Decades of Charmayne Fleming’s working life have been spent elbows-deep in structures and strategy. Her impressive career across Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, government and non-government agencies has seen her create and roll out countless procedures, policies and programs to connect Aboriginal people with safety, skills and their own power and potential. It’s a career she loves and works hard at every day.

But if not for her auntie Lorraine, Lutheran Care’s newly appointed Head of Aboriginal Strategy and Practice, might not have discovered this calling.

Charmayne is a proud Malyangapa and Barkindji woman from Tibooburra in New South Wales, near Cameron Corner: where the states of South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales intersect. She went to school and grew up in Broken Hill.

“We have quite a close and large family, and are very culturally connected – that’s the way we grew up,” she shares.

Charmayne is a loving mother to five, grandmother to seven, and great-grandmother to a beautiful three year old. After starting her family, she was looking to re-enter the workforce when her auntie shared she was leaving her role at Family Support Services (FSS) Broken Hill, and encouraged Charmayne to “go for it”.

This advice led to Charmayne going for and getting the job and spending the next 20 years providing services and support to Aboriginal women experiencing or at risk of Domestic Violence throughout the region.

Upon moving to South Australia, Charmayne took on a volunteer role at the Northern Carers Network which she balanced around family commitments before taking on further positions and projects with organisations such as Aboriginal Family Support Services (AFSS) and the Department for Human Services (DHS). Charmayne has developed and delivered countless programs for Aboriginal youth, adults, and families, focused on safety and wellbeing, including the Community Safety and Wellbeing program, Staying Safe, and New Dreams Program. Her work spans domestic, family and lateral violence; Emergency Relief; and managing family group conferencing and family-led decision making.

Alongside her hands-on community work, Charmayne has extensive leadership experience, including designing DHS’s Aboriginal Connections Team. She is passionate about building capability and confidence in others.

Charmayne joined Lutheran Care more than a year ago, initially working across the Foster Care portfolio. She also managed the Lutheran Care Alice Springs office for a period, strengthening leadership structures and progressing the rollout of a Cultural Audit across programs to identify strengths and development areas in our cultural responsiveness, safety, competency, policies and practices.

In her new role, Charmayne will work across the entire organisation to further embed cultural governance and practice at Lutheran Care. This includes identifying cultural gaps in processes, policies, position descriptions, funding contracts and other organisational frameworks so we can continue improving them.

Charmayne is a supportive leader of Aboriginal staff and seeks to be a culturally safe place where colleagues can come to share, learn and feel heard. She is committed to improving cultural safety within Lutheran Care.

She is also generous with her cultural knowledge, offering guidance and insight to Lutheran Care’s Reconciliation Action Plan Committee and to others who are keen to learn and contribute to positive change.

“I love to empower people with cultural knowledge,” she says.

On the rare occasion Charmayne isn’t working — or supporting someone over the phone, as she continues to help Aboriginal people in any way shape of form in her non-working life also — you might find her out at Packsaddle, 175km north of Broken Hill.

“Bush life is me. I spend all my time out bush,” she says, although ‘glamping’ is now more her style than camping, she admits.

Lutheran Care is proud to have Charmayne working with us across the broader organisation and we are excited about the improvements her leadership will bring — not only for our Aboriginal employees, volunteers and clients, but for everyone, strengthening our ability to support people within our workforce and across the communities we serve.

RELATED LINK: Charmayne Fleming’s International Women’s Day reflections.