Growing Deadly Brains
Giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children a great start in life is behind an innovative program blending cultural knowledge with neuroscience.
Yiliyapinya, meaning brain in the Wankumara (Galali) Language aims to build healthier brains, support healing and improve wellbeing through Culturally appropriate research, screening, training and support.
How do you Grow Deadly Brains?
Yiliyapinya was founded in 2019 by Sheryl Batchelor, who observed that toxic stress and adversity on brain development was contributing to declining brain health among Indigenous communities. Sheryl recognised the urgent need for culturally responsive neuroplasticity programs to combat this issue.
Growing Deadly Brains is First Nations-led focusing on supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families in Queensland develop healthier brains and stronger wellbeing.
Fusing cultural knowledge and neuro-knowledge it aims to improve learning, wellbeing and resilience, and make it easier for everyone to support children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development.
The project will develop practical resources and training for caregivers, educators, and community workers, with materials made by Community, for Community.
How do you track progress?
Wakka Wakka woman Rhi Parsons is leading the project and says Growing Deadly Brains requires constant evaluation.
“As Aboriginal people we hold that right to determine with our community if something is successful or not.”
“When our communities lead and own the evaluation, it’s not biased - it is accountable to the right people, grounded in our strengths, and governed by Indigenous data sovereignty and self‑determination.”
“We are talking with community the whole time. Evaluating the project ourselves is a better way for us to measure if the project we are delivering is fit for community and meeting community needs.”
Understanding, Measurement, Learning, Evaluation (UMEL)
Yiliyapinya met with the Kowa team about supporting them to do the evaluating themselves.
“My colleague Bek Martin and I have a rich background in working with mob for a long time. It’s about bringing those skills and learning new skills of understanding the impact that we are having, and how we are doing it. It’s about being intentional.”
“We are about doing things proppa way, only going where communities invite and welcome us, and taking the time to walk alongside people in a culturally safe way from the very beginning so the evaluation reflects community priorities and strengths.”
“Indigenous data sovereignty is part of every yarn with community so that they understand their rights.”
Training and Support
“We have just completed the Two Worlds UMEL Course and it’s a perfect name because it’s talking about our ways of knowing, being and doing, what we do in our daily life anyway.”
“We are working with Kowa on our UMEL strategy and have onboarded on to Wathaga to hold all data, stories and more in a culturally safe place.”
“Kowa will help us across the lifetime of the project with training and mentoring.”
While Rhi and her team are steering an incredible project to Grow Deadly Brains, they are also growing their own skills in Culturally safe evaluation and measurement to create better outcomes for Mob.