Indigenous Land Corporation gpo box 652 Adelaide sa 5001

Programme Highlight

Gallang Place

Queensland

Gallang Place Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation Inc has a new place to call home in 
Brisbane, thanks to the ILC’s Land Acquisition Programme.

The ILC provided $2.95m to purchase and refit a large building in Cannon Hill to provide a permanent home for the successful Indigenous-controlled mental health conselling service.

Gallang Place previously operated from leased premises in Brisbane’s West End which it had occupied since 1997. However, Gallang had plans to expand its training services.

Incorporated in 1994, Gallang Place has 64 members and delivers culturally-appropriate mental health services and therapeutic counselling.

Gallang Place has been providing counselling to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to help with issues such as domestic violence, grief and loss, anger management, substance abuse, relationships, sexual abuse and emotional abuse for the past 18 years, serving approximately 1,000 Indigenous clients per year. The organisation currently employs 12 Indigenous staff and aims to more than double this number over the next three years.

The organisation recently expanded its services to include the delivery of accredited training in counselling to Indigenous health workers through a newly established Registered Training Organisation called Gallang Education and Training (GET).

Gallang Place projects that the GET business will deliver training to up to 959 students by the end of 2015.

To date, GET has delivered initial training modules in the Diploma of Counselling course. GET has also delivered Certificate IV in Mental Health training modules to staff at the Queensland Aboriginal & Islander Health Council in Brisbane and the Queensland Drug & Alcohol Council in Mareeba in North QLD.

GET is currently the only provider of Indigenous specific counselling and mental health training services in QLD.

Land acquisition assistance from the ILC means we can grow our organization. We are also able to support other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organizations, not just with space for their services, but to form close partnerships to work together to support health and wellbeing for individuals and their families in the South East Queensland region. Gallang Chairperson Stephen Corporal