirna
Jukurrpa Treatment Model
• 13 week - two days a week, Mentors in Violence
Prevention (MVP) Program.
• 12 week – two days a week Alcohol and
Substances Abuse Healing Program.
• 12 week – one day a week Chemical Dependency
Healing Program.
AMHC is expanding PAMHS services. PAMHS goal is to develop partnerships, joint initiatives, improved referral pathways, information sharing and increased community accessibility to a wide range of domestic violence services. In addition to existing services PAMHS will offer community information and referral outreach service and a volunteer phone-in crisis helpline for Aboriginal males.
The phone-in helpline is operated by Nyiyaparli/Martu and other Pilbara language groups of the Pilbara region and support the AMHC outreach service. AMHC has identified two Nyiyaparli/Martu men qualified to interpret. AMHC aims to identify, train, and certify additional interpreters into the future. AMHC will relocate from Newman House and have all services operating from the one site, the PACS premises in East Newman.
