Cultural safety starts with truth telling: reflections from the 2026 NSW Aboriginal Aged Care Forum

As the 2026 NSW Aboriginal Aged Care Forum Coming Together, Moving Forward drew to a close we gathered around the fire whose smoke cleansed and welcomed us on the first day, a loose circle of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people from across the aged care sector, taking time to be with the heaviness of Kinchela Boys Home Survivor Uncle Richard Campbell’s truth telling and the power of his call to action. 

It was a moment for deep feeling and reflection. Sharing stories is part of healing. What does listening ask of us? As Worimi man and forum MC Jonathon Lilley reminded us, we listen through our heart and our whole body, not just our ears.  

Uncle Richard Campbell was one of 400 – 600 Aboriginal boys forcibly removed from their families, stripped of their names, given numbers, and subjected to physical, sexual, cultural and emotional abuse within the NSW Government run Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home. These boys are now Elders. They are ageing, some are living with dementia, some are in residential care, and some are approaching end-of-life.  

Making aged care safer and more supportive for Stolen Generations Survivors

Alongside Uncle Richard, Dr Tiffany McComsey, CEO of Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation, spoke of our deep responsibility to Stolen Generations Survivors and that they “have a right to heal through the aged care system”. Dr McComsey introduced Strong Spirit: Dreaming Our Way Home, a three-year national project launched in November 2025 and focused on making aged care safer and more supportive for Stolen Generations Survivors and First Nations Forgotten Australians.  

Dr McComsey shared findings from initial project research: 

What worries mob about aged care 

• Fear of re-institutionalization: losing independence, autonomy and connection to family 

• Distrust of service systems that have historically removed family members 

• Aged care environments trigger memories of missions, dormitories and institutional abuse 

• Language itself can retraumatize: ‘residential aged care’ is enough to trigger a Survivor before they walk through the door 

• Grandparent carers fear that accessing services will trigger removal of grandchildren 

• Shame, distrust and fatigue from a lifetime of navigating systems that don’t understand them
• Co-contributions under the Support at Home program mean Survivors are foregoing support as they can’t meet this requirement and don’t want to go through the ‘red tape’ of trying to claim aged care financial hardship assistance

What providers don’t know or get wrong 

• Delivering cultural awareness as a one-off online module: not face-to-face, not lived experience 

• Assuming trust can be established through intake paperwork 

• Treating Survivors as a homogenous group: each person has a unique history and unique triggers 

• Missing forced adoptees: they are part of the Stolen Generations but are often overlooked 

• Tokenistic culture: NAIDOC Week activities and a piece of art on the wall are not cultural safety 

• High worker turnover breaking the relational continuity that safe care depends on 

Cultural safety training must include opportunities for face-to-face sharing

Through yarning circles conducted as part of this research, Aunties and Uncles across the country expressed the desire to tell their stories face-to-face with people who work in aged care. Program researcher Doug Faircloth stated that “cultural safety starts with truth telling”. Cultural safety training must elevate local, place-based responses and include opportunities for face-to-face sharing. 

Register for Strong Spirit: Dreaming our Way Home project updates and stay connected with training and resource developments and future events. 

Caring for Elders and older people is a community experience

As we return inside from the fire, I remember a local Worimi Elder speaking about the importance of her community’s young people hearing the stories from their Elders. Others spoke about the challenges of engaging younger people and the need for better employment pathways into aged care. Across the two days of the forum, people spoke about ageing and caring for Elders and older people as a community experience, part of culture and kinship responsibilities, supported by aged care providers.  

Imagine an aged care system that actively enables healing and strengthening of kinship connections.  

Image: NSW Aboriginal Aged Care Forum 2026 Smoking Ceremony with Uncle Justin Ridgeway. Photographer: Janeen Harris.

Need support? View the Healing Foundation directory of national services and organisations that offer support for Stolen Generations Survivors.