Tammy wallace

My Name is Tammy Wallace, I am a Jirrabal women with strong cultural ties in far north Queensland.  My traditional name is Mahjah which means lore giver, this name was given to me from my grandmother – Maisie Barlow.  I am an emerging Elder in my family and a very proud Aboriginal women.

I have worked within Government and the Non-Government sector for over twenty-five years.  The areas of work have included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy, service and program development, crisis intervention, mental health, child, youth and families.  I have worked in many areas across this agenda. I am particularly interested in domestic and family violence, child safety and building family and community resilience through cultural strength.  I strongly believe that taking a community engagement and service development approach is critical to improve the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people and families. 

Cultural Trauma

I have an in-depth understanding of cultural trauma.  Using the Sanctuary Framework as a practice model for working with children, young people and families who have experienced trauma.  I have been leading a review of the Sanctuary Framework, to look at how culture is considered in its practice and application.   

My role within Safe Steps is the Director of Clinical Governance.  Safe Steps is a crisis intervention service providing support for victim survivors of domestic and family violence across Victoria. Prior to this role I worked for MacKillop Institute in a national position titled: Program Specialist–Cultural Design and Implementation. This role includes leading the developmental work nationally to build cultural practice and responsiveness into the Sanctuary Model which is a trauma informed model.  Before this role I held the position of Strategic Manager, Inclusion and Engagement for Churches of Christ Queensland for a period of 6 years and worked previously in the Department of Child Safety as the Director of Indigenous Policy and Practice.

I have expertise in building cultural inclusions, capability, and clinical practice across human service sectors including child protection and domestic and family violence and I am also a Principal Consultant delivering Sanctuary externally.  I possess over 25 years’ experience in the acute, policy and program development and child safety, family support and domestic and family violence arenas and have a bachelor’s degree in health science, Occupational Therapy and Post Graduate qualifications in Politics and Policy Analysis.