Galyna

G'day, my name is Cilla Atkinson and I am of Bangerang/Yorta Yorta ancestry. I graduated from Murray School of Massage in Echuca in 2002 and have been running my own business for the last 18 months.<p>

My business is called Galnya which is a Yorta Yorta word meaning honesty, goodness, happiness and beauty and this forms the philosophy by which I run my company.<p>

Currently I am employed to do massage 1 day per week at both Cummeragunja and Rumbalara Aboriginal Medical Services. On these days I would deal with 6 clients and give 50 minutes of massage to each. There is an opportunity that Galnya would also take in delivering massage at Njemda Aboriginal Medical Service, Echuca in 2005.<p>

I have a holistic approach to Koorie health and believe that there are a range of therapies available to heal our spirits, one of which is massage. I would like to incorporate the use of local indigenous plants and medicines into the way I deliver my services. It would be my vision that at some point in the future, all of my resources would be produced locally using local product. For example, local eucalyptus oils would be cold pressed and manufactured by some local indigenous business. Dhamanga Danam (or Old Man Weed) could be infused with these oils to build a natural Indigenous medicine.<p>

At some point in the future I would like to be able to work in a Healing Centre, that is placed locally, that uses a fun range of Indigenous medicines and plants and is staffed by the local Bangerang and Yorta Yorta people. This would be a place where Men's and Women's business and that of families could be celebrated.<p>

It would be important within this Healing Centre that Elders are given the opportunity to help people come to terms with what it is that troubles them. The youth of today are not given the time or the space to interact in a meaningful way with the elders to gain and learn from their experiences.<p>

That is the vision for the future: what I would like to approach the floor today with is my idea for a mobile Healing Centre. To achieve this I would need a medium-sized bus that would have the capability to hold a hydraulic massage table that would also be adjustable into a chair so that the elderly and the infirm could gain from the benefits of being massaged. A bus of this nature would give me the mobility to be able to visit those who are incapable of accessing my services. This increased level of mobility would allow me to cross barriers that may be social, political, economic or physical in nature.<p>

It would also be important that the bus be able to provide myself with a reasonable level of accommodation as I travel and offer an outreach service to parts of the community that would never have access to this type of opportunity.<p>

It would also be important that I have enough running capital to cover expenses such as fuel, insurance, oils, towels, microwave and heating pack. I would expect that I could need to have sufficient monies for at least 6 months of operation of the mobile Healing Centre.<p>

Also as part of this process I would be continually encouraging young people that I would encounter to take up massage and return to their communities to help in the health and well being of their communities.<p>