Karabena Consulting and Kerry are excited to be joining Karen Milward Consulting in the delivery of the ECHO Women's leadership program.

Set for face-to-face delivery in November at Creswick, Victoria, the Elevating Connections and Healing Ourselves (ECHO) participants were selected to join the growing number of ECHO Alumni. The training course is a result of intensive co-design and delivery with our women. We have intentionally ensured that First Nations women are front and center in the development and delivery of the course.

Part of the work of Karabena Consulting is to have Elders in Residence at key events and gatherings to support intergenerational knowledge transmission and cultural safety because we are an Elder wisdom-led society. We have been influential in bringing elders in Residence to many of our events, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women's leadership program. Piloted in 2021 and set for implementation in November 2022, this year's Elders in Residence, Aunty Daphne Milward and Judy McDonald, were present during our first 'getting to know you session' online. We are truly grateful for the elder's kindness and comfort during what will promise to be a transformative course!

Our very own Kim Reid, a descendent of the Awabakal people, near Newcastle, and Kerry Arabena, a descendent of the Meriam people from the Torres Strait, have joined with Palawa woman Amanda Meric and Yorta Yorta woman Karen Milward to support the delivery of this years ECHO program. This leadership program is one of a suite that has the endorsement from the Department of Premier and Cabinet in Victoria. We will be delivering two of these courses per year in Victoria, with the 2023 dates landing in May, with another in the latter part of the year. We are currently gearing up for the delivery of the course in 2022, and have started with the online sessions. Developed on a buddy system the course creates safe spaces for women to step into their power. Based on the evidence contained in the paper Asserting the Modern Matriarchy, this is an evidence-based program that has been evaluated to demonstrate impact.

One of the key pieces of advice provided by Professor Kerry Arabena to ECHO participants related to the 'art of crying for release'. To cry well and to benefit from the physiological chemical release, we need to let the tears flow underneath the chin, and we wipe them from our neck, not our eyes. Aunty Daphne Milward said 'you learn something new every day!'.

Watch for new expressions of interest coming soon for the 2023 program!