Hey everyone,
The 26th of January means different things to us all – for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, it's a day of mourning and survival day. It's a date that brings up a lot of feelings like grief, sadness, anger, hurt, shame and hopelessness.
If you are not First Nations but would like to learn more about how to be an Ally and show support to the First Nations community, please scroll down to the bottom of this post.👇
First Nation young people:
For any Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander young people reading this, we want you to know that we are all here for you to listen and support you as much as we can and we hope that our community can be a safe place to have a yarn about how you are feeling.💕
It is important that you are taking care of yourself on this day. We know that taking care of yourself looks different for everyone. We wanted to share some more things that might be helpful to try if you are needing some more support on this day:
📵 Take a break from the news, social media, and the comments section.
One of the downsides to social media is that we can read hundreds of thousands of people's opinions at once, which is a lot to handle, especially when reading about an issue that directly affects you and your community.
- Limit your time on social media or your phone
- Avoid looking at comments or threads
- Have a plan on what you can do if you see something upsetting online such as having a yarn with a family member.
- Know how you can stay safe online by checking out the eSafety stories and tips for mob to stay safe and deadly online. You can find them here or by looking up ‘First Nations eSafety’. eSafety can also help mob dealing with online hate and abuse.
🌄 Connect with Country.
If you can, think about making some time to connect with Country. Spending time swimming, camping and walking on Country might help you feel grounded, strong and connected to your ancestors.
🗣 Have a yarn with someone you trust.
Is there someone in your community you can spend time with now? Aunties, Uncles, nans, pops, mums, dads and Elders can be the best people to talk to when it's all too much.
✍️ Create a community thread. If you want to have a yarn about how you are feeling, you can create a post in our Yarning space. You can also have a look through some of our posts or join in on threads already there!
💫 Connect with a support service. If reaching out to a support service will help, there are plenty of options. The services below are for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. All services are free.
- 13YARN - 24/7 culturally safe crisis support
- Wellmob - information and resources for wellbeing
- iBobbly - a self-help app
- Brother to Brother - 24/7 crisis line phone support from Aboriginal men for Aboriginal men
- Thirrili - support for individuals, families, and communities affected by suicide or other significant trauma
- Yarn Safe - Mental health and well-being resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
👀 Have a look through the ReachOut Yarn up page. The Yarn up page is a safe space for First Nations young people to connect with community, hear from others, and access wellbeing resources and support. ReachOut also has an article here that shares some more things you can do if you are feeling stressed about January 26.
More resources:
- Post: Dealing with racism and taking care of your wellbeing.
- ReachOut Event: ‘Ask Me Almost Anything’ where we spoke to Bronte, a proud Bundjalung and Mununjali young woman about wellbeing and dealing with racism.
- There is also a list of some of the events happening around Australia here.
Remember that ReachOut and the Online Community are all here for you.
Stay safe and deadly 🖤💛❤️💚💙
Allies:
How to be a good ally
January 26 is a time to reflect honestly on our history and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities' unwavering determination.
On this day, we want to encourage this community to take the time to listen and learn from First Nations perspectives and to support events and movements that promote healing and reconciliation.
One way to do this is to look into local events and ceremonies organised by First Nations communities and organisations, where you can learn and show your support. You can also educate yourself by reading books and articles, watching films and documentaries, or listening to podcasts or music produced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creators.
If you want to know how to stand up against racism and how you can be an ally for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, we have some articles below that can help you out.
- How to be an ally to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Standing up to racism: How to support people from different cultural backgrounds
- Racism, it stops with me: Being an ally & Bystander action
We would love to hear how you are feeling about the day, some things that you could do to take care of yourself, or ways that you can be an ally in the comments below:
