Brooke Oliver

Youth Worker, Australian Alliance to End Homelessness

I'm a proud kaurna and nykina woman who has lived experience in the child protection system that led into homelessness. I wanted to challenge and change systems for the next generations to come and fiercely thing revolution is in the hands of our youth. So I went back to the system that broke me to work and use my lived expertise to help young fullas not to fall through the gaps and have their voices respected and heard in the systems that silence them. I wanted to help change the way systems look at government kids and to have a therapeutic lens when working with them. Aboriginal culture is all about story telling as my elders would say so directly having my experience and knowledge resonate with the people working in the sector to help educate them on best practices and to get really creative with their approach's to make sure they aren't re traumatising and helping scaffolding the people they are working with so we aren't just a number in the system or a KPI for future generations to see their identity/stories matter. The power of our communities and self have is important to them and their lives and that they matter. Self determination is what matters and their voices can't be silenced