Karinya House is thankful to welcome and introduce Kate Williams who has joined the Karinya team this week as a Senior Caseworker.

Kate comes to Karinya as a Senior Aboriginal Case Manager, bringing over 35 years’ experience working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities.  Kate is a proud Kamilaroi woman who is a culturally connected Aboriginal worker and describes herself as having  “a life-time experience as a ground roots Aboriginal woman….  I am solid in my identity, my bloodlines and connection to community and country.” Kate’s knowledge and understanding of issues affecting Aboriginal people and communities is extensive. Her personal and working career has taken Kate into local, rural, and remote Aboriginal communities throughout Australia. In recent years, Kate has worked predominately in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.

The Karinya House care team are privileged to walk alongside around 200 women per year. On average, around 16% of women we walk alongside will identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.  Karinya has been able to co-fund the addition of an Aboriginal identified caseworker, with the funding support of the Calleo Indigenous Community Fund.

Kate brings a wealth of knowledge and learning to the Karinya team and will support Karinya as we seek to ensure the fullness of cultural content within our practice framework and related policies and processes.  Most importantly, Kate will bring her experience as we walk alongside women, who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, during significant times in their lives.

We were pleased to welcome Kate who joined us during the 2022 Reconciliation Week. As well as joining the team, Kate has contributed the most beautiful and apt artwork, describing the Karinya House service, as part of the inaugural Karinya House Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). Our draft RAP is currently with Reconciliation Australia for review, and we look forward to sharing our RAP with you, including the artwork and its story, very soon.

Welcome Kate and thank you for sharing your wisdom and knowledge with us.