Welcoming First Nations Advisors to the Navitas Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) committees

As part of our commitment to reconciliation, Navitas understands how critical it is for First Nations voices to inform planning and decision-making. To date, we have been privileged to engage our friends at Murawin, who have provided valuable expertise, insights, training and support to our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) team. We are thrilled to continue with Murawin as a critical friend to Navitas over the next 12 months of our journey, as we progress implementation of our Reflect RAP and plan for the launch of our Innovate RAP.

We are now very pleased to welcome two First Nations employees from Navitas to our Reconciliation Action Plan committees.

Dr Noritta Morseu-Diop Senior Lecturer and First Nations Consultant at ACAP (School of Social Work) First Nations Advisor, Navitas RAP Steering Committee

Noritta is a First Nations woman originally from Tamwoy Town, Thursday Island in Far North Queensland. Her ancestral heritage extends from mainland Australia to the Kulkalgal Nation to the Erubam Le, Ugaram Le and to the Dauareb Clan of the Meriam Nation.

She graduated from the School of Social Work and Social Policy in 1992 at the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus. Since that time Noritta has worked extensively in grassroots Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and within non-Indigenous communities throughout the state of Queensland.

The areas of her work include: grief and loss, bereavement counselling and support, criminal justice, prison rehabilitation, mental health, community development, cross-cultural education, social work and welfare education and training, drug and alcohol counselling, Indigenous health and human rights and social justice advocacy.

Noritta’s distinguished list of achievements includes:

•  2006 Australian Federation of University Women Fellow
• 2011 Winston Churchill Fellow
• Awarded PhD in Criminal Justice and Social Work at the University of Queensland in the School of Social Work and Human Services, St. Lucia Campus in 2010
• Recipient of the UQ 2010 Dean’s Commendation for Outstanding Research and Higher Degree PhD thesis
• Awarded the UQ Alumni Award for Indigenous Community Impact in 2018.

She is also Co-Founder of Gallang Place, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Counselling Services based in Brisbane, and the Founder and Managing Director of Malu Mai Wellness Consultancy; a family-owned company that is committed to addressing the social, emotional, cultural and spiritual well-being of individuals, families, and communities on a local, national and international level.

Nicole (Nicki) Fraser-Lyons Lecturer in Health Care, Griffith College First Nations Advisor, Navitas RAP Working Group

Nicki is a proud traditional custodian of Ngunnawal Country (southern NSW/ACT) who grew up in Wiradjuri Country in NSW and currently resides in Yugambeh language speaking People’s nation, on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Nicki is a health practitioner (nursing) who has worked and trained with Aboriginal communities in diverse parts of Australia over the past 15 years, including Murrumbidgee, Far Western, Far Northern NSW and Queensland.

A proud First Nations Woman, she gives back to her community both personally and professionally at every opportunity. Nicki is particularly passionate about First Nations health and well-being, and women and children’s health, and currently works as a Child and Family Health Nurse with the Queensland Government’s Waijungbah Jarjums Health Service, which has developed a model of care in close collaboration within the Yugambeh-speaking People’s community. The organisation promotes childhood development and parenting capacity through health promotion and education, and provides developmental assessments and other clinical care for mothers and their babies during the first 1000 days (two years) of a child’s life. Waijungbah Jarjums Health Service provides a culturally safe and appropriate space for families while creating and holding connections to land, sea, Peoples, and ancestry traditions.

Nicki also lectures in and facilitates the undergraduate degree Diploma of Health Care at Griffith College, with a focus on Foundations of Professional Healthcare Practice and Health Assessment. As part of her teaching, Nicki introduces the importance of cultural awareness and working with First Australian peoples. She empowers students to develop the skills they need to improve health outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

Nicki has worked as an intensive care nurse for more than six years. She holds a Bachelor of Nursing from Griffith University, Postgraduate Graduate Certificate in Professional Health Education from QUT and Graduate Diploma of Child and Family Health at Western Sydney University.