WORKSHOP: Indigenous Futures in Action: Youth-Led Pathways and Two-Way Learning
Tracks
Ballroom 3 - In-Person Only
| Monday, October 12, 2026 |
| 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM |
| Ballroom 3 |
Overview
Rhian Miller, Epic Pathways
Three Key Learnings
1. How strengths-based, culturally grounded approaches further empower youth leadership:
Participants will learn how EPIC Pathways uses Indigenous leadership principles, two-way learning, and storytelling to position young people not as program recipients yet as active co-designers in their futures.
2. Practical methods for embedding culture into education practice.
Delegates will reflect on creative facilitation techniques, such as narrative expression, weaving, and poetry, that can be adapted to strengthen connection, confidence, and belonging.
3. The importance of relational accountability and community partnership.
Attendees will gain insights into how collaboration ensures program's remain locally relevant, genuinely driven by community vs imposed frameworks.
Presenter
Miss Rhian Miller
CEO & Founder
EPIC Pathways
Indigenous Futures in Action: Youth-Led Pathways and Two-Way Learning
Presentation Overview
EPIC Pathways invites 2026 Indigenous Wellbeing Conference participants to experience a taster session of how we engage Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students through storytelling, creative facilitation, critical thinking, and two-way learning. Grounded in self-determined futures, the session explores how young people are supported to choose their own adventures, build on their confidence, and envision pathways shaped by identity, culture, and possibility.
Across so-called Australia, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander young people continue to navigate education systems that were not designed with their cultural knowledge, aspirations, or leadership at the centre. In response, EPIC Pathways has developed a strengths-based, community-led model that supports young people to define and pursue futures on their own terms.
Grounded in Indigenous leadership, relational accountability, and two-way learning, our approach draws on proven mentoring frameworks and 8 Ways learning principles. The model brings together storytelling, cultural knowledge exchange, mentorship, creative expression, and practical pathways planning to create spaces where students are not positioned as recipients of intervention, but as active leaders in shaping their own futures.
Programs are delivered in partnership with schools, Elders, community leaders, and education stakeholders, ensuring they remain responsive to local context and community priorities. Through workshops that include weaving, creative performance, reflective dialogue, and exposure to future pathways, students strengthen cultural identity, critical thinking, confidence, and self-advocacy.
This interactive session will offer participants an inside look at how EPIC Pathways creates culturally grounded youth empowerment in practice. Participants will have the opportunity to experience an EPIC workshop, from the perspective of our EPIC students. Led by our young people, for our young people.
Across so-called Australia, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander young people continue to navigate education systems that were not designed with their cultural knowledge, aspirations, or leadership at the centre. In response, EPIC Pathways has developed a strengths-based, community-led model that supports young people to define and pursue futures on their own terms.
Grounded in Indigenous leadership, relational accountability, and two-way learning, our approach draws on proven mentoring frameworks and 8 Ways learning principles. The model brings together storytelling, cultural knowledge exchange, mentorship, creative expression, and practical pathways planning to create spaces where students are not positioned as recipients of intervention, but as active leaders in shaping their own futures.
Programs are delivered in partnership with schools, Elders, community leaders, and education stakeholders, ensuring they remain responsive to local context and community priorities. Through workshops that include weaving, creative performance, reflective dialogue, and exposure to future pathways, students strengthen cultural identity, critical thinking, confidence, and self-advocacy.
This interactive session will offer participants an inside look at how EPIC Pathways creates culturally grounded youth empowerment in practice. Participants will have the opportunity to experience an EPIC workshop, from the perspective of our EPIC students. Led by our young people, for our young people.
Biography
A proud Wirangu, Narranga and Wongi woman, Rhian brings over 10 years experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mentoring, leadership, and program design. Beginning her journey as a mentee in the AIME program, she went on to guide initiatives to create opportunities for youth. Her work spans education, leadership, and cultural engagement, including youth programs at GARMA, and shaping organisational strategies to support reconciliation.
With a commitment to empowering the next generation, Rhian founded EPIC to support students to thrive at school and beyond. Her vision grounded in cultural pride, strong relationships, and belief in the power of education.
