Seasons for Healing: Supporting Grief, Loss and Healing Through Culture and Connection
Tracks
Ballroom 1 - In-Person Only
| Tuesday, October 13, 2026 |
| 2:35 PM - 2:55 PM |
| Ballroom 1 |
Overview
Uncle Garry Kafoa & Carly Warner, Mackillop Seasons
Key Learnings
Presenting under the topic From Distress to Strength: Indigenous Approaches to the Primary Prevention of Mental Distress
Grief is a universal experience, but healing is deeply cultural. Seasons for Healing demonstrates how culturally grounded grief education can honour loss, strengthen identity, and support the social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 3 Key learnings you will take from this session are: Many experiences of grief are unrecognised. Healing begins when loss is acknowledged and understood within its cultural context. Culture is not an addition to healing. Culture is a pathway to healing. When people understand their grief, they are better able to draw on their strengths, connect with others, and move towards healing.
Grief is a universal experience, but healing is deeply cultural. Seasons for Healing demonstrates how culturally grounded grief education can honour loss, strengthen identity, and support the social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 3 Key learnings you will take from this session are: Many experiences of grief are unrecognised. Healing begins when loss is acknowledged and understood within its cultural context. Culture is not an addition to healing. Culture is a pathway to healing. When people understand their grief, they are better able to draw on their strengths, connect with others, and move towards healing.
Presenter
Uncle Garry Kafoa
Mackillop Seasons Cultural Trainer
Mackillop Seasons
Seasons for Healing: Supporting Grief, Loss and Healing Through Culture and Connection
Presentation Overview
Grief is a natural and universal response to change and loss, yet many experiences of grief remain unrecognised, particularly within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities where loss may be shaped by sorry business, disconnection from Country, cultural disruption, environmental change, and intergenerational trauma. Seasons for Healing, developed in partnership with Aboriginal Family Support Services and supported by the Healing Foundation, is a culturally grounded, small group psychoeducational program that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults to better understand grief, strengthen emotional literacy, and foster healing through connection, reflection, and shared story.
This presentation explores how Seasons for Healing combines contemporary grief theory, including Worden's Tasks of Mourning, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being, and doing. Using the metaphor of the seasons, participants are supported to understand grief as a journey rather than a problem to be fixed, recognising that healing occurs in different ways, at different times, and within the context of relationships, culture, and community. The program creates culturally safe spaces for participants to reflect on experiences of loss, build resilience, and strengthen connections to culture, identity, and wellbeing.
Attendees will gain insight into the development, evidence base, and impact of Seasons for Healing, including its contribution to strengthened social, emotional, spiritual, and cultural wellbeing. Through stories from practice and reflections on emerging challenges such as ecological grief and climate-related loss, the session will explore how culturally responsive grief education can support individual and collective healing while honouring the enduring strength, resilience, and wisdom of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
This presentation explores how Seasons for Healing combines contemporary grief theory, including Worden's Tasks of Mourning, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being, and doing. Using the metaphor of the seasons, participants are supported to understand grief as a journey rather than a problem to be fixed, recognising that healing occurs in different ways, at different times, and within the context of relationships, culture, and community. The program creates culturally safe spaces for participants to reflect on experiences of loss, build resilience, and strengthen connections to culture, identity, and wellbeing.
Attendees will gain insight into the development, evidence base, and impact of Seasons for Healing, including its contribution to strengthened social, emotional, spiritual, and cultural wellbeing. Through stories from practice and reflections on emerging challenges such as ecological grief and climate-related loss, the session will explore how culturally responsive grief education can support individual and collective healing while honouring the enduring strength, resilience, and wisdom of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Biography
My name Is Uncle Garry Kafoa
I am an Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Man an elder from Minjungbal Mob on Bundjalung Country. I am a saltwater man who has spent my life on the beautiful Tweed River and Golden Beaches.
As a young boy I learnt my culture from my father, the uncles and aunties.
We look after country
We don't judge people
We don't take more then we need
We always show respect
Ms Carly Warner
Cultural Trainer
Mackillop Seasons
Seasons for Healing: Supporting Grief, Loss and Healing Through Culture and Connection
Presentation Overview
Grief is a natural and universal response to change and loss, yet many experiences of grief remain unrecognised, particularly within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities where loss may be shaped by sorry business, disconnection from Country, cultural disruption, environmental change, and intergenerational trauma. Seasons for Healing, developed in partnership with Aboriginal Family Support Services and supported by the Healing Foundation, is a culturally grounded, small group psychoeducational program that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults to better understand grief, strengthen emotional literacy, and foster healing through connection, reflection, and shared story.
This presentation explores how Seasons for Healing combines contemporary grief theory, including Worden's Tasks of Mourning, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being, and doing. Using the metaphor of the seasons, participants are supported to understand grief as a journey rather than a problem to be fixed, recognising that healing occurs in different ways, at different times, and within the context of relationships, culture, and community. The program creates culturally safe spaces for participants to reflect on experiences of loss, build resilience, and strengthen connections to culture, identity, and wellbeing.
Attendees will gain insight into the development, evidence base, and impact of Seasons for Healing, including its contribution to strengthened social, emotional, spiritual, and cultural wellbeing. Through stories from practice and reflections on emerging challenges such as ecological grief and climate-related loss, the session will explore how culturally responsive grief education can support individual and collective healing while honouring the enduring strength, resilience, and wisdom of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
This presentation explores how Seasons for Healing combines contemporary grief theory, including Worden's Tasks of Mourning, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being, and doing. Using the metaphor of the seasons, participants are supported to understand grief as a journey rather than a problem to be fixed, recognising that healing occurs in different ways, at different times, and within the context of relationships, culture, and community. The program creates culturally safe spaces for participants to reflect on experiences of loss, build resilience, and strengthen connections to culture, identity, and wellbeing.
Attendees will gain insight into the development, evidence base, and impact of Seasons for Healing, including its contribution to strengthened social, emotional, spiritual, and cultural wellbeing. Through stories from practice and reflections on emerging challenges such as ecological grief and climate-related loss, the session will explore how culturally responsive grief education can support individual and collective healing while honouring the enduring strength, resilience, and wisdom of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Biography
Carly Warner is a proud Wiradjuri woman, experienced mental health leader and Cultural Trainer with MacKillop’s Seasons program. Over the past 18 months, Carly has delivered cultural training through Seasons, bringing together her professional experience, cultural knowledge and passion for strengthening culturally responsive practice. Her work is grounded in the importance of culture, connection and community, and in creating spaces where these are recognised as fundamental to healing, social and emotional wellbeing and meaningful engagement with Aboriginal people and communities.
Alongside her work with MacKillop, Carly is a Senior Manager in community mental health in the Shoalhaven, working on Yuin Country, where she leads a multidisciplinary service and works closely with community, health and service partners to strengthen local responses to mental health and wellbeing.
Currently completing a Master of Mental Health, Carly brings experience across mental health practice, service leadership, workforce development, training and Aboriginal community engagement. She is particularly passionate about bridging the gap between policy and practice, strengthening culturally responsive services, and ensuring Aboriginal voices, knowledge and ways of knowing are genuinely heard and valued.
