Authors: Ballarat & District Aboriginal Cooperative
Year: 2002
Event: 2002 TheMHS Awards
Subject:
Type of resource: TheMHS Awards
Award state: VIC
Award level: Gold
Award category: Mental Health Promotion or Mental Illness Prevention Program or Project
Abstract: Young members of the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-op, together with co-coordinator Verity Higgins and professional indigenous filmmaker Richard Frankland and his production company, Golden Seahorse, have written and produced a video- Makin Pitchas- on mental health issues for Koori youth funded by the VicHealth Mental Health Promotion Plan. The participating youth were involved in all aspects of the production with the aim of the project being to provide an educational resource for raising awareness amongst the broader community of the specific mental health issues affecting young Kooris, and to give the local Koori youth the chance to learn filmmaking skills. Richard Frankland has said that this has been one of the most inspirational projects he has worked on, and the video itself is a very strong, high quality, important piece of Indigenous Filmmaking tackling head-on as it does the too often overlooked ongoing Mental Health ramifications of the treatment of Indigenous Australians since white occupation. Description of Facility/Organisation: The Ballarat & District Aboriginal Co-operative has been an incorporated organisation since 1979. The organisation was established to provide assistance to Aboriginal people in the Ballarat district in the areas of health, welfare and housing. Since 1979 the Co-operative has grown considerably and now delivers a range of services in the areas of health, welfare, art, culture, education and social well-being. The Co-operative is governed by a Board of Directors elected by members of the Co-operative. Funding for the Co-operative is derived from a number of sources including ATSIC, the Department of Human Services, the Office of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health, the Commonwealth Department of Family Community Services, VicHealth, the City of Ballarat and the Australia Council. The staff of approximately twenty provides these services to some three hundred plus clients.
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