Primary Health Tasmania invites Community organisations, wellbeing services, and frontline workers supporting Aboriginal people to join the CALM Yarn Program – a culturally adapted suicide prevention training designed specifically for people supporting First Nations communities.
It aims to equip participants with the skills and confidence to support people experiencing thoughts of suicide, using approaches that are community-aware and led by Indigenous facilitators. The program is developed in partnership with Indigenous communities and follows the evidence-based CALM (Connect, Ask, Listen, Manage) framework. The training is delivered face-to-face in small groups to support a meaningful learning experience.
Learning outcomes:
- Recognise warning signs that someone may be thinking about suicide
- Start a calm, compassionate conversation and build trust
- Help a person reconnect with themselves, their Country and their community
- Develop a practical safety plan and connect the person with appropriate supports
Speaker information:
Rhienna Potter is a proud Ngarabal/Gomeroi Yinnar (Woman) from Northwest NSW. Rhienna is an Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Mental Health First Aid Facilitator, Calm Yarn Facilitator, cultural capability trainer, and community health leader with more than 20 years’ experience working across frontline healthcare, community education, and Aboriginal workforce development.
She is grounded in cultural safety, trauma informed practice, and a strengths based approach. She is passionate about creating learning environments where people feel safe to reflect, grow, and build genuine capability to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Across her career, she has delivered culturally grounded training, wellbeing programs, and capacity building initiatives for organisations, communities, and workplaces. Rhienna brings together clinical experience, cultural knowledge, and a deep commitment to empowering others to create safer, healthier, and more connected environments. Rhienna is dedicated to improving health outcomes and dedicated to improving Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members. She cares about building strong relationships, strengthening cultural identity, and supporting communities to thrive.
Michelle Graeber, primarily an educator, has over 38 years of experience in the private and not-for-profit sectors, largely in disability and mental health. She has a strong background in management, community development, and training and development. Michelle is passionate about providing quality community education and service delivery for everyone. Michelle believes that we all share the responsibility to work more effectively together to provide a more inclusive, responsive, and sensitive community service system.
She has been actively involved in training volunteers, students, health and mental health professionals, liaising with schools and educators in the area of anxiety and suicide awareness and intervention. Ms Graeber has been, over the years, a strong advocate for the mutual self-help support model in the delivery of mental health programs for the consumer at various levels of Government and Advisory Boards.
Michelle is passionate about providing quality community education and service delivery for everyone. Michelle believes that we all share the responsibility to work more effectively together to provide a more inclusive, responsive, and sensitive community service system.