The pro­gram aims to edu­cate and empow­er First Nations men. It pro­vides cul­tur­al­ly appro­pri­ate guid­ance to sup­port them to nav­i­gate the chal­lenges of mod­ern life, recon­nect­ing them with their cul­ture, com­mu­ni­ties, and families. 

Men attend­ing Codes 4 Life work­shops are encour­aged by their elders, lead­ers, and peers to find new pur­pose, set­ting them on new path­ways and away from the unac­cept­able behav­iour exac­er­bat­ed by alco­hol and sub­stance abuse. The work­shops pro­vide a safe space for men to open up about expe­ri­ences of fam­i­ly and domes­tic vio­lence and oth­er relat­ed issues that they may not have had the chance to talk about elsewhere.

In April this year, here at Desert Knowl­edge Aus­tralia, we’ve signed a licenc­ing agree­ment with pro­gram founder Michael Lid­dle, which will allow the pro­gram to grow, and impact even more lives. It means oth­er team mem­bers will now be able to deliv­er work­shops, open­ing up the pos­si­bil­i­ty of deliv­er­ing more, and in more locations.

The agree­ment was signed at Desert Knowl­edge Aus­tralia by Michael Lid­dle and CEO Jim­my Cock­ing, with the wider team join­ing for a small celebration.

Pro­gram Man­ag­er Dr Lisa Watts said: ​“It’s impor­tant Michael’s idea is pro­tect­ed, and this is one way of pro­tect­ing it. As he said ear­li­er today, he can’t do every­thing. He needs a team to help grow it, while still pro­vid­ing instruc­tion and direc­tion.”

We’re now in the process of train­ing up more of our staff to become facil­i­ta­tors. The next Codes 4 Life work­shops will take place in Ten­ant Creek lat­er this month.