Facilitation
Karabena Consulting facilitates the conversations that are hardest to hold well.
Professor Kerry Arabena and our team design and lead forums, planning days, board sessions, roundtables and cultural learning for governments, health services, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, specialist medical colleges, philanthropy and industry. We work as Master of Ceremonies, as facilitator, and as designer of the process itself, from a two day statewide gathering on Country to a single board conversation about Treaty.
Every session rests on cultural protocols agreed with the people in the room, so that hard truths can be spoken safely and turned into clear priorities for action. Traditional Owners, Elders, lived experience advocates, executives and directors are each given the time and the standing the conversation requires.
The work below shows where we have done it.
Professor Kerry Arabena facilitated a pilot Aboriginal cultural safety session for boards, executives and operational staff in Victoria’s social and community housing sector, developed by Karabena Consulting with CHIA Vic.
October 2026
Karabena Consulting facilitated a bespoke cultural learning session for the Board and executive of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, taking a highly experienced governance audience beyond foundational training to Treaty, economic empowerment and what world-class governance means in a First Nations context.
June 2026
Professor Kerry Arabena facilitated two days of strategic planning for the Annamila First Nations Foundation, gathering its majority First Nations Board and leadership on Bunurong Country to shape how the Foundation contributes, convenes and influences.
May 2026
Professor Kerry Arabena led a panel and joined the closing plenary at the Australian Homelessness Conference in Darwin, hosted by AHURI, on prevention across the whole of life and on placing people with lived experience at the centre of decisions that affect them.
October 2026
Professor Kerry Arabena facilitated a gathering hosted by VACCHO with the Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity and Safer Care Victoria, designing how an Aboriginal Advisory Group could guide the Council’s work.
September 2026
Professor Kerry Arabena was Master of Ceremonies for the OCHRe Convocation 2026 in Naarm, holding two days of Indigenous research, cultural safety and knowledge framework discussions under the theme Empowering Voices and Deadly Futures.
October 2026
Professor Kerry Arabena was Master of Ceremonies for the Water is Life Traditional Owner Oversight Forum on Dja Dja Wurrung Country, a two-day statewide gathering overseeing Victoria’s Traditional Owner Access to Water Roadmap.
September 2026
Karabena Consulting was engaged by Australian Unity to deliver the second phase of the Living Libraries cultural immersion program.
The project aimed to strengthen reconciliation commitments within Australian Unity by providing non-Indigenous staff with opportunities to engage directly with Aboriginal leaders and community organisations.
July – September 2025
Karabena Consulting facilitated a workshop for the Community Relations and Heritage Division of the DPC on 16 October 2024. The workshop focused on DISC profiles, internal division relationships, and directional communication strategies. The goal was to improve communication among team members, enhancing both personal understanding and the overall efficiency of the division.
Karabena Consulting was engaged by Eastern Health to create a holistic cultural awareness and comprehension program. This program aims to embed people’s experiences of reconciliation to further strengthen Eastern Health’s capacity to develop and deliver culturally sensitive services. Two half-day sessions were delivered at Eastern Health offices, incorporating Indigenous methodologies and practices to be applied in their management styles and decision-making strategies.
Project Timeline: April – June 2024
The Traditional Owner Rights and Land Justice Branch (TORLJ) conducted a planning day to map out key priorities for 2024, integrate the First Peoples - State Relations (FPSR) Guiding Principles into their work, and begin a comprehensive planning process.
Project Timeline: February – March 2024
Karabena Consulting was engaged to implement our 'Living Libraries' cultural awareness and training program. This comprehensive initiative, developed by KCT and implemented in partnership with Karen Milward Consulting Services, included two half-day training sessions followed by visits to community agencies, designed to contextualise the learnings through real-life experiences. Each community organisation received a payment for hosting Australian Unity staff during these visits.
Project Timeline: May – June 2024
The National Redress Scheme Survivor Roundtable provides survivors of institutional child sexual abuse and their advocates a platform to give feedback on the Scheme and receive updates on its performance. The Second Year Review highlighted the need for formal inclusion of survivors in the governance structure.
Project Timeline: Ongoing, with the most recent roundtable held in Perth on 6 March 2024.
Karabena Consulting was contracted to facilitate the meeting of all members of Victoria’s Closing the Gap Partnership Forum, now named Ngaweeyan Maar-oo, to establish the self-determining priorities and driving implementation action on closing the gap.
Project Timeline: August 2023
The Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network (EMPHN) has made significant strides towards bolstering community representation within its governance and advisory panels.
Project Timeline: June 2023 – August 2023
Karabena Consulting was engaged to facilitate a Trauma Informed practice course for all community focused workers to support the use of tools and strategies when identifying and dealing with trauma and/or vicarious trauma.
Project Timeline: October 2022 – December 2022
Karabena Consulting was engaged by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria to support the establishment of the Victorian Closing the Gap (CTG) Partnership Forum. The CTG agenda contains key responsibilities, accountabilities, and commitments to close the gap for current and future generations of Aboriginal Victorians for the next 10 years.
Project Timeline: February 2022 – December 2022
Karabena Consulting was engaged to facilitate a strategy day for the Yarra Valley Water (YVW) Board. The aim of the strategy day was to promote governance inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s aspirations for healthy Country.
Project Timeline: July 2022 – November 2022
Karabena Consulting was engaged to facilitate consultations with various stakeholders in the Victorian Aboriginal community housing sector to inform the development of a 20-Year Vision.
Project Timeline: November 2021 – June 2022
Karabena Consulting was contracted to facilitate a process of healing for Ngunnawal families, the Traditional Owners of the region in the ACT, and consider ways in which Treaty can facilitate self-determination.
Project Timeline: May 2022 – June 2022
The City of Melbourne, through its Aboriginal Melbourne team, is considering ways in which to ensure all Indigenous Australians living and working in Melbourne city have opportunities to be actively involved in progressing its major initiatives.
Project Timeline: June 2022
Mullum Mullum is an Aboriginal community controlled organisation based in the Eastern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne.
Project Timeline: April 2022
In 2019, the Office for Women, Department of Premier and Cabinet partnered with Karen Milward Consulting Services (KMCS) to develop and deliver a Victorian First Nation’s Women’s Pilot Leadership Program.
Project Timeline: July 2019 – December 2021