Mookai Rosie chief executive officer Theresa Simpson is celebrating a win for women as the organisation receives up to $200,000 to support victims and survivors of financial abuse. Photo: Supplied.
Cape York and Torres Strait Islander women are normally there for accommodation during a medical trip to Cairns, but a sense of safety and trust means they reveal other issues like financial abuse to the team at Mookai Rosie Bi-Bayan.
The organisation was selected to receive up to $200,000 as part of CommBank’s Next Chapter Innovation Program, which is part of the bank’s broader commitment to help address domestic and family violence and financial abuse, to support victim-survivors on their path to long-term financial independence.
Mookai Rosie chief executive officer Theresa Simpson said the funds would be used to establish a Building Futures, Building Communities initiative, which would create a social enterprise that supports victim-survivor recovery and generates income by harnessing traditional knowledge of plants, to make medicinal healing products, empowering women with both cultural and economic strength.
“A lot of our ladies need to travel to Cairns for their birthing and medical needs, and we try to provide that wraparound support to ensure that their needs are met in a caring and safe environment,” she said.
“They can stay with us for a few days or a few months, depending on the complexity, so while they’re here, they start to open up and share.
“We build relationships, because they’re staying in a home environment, we interact with them daily, and so they share their stories, and some of those are the effects from domestic violence and struggles that they’re experiencing.”
Ms Simpson said they hoped to change futures by providing positive mentors and empowering women to “stand up and have a voice”.
“The mentoring groups will be targeted towards victims of and survivors of domestic violence, offering a safe space to yarn about Indigenous plants, knowledge, cultural healing practices, and keeping language and culture alive,” she said.
“We’ll put a project brand in place, bring in Elders as mentors and really establish that ongoing support, and, hopefully, what we generate from the social enterprise will be able to sustain it.
“So many of our ladies have been affected by domestic violence … the funding from CommBank allows us to specifically concentrate on this as a priority.”
