Devon Cuimara

Founder and CEO

My desire to establish the Aboriginal Male’s Healing Centre comes from seeing violence in my own family and in the Aboriginal community in general. It goes back to my father and my grandfather. There were generations when police wouldn’t worry about a complaint from a woman. It was something that was seen and not heard, like we were as children. I had to protect my mother, I had to protect my brother, my sister and myself. I was more my father’s keeper. You sort of become him in your mother’s eyes.

I left an abusive home and started abusing my partner (now former partner) until I managed to change my ways 20 years ago. My attempts to use mainstream rehabilitation services fell flat and so I actively worked through the issues myself – through a process of cold turkey. I did my own rehabilitation which was to just stop. I didn’t do any of it. I didn’t smoke, I didn’t use drugs. It’s not our way. We weren’t born like that.

I learnt it – so if I could learn it, I could un-learn it.

It’s been 20 years since I started on my healing journey.