Birdiya Maya Homelessness Research Project

This webinar puts a spotlight on the award winning Birdiya Maya Homelessness Research Project, which was recently completed in Perth.

This Lotterywest project was led by Wungening Aboriginal Corporation with the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University as its partner.

Birdiya Maya created a platform for Aboriginal people living with homelessness across Perth to share their perspectives and ideas. Aboriginal leadership and ownership was built in through multiple levels in the project, including through the Community Ownership Group of Elders. The project’s activities included two Photovoice exhibitions showcasing the works of participants, four short films about the project, a Spotify playlist curated by participants, and a community report featuring the voices and images of participants and setting out the findings and recommendations.

In 2023 the Birdiya Maya project won the Lowitja Institute’s Tarrn-doon-nonin Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research Ethics Award, for research conducted to an exemplary standard in line with Aboriginal principles and practices.

The aims of the project were to

• Identify barriers for Aboriginal people in the greater Perth area in connecting with accommodation and having their needs met, especially in a crisis
• Develop an understanding of the lives of Aboriginal people experiencing homelessness, including the nature of their mental health, health, use of alcohol and other drugs, social supports, and connection with services, and
• Provide recommendations for future policy change and service delivery

The webinar will include

• The Elder-led approach in the project and how this contributed to strong, embedded Aboriginal leadership and ownership
• How the Birdiya Maya project fits with Wungening’s broader work on decolonising data, evaluation and research, including through putting Aboriginal Data Sovereignty principles into practice
• The findings and recommendations of the project, about how homelessness services and policy can better meet the needs of Aboriginal people in Perth, and
• The short films made about the project, featuring participants, Elders, and some of the project team

About our facilitators

The webinar will be presented by members of the project team from Wungening, and may include members of the Community Ownership Group and project participants.

What you will gain from this event

This event will give participants a greater understanding of:

• What was involved in an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation leading a major research project, and how this differ from other research projects.
• How Wungening is seeking to decolonise data, evaluation, and research, and what this means in terms of specific projects
• What Aboriginal people living with homelessness want you to know about their experiences and ideas

This training is ideal for Homelessness Services Providers, Community Housing Providers, government policy officers and operational staff, and researchers.

If you have any questions, please contact Jolene Ellat at jolene.ellat@shelterwa.org.au.

Image above the event description: “I walk past the lane nearly every day, and it reminds me of where I started, I’ll never forget it, but I don’t go down the laneway anymore, just glance at it.” Uncle Paul Mourish, Photovoice participant in the Birdiya Maya project.

SHELTER WA MEMBERSHIP

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