About
What is Gudjela?
Gudjela is a not-for-profit, trauma-informed, community-driven and collaborative initiative designed to holistically address social/emotional health and well-being. By leveraging a unique framework and methodology, Gudjela aims to support indigenous youth through tailored programs and interventions.
Why is Gudjela Unique?
Gudjela’s uniqueness stems from its CEO’s personal experience of trauma and a deep commitment to supporting indigenous youth. This lived experience has shaped the organisation's approach and design of a unique framework and methodology, making it distinct in its ability to connect with and positively impact the lives of its participants.
Addressing Inequities
According to the 2022 Closing the Gap report, significant inequities exist between indigenous and mainstream Australian youth, particularly in education. Gudjela aims to work towards bridging this gap by fostering lifelong positive change in its participants through:
Independence and Self-Work: Encouraging youth to work on their future selves and to set dreams and goals.
Resilience and Learning: Building the ability of youth to learn, to have the confidence to make their own choices and develop lifelong skills.
Strong Relationships: Teaching youth to build healthy relationships with themselves and others.
Advocacy and Expression: Providing various ways for youth to express themselves and advocate for their own needs.
Healthy Coping Mechanisms: Offering strategies to manage life’s challenges and understand addictions (e.g., alcohol, drugs, social media, gambling, food).
Understanding Trauma and Stress
Gudjela teaches, explains and focuses on the neurobiology behind emotions and behaviour driven by trauma and stress and subsequently the impact on the ability to self-regulate (behaviour, focusing, thinking logically and learning). By understanding this information and these mechanisms, students learn to:
Achieve Personal and Career Goals: Building self-belief that they can achieve anything they set their minds to - whether career, personal development or aspirations.
Develop Values and Morals: Emphasising interpersonal skills such as empathy, compassion, respect, resilience, listening, learning, inclusivity, consideration, and gratitude.
Metacognition and Specialised Units
Gudjela teaches metacognition (thinking about thinking), enabling students to use these skills for learning and life. The program includes specialized units of music, art, sports, sound healing and mindfulness, providing unique avenues for skill development. Below is an excerpt from one of our Grade 5/6 classes where we were teaching the importance of actively listening and metacognition.
Indigenous Histories and Learning Processes
Through the sharing of personal family experiences and histories between students as well as Gudjela’s Indigenous multi-generational staff members, students have gained insight into the lives of their ancestors, their ancestors’ struggles with colonisation, traditional culture and traditional knowledge systems. These ways of learning (Indigenous Learning Processes) are still relevant and still used today to learn and make sense of the world. The Aboriginal 8 Ways of Learning is incorporated into Gudjela’s Programs to ensure that the students can access the information and learn in culturally appropriate and familiar ways.
Personalised and Adaptable Programming
Gudjela’s program is adaptable and personalised to meet individual student aspirations, strengths and needs (social, emotional and educational). It is flexible and acknowledges the day-to-day well-being of students in relation to sleep, nutrition, health, home-life, relationships and factors causing stress. The program is informed by many complex challenges which impact on the day to day lives of Indigenous students, their families and their communities, such as transience, poverty, homelessness, food security, suboptimal health, addictions and domestic violence. Below, students are learning they can achieve anything through self-discipline and hard work, the message “life is hard, but if we get good at doing hard things, we can achieve anything” while engaging in our mental and physical health sessions on country.
Average Improvement in Social/Emotional Development, Outlook on Life, Self-Belief, Resilience and Empathy.
Student Improvement Data (6-Month Analysis).
The graph demonstrates that Gudjela's work with neurodiverse students and youth who have experienced complex trauma has led to significant improvements across a range of social/emotional and self-development areas. Notably, students have shown considerable growth in self-belief, future planning, and resilience, indicating they are now more confident in their abilities, more proactive in setting and achieving goals, and better equipped to handle setbacks. Communication and self-regulation skills have also improved, reflecting enhanced emotional management and more effective interpersonal interactions. While gains in collaboration, understanding others, and support and teamwork are more modest, the overall trend suggests that Gudjela's interventions are fostering a more positive outlook on life and made gains in their social and emotional development. This holistic improvement underscores the effectiveness of Gudjela's programs in addressing the complex needs of this vulnerable cohort.
Key: Orange– Initial Score Average, Red – Current Score Average, Yellow - Individual Highest Student Score.
Reprogramming Mindsets
By using intersubjective reality, Gudjela guides students to reprogram their thinking and their hierarchy of values and behaviours, shifting from a fixed/closed mindset to a positive and optimistic growth mindset.
Conclusion
Gudjela’s holistic and trauma-informed approach is crucial in supporting indigenous youth to overcome their challenges and achieve long-lasting positive change. Securing funding for Gudjela will enable the program to continue its impactful work and expand its reach, thereby contributing to the broader goal of closing the gap in education and well-being for indigenous communities.
Our Purpose
The Gudjela Indigenous Corporation (Gudjela) is a Not-for-Profit organisation. Consultation with and feedback from local Elders, communities, participants and services, will inform program direction and ensure that Gudjela caters for the diverse range of Indigenous communities and languages.
Gudjela uses a unique blend of neuroscience, social/emotional skills development, metacognitive strategies, a focus on identity in the modern world, sound healing, music and sound innovation along with Aboriginal art creation and sport blended with trauma-informed lived experience and cultural learning processes to achieve results.
The objectives of Gudjela are to advance the education, health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth living in rural and remote areas of Australia.
The corporation aims to:
Connect to community and foster positive cultural environments through sport, music, and art.
Improve self-esteem, self-belief, and self-determination.
Support youth to re-engage in education.
Develop one’s identity in the modern world.
Work towards breaking negative inter-generational trauma response cycles.
Facilitate access to Education, Training, Sports and Allied Health information.
Long Term Goals:
Empower community members with employment opportunities.
Provide higher education pathways through scholarship programs.
Promote community development by acting as a resource for the community and stakeholders in the areas of education, health and employment.
Operate community enterprises and build a strong financial base for community development activities and infrastructure.
Based in the Central Desert area of Australia
Servicing rural and remote schools and communities.
Examples of Music Created for Clinics
Music created in our communities for the schools and/or communities by our artists: Hurler & YULUBALA
Students will be given opportunities to create and produce their own music with support from our artists.
Songs available on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, etc,.
