Sydney Indigenous Organisation Is Helping Connect The Community With Vital Services

An Indigenous organisation based in Sydney is doing wonders with connecting the community with vital outreach services.

Deadly Connections helps a whole range of people from the Indigenous community, however their focus on child protection and those affected by justice systems is becoming an integral part of dismantling cycles of intergenerational trauma.

The organisation was started by married couple Carly Stanley and Keenan Mundine as a way to fix that trauma, disadvantage and grief and make a big impact on the community.

CEO Carly Stanley told the National Indigenous Times that she wanted to make sure no one had to go through what did while growing up.

Deadly Connections

"I was disengaged from school, the typical disengaged at-risk type young person," she said. "I had drug and alcohol issues which I hid for quite a while. I got pregnant very young, I had my daughter who is now 22-years-old.

"I decided I needed to do something, I needed to break this cycle. I could see what was happening...I knew I had to do something different, so I went back and completed my Diploma in Aboriginal Studies in the early 2000s."

Stanley said the course opened her eyes and explained why some members of her family had the personality traits they did.

Once she finished her diploma, she started working in health and community services, however she wasn't done learning. Over the course of several years, she completed a whopping five diplomas and got an undergraduate degree in criminology.

Keenan Mundine had a similarly difficult experience and says he found the lack of non-government support networks troubling, so he created a consultancy organisation and then street-based youth outreach program.

Deadly Connections has grown since those early days and they have been buoyed by the Black Lives Matter movement earlier this year.

While America had a huge swell of support for BLM, Australia's was different, with its own history to grapple with.

They are hoping to keep that momentum going and have their eyes set on building a network for the local Indigenous community to ensure no one gets left behind.

Stanley told NIA: "In ten years' time, we would hope to see a community access point; a cultural and community hub where people could connect with their culture but other people who are non-Aboriginal could come and learn.

"People will have all of their needs met under one roof. They can come there for support when it is required, get the right type of support in the right way."

You can get behind Deadly Connections here.

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie