Our Services
Improving Health and Wellbeing with Miwatj Aboriginal Health ServicesOur Indigenous Health Services have a strong focus on Public Health.
We aim to protect and improve the Aboriginal community’s health through education, encouraging healthy lifestyles and advocating for structural improvements that impact the social determinants of health.
Miwatj Health also works closely in partnership with other organisations to advance the above Public Health goals.
Our Miwatj Health Services
NDIS Services
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is an Australian Government scheme that assists people with disabilities to get the support they need. The NDIS invests early in children with disabilities to improve quality of life and result in better outcomes for both the child and the community they live in.
Our Commitment
At Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation, we aim to provide culturally safe supports to NDIS Participants from North East Arnhem Land. As a community-controlled Aboriginal Corporation, we are led by our Board to provide services tailored for Yolŋu, by Yolŋu.
Miwatj Health empower NDIS Participants to make informed decisions about their life, guided by choice and control, dignity of risk, and the NDIS Practice Standards.
Click here to read more about Miwatj Health NDIS Services.
Mental Health Services
The Miwatj Mental Health Program operates across the Gove Peninsula, Ramingiṉiŋ, Miliŋinbi, Galiwin’ku, and Gapuwiyak. Our clinicians work alongside our community-based Mental Health Workers in the areas of AOD/VSA and mental health. The team works in an integrated way across Miwatj clinic GP’s and other clinic-based Primary Health Care programs.
The Mental Health Program aims to provide culturally safe mental health services that address the needs of our Indigenous communities. This ensures that clients access the right service, at the right time, and in a manner that appropriately meets their needs.
Psychosocial Support Program
Miwatj Health is also a provider of the Commonwealth Psychosocial Support Program—a program intended to address the needs of people with severe, episodic mental illnesses who may not be eligible for the NDIS. To find out more, click here.
Public Health
The purpose of Public Health is to protect and improve the health of Indigenous communities, through education, encouraging healthy lifestyles and advocating for structural improvements that impact the Social Determinants of Health.
Our Miwatj Public Health Teams work in partnership with other health professionals to advance the above goals of Public Health.
Renal Services
The disease profile among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, when compared with the non-Indigenous population, indicates that they develop kidney disease 3 times as often, are almost 4 times more likely to receive kidney transplants, and are 9 times as likely to rely on dialysis.
To address renal disease across the Miwatj region, Miwatj Health established the first nurse assisted haemodialysis service in Yirrkala in 2012, to enable Dr M. Yunupingu to return to country. Since 2015, Miwatj has partnered with Purple House, to continue this service in Yirrkala, and since expanded to Angurugu. There are now plans for a nurse-assisted dialysis service into Galiwin’ku in the future. While these services are not yet permanent, the introduction of the MBS item for remote dialysis in 2018 supports the long-term viability of this model.
In the Gove Peninsula and Barra Ward, our Healthy Kidneys Program manages stage 3-5 chronic kidney disease, monitoring of stages 1 and 2 CKD, kidney health education and promotion, care co-ordination and support for patients in end stage renal disease and preparing for renal replacement therapy.
Miwatj Health, in partnership with Purple House, provides a nurse assisted respite dialysis service for up to 4 patients at a time in each community. Each site has 2 dialysis machines and 1 Nurse. Regular patient group meetings are held in Darwin and community to plan service and to ensure community needs are being met.
At Miwatj Health, this mix of services, addresses some of the main causes of illnesses affecting our Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities. Successfully delivering primary health care in remote parts of the NT requires a flexible approach, recognising the decentralised nature of Aboriginal populations.
In addition to our Miwatj clinical services, acute care and longer-term preventive care, our Aboriginal health service focuses on education and primary prevention programs to tackle the most important risk factors impacting Aboriginal health in this region.
Today, half of our Miwatj workforce are Yolŋu, however, we also depend on health professionals from elsewhere who work together with our Yolŋu staff, and the wider community.
Are you interested in contributing to a better future for our Yolŋu, Anindilyakwa and Nunggubuyu people?
We invite you to explore current career opportunities at Miwatj Health.
Let's Build Stronger Communities Together
Get in touch with the team at Miwatj Health today
Social & Emotional Well Being (SEWB) Services
Miwatj Health assists our communities in dealing with family violence, clan conflict, self-harm, alcohol and drug misuse through crisis intervention, early intervention and prevention through the ‘stepped care’ framework for mental health and wellbeing.
On the Gove Peninsula, in Yirrkala, Gunyaŋara, Galupa, Birritjimi and Nhulunbuy, the Raypirri Rom Wellbeing Program helps maintain the safety and wellbeing of families.