Working Together to Create Safe, Culturally Grounded Shelter Spaces

In 2025, Gender and Disaster Australia partnered with We Al‑li, a leading First Nations organisation specialising in culturally informed, trauma‑integrated healing. This collaboration forms a central pillar of our First Nations stakeholder engagement for the Creating Safe Shelter Spaces Project, an initiative to ensure emergency and recovery shelters are safe, inclusive, culturally grounded and gender‑responsive. 

We Al‑li brings more than 30 years of expertise in healing-centred practice, grounded in First Nations knowledge systems, cultural authority and trauma‑integrated approaches. Through this partnership, GADAus and We Al‑li have worked side‑by‑side to strengthen safety, belonging, and dignity for all people who rely on shelter during and after disasters. 

What We Al-li Delivered Through The Partnership 

  1. Culturally Informed Trauma Integrated Healing Approach (CITIHA) Consultation Protocol / Gender Lens Framework for Safe Shelters

This report offers a comprehensive framework for creating emergency shelter environments that are culturally safe, trauma‑integrated, and gender‑responsive. It outlines guiding assumptions, values and consultation principles shaped by the Culturally Informed Trauma Integrated Healing Approach (CITIHA), a model developed by We Al‑li and deeply grounded in First Nations healing traditions, relational accountability and connection to Country. 

  1. GEM Guidelines Review Through a Culturally Informed Trauma Integrated Healing Approach Lens

We Al‑li reviewed GADAus’ Gender and Emergency Management (GEM) Guidelines through a trauma‑integrated and culturally informed lens. This resulted in a set of priority recommendations that bring cultural safety and First Nations governance into alignment with gender‑sensitive practice, ensuring that gender safety and cultural safety are treated as inseparable components of shelter design and emergency management.  

  1. Creating Safe Shelter Spaces Training Resources

We Al‑li developed a set of practical training materials to support facilitators, councils and emergency management organisations. These include guidance for online and face‑to‑face training, re‑traumatisation protocols, and healing‑centred practices that ensure learning environments are safe, trauma‑aware and culturally grounded. 

Why This Partnership Matters

By partnering with We Al‑li, GADAus sought to honour First Nations leadership and embed trauma‑integrated and culturally grounded practices across every stage of consultation, design and implementation. The collaboration strengthens our commitment to: 

  • Cultural safety: Making shelters culturally safe for First Nations communities by embedding First Nations leadership, cultural governance, and practices such as yarning, ceremony and cultural markers. 
  • Gender safety: Ensuring emergency shelters respond to the distinct experiences of women, men, children, LGBTQIASB+ people and other gender‑diverse community members. 
  • Trauma‑integrated practice: Creating environments that avoid re‑traumatisation through choice, respect and relational care. 
  • Shared governance: Supporting genuine partnership with First Nations organisations. 

What We Value in Our Collaboration with We Al-li

Our partnership with We Al‑li is built on deep respect, relational engagement and shared purpose. We especially value: 

  • First Nations leadership: Their expertise in trauma‑integrated healing and cultural governance has shaped this project from the ground up. 
  • A healing‑centred approach: We Al‑li’s CITIHA framework expands traditional disaster management into a model centred on connection, safety, dignity and belonging. 
  • Relational accountability: Their commitment to two‑way learning, community voice and culturally grounded consultation practices has strengthened the integrity and inclusivity of our work. 
  • Practical transformation: Through training tools, framework development and GEM review, We Al‑li has helped embed cultural and gender safety into actionable guidance for shelters and emergency management agencies nationwide.  

Together, these contributions help ensure that emergency shelters are not only places of physical protection, but environments of care where people feel supported, respected, and safe.