From our director:
As director of The Centre for Liberating Practices, I acknowledge the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nations on whose Country I live, play, and work. I acknowledge their enduring sovereignty over Country, which is not just the surface of land, but includes Earth Country, Water Country, Sky Country, songlines and story, knowledge and kinship systems, Indigenous sciences, and community wisdom. I bear witness to their internal diversity, their resilience and strength in the face of genocide and colonisation, and their ongoing resistance to racism and systemic oppression.
From our Centre:
The Centre for Liberating Practices acknowledges the enduring sovereignty of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, South Sea Islander, Māori, Pasifika, and Indigenous / First Nations Peoples from any unceded Countries from which people around the world are visiting our site.
We honour Elders and Ancestors, whose wisdom endures. We honour the continued role of Ancestors in watching over, communicating with, and guiding their communities. We value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional healing practitioners and practices. We reject dominant racist models of mental health that pathologise Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and other Indigenous / First Nations ways of being, living, knowing, and exchanging ongoing communication with Ancestors and Country.
How we put our words into action:
We acknowledge Country in action by contributing to the ongoing struggle for reconciliation, reparations, truth-telling, justice, and treaty. As part of our commitment to action, we pay a portion of all income generated by the Centre to organisations, communities, and initiatives led by and for Traditional Custodians of Country. This includes donations to PayTheRent.net.au, healingfoundation.org.au, commonground.org.au, and other Aboriginal-led community initiatives.
Facilitators and educators for all our courses, workshops, and events are expected to make a similar contribution to Traditional Custodians of Country in their local area from the direct-to-presenter funds they receive from participants in their events. In addition, the Centre provides a dedicated fund open only for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants to subsidise the cost of attending our events and courses. This fund is distributed between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants on the basis of financial disadvantage and need.
This is, was, and always will be Aboriginal Country.
