Leading with Truth: Safe Spaces Begin Within
On November 13th, 2024, I stood in front of a room full of Koorie Education Officers and Aboriginal educators at the Koorie Conversations Conference in Lorne.
It wasn’t the kind of room where you have to convince people of the need for cultural safety. Everyone in there already knew. They lived it.
They were the first ones called on to hold culture in their schools. The ones everyone turns to when things get tricky. The ones holding it together — for the kids, for the community, for the system.
But who holds them?
I Didn’t Start With a Framework
When I got up to speak, I didn’t open with a diagram. I didn’t quote a report. I started with myself. I told them the truth. About what it’s like to be seen as “successful” while feeling like you're falling apart inside. About addiction. About rejection. About the kind of silence that creeps in when you’re too proud — or too expected — to ask for help. I didn’t say it to shock anyone. I said it because if we’re going to talk about safe spaces, we need to start with the one inside us.
The Yarn That Needed to Happen
The conversations that followed weren’t rehearsed. They weren’t planned. They were real.
We talked about:
What it’s like to carry pain and power at the same time
How being the “go-to” cultural person in your workplace can burn you out
How even being successful can be lonely when no one sees the cost
What it takes to protect your peace, your spirit, and your story
We talked about leadership. Not the kind in job titles or strategic plans. The kind where you show up for yourself first — so you’ve actually got something left to give.
This Is Why It Matters
In schools all over this state, Koorie educators are holding the line. They’re showing up every day for kids. They’re helping teachers make sense of Country, culture, and care. But often, they’re doing it in systems that aren’t built for them. That don’t protect them. That thank them quietly and drain them loudly. This session was different. It gave something back. It said: “You don’t have to hold it alone.” And what I saw in that room — what I felt — was a kind of collective breath.
People letting go of things they didn’t even know they were holding.
What Buneen Believes
We don’t go into spaces pretending to have all the answers. We come in to listen, to walk alongside, and to create something real — together. That day in Lorne, I wasn’t a speaker. I was part of the circle. And what we shared reminded me why we do what we do at Buneen. Because safe spaces don’t just happen in buildings or policies.
They happen when someone tells the truth, and someone else says, “Me too.”
That’s the leadership I believe in. That’s the work we’re here for.
Written By Shawn Andrews Buneen Director
📩 info@buneen.au
🌐 www.buneen.au
