Respectful Workplaces: Workshop Series 2026

Build cultural safety into every part of your workplace

A 7-part workshop series, starting early next year, designed to move organisations from intent to action on Aboriginal cultural safety.

Why most efforts fail

Good intentions don’t stop Aboriginal staff from leaving.
Policies alone don’t guarantee cultural safety.
One-off events don’t build capability.

Real change happens when leaders and staff have the clarity, confidence, and consistency to act every day.

What makes this series different

The Respectful Workplaces Workshop Series is a 7-part online program starting early 2026.
It gives leaders and organisations a practical framework to embed cultural safety across policies, systems, and daily practice.

This isn’t theory. It’s applied, interactive, and designed to tackle the barriers that keep workplaces from retaining and supporting Aboriginal staff.

No tick-boxes. No scatter-gun activities. A system you can use every day.

The 2026 series starts early next year — secure your organisation’s place today.

The 7 projects we’ll tackle together

The series is built around the 7 essential projects of the Respectful Workplaces program:

1. Language Matters

   The language you use to speak with, and about, Aboriginal people matters. When your people don’t know what term to use they avoid the conversation altogether. When you codify your language choice you empower your people to have confidence in their conversations.

2. A Simple and Compelling Rationale

   When the reasons to support Aboriginal employment aren’t clear your people can’t be on board. When you have a simple and compelling rationale for Aboriginal employment your people will be on board.

3. Community Profile

   Without facts and education, people tend to make assumptions about Aboriginal people and communities based on their own direct experience. When you map the relevant Aboriginal communities, you can develop an understanding based on facts and use this information to develop key relationships and to benchmark Aboriginal employment goals.

4. The Question

   The way you frame and ask if a staff member or client is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person can build or destroy trust.When you ask ‘the question’ in the right way at the right time, you’ll build trust and have accurate data to set and track your Aboriginal employment goals.

5. Workforce Aboriginal Cultural Capability Plan

   When your staff have low levels of cultural capability, your workplace is a risk to the health and safety of your Aboriginal staff and clients. When you have a clear plan to improve Aboriginal cultural capability, your workforce will learn.

6. Welcomes to Country and Acknowledgements of Country

   Rising community expectations means Welcomes to Country and Acknowledgements of Country are expected in today’s workplaces. When you apply Acknowledgements and Welcomes in the right way at the right time in line with protocols, your reputation soars.

7. Workplace Signals

   Workplaces have not always welcomed or respected Aboriginal people. This means we’re always looking for signals to answer the question: Are we welcome here? When you standardise and codify your workplace signals everyone knows where you stand and what they can expect.

How it works

• Format: Online (Zoom)

• Structure: 7 interactive workshops, each focused on one project

• Timing: Starting early next year — dates to be confirmed

• Approach: Practical, applied, results-focused. Designed to fit real organisational contexts.

Who it’s for

Leaders and organisations who want to:

• Retain Aboriginal staff and reduce turnover

• Strengthen credibility with Aboriginal communities

• Lead workplaces where cultural safety is built in, not bolted on

Trusted by organisations across community services and not-for-profits

What others are saying

Leaders like Jenni and Monique have seen what’s possible. Your organisation can too.

The change you’ll see

By the end of the series, you and your team will:

• Speak with clarity and consistency about Aboriginal employment

• Act with confidence as leaders, without second-guessing

• Retain Aboriginal staff because safety is built into systems, not left to chance

• Earn trust inside your teams, and credibility with the communities you serve

A real-world success story

“Working with Blakworks gave me the framework I needed. Doing the work transformed me and my team.”
— Cate Hewett, CEO, Kamira

When Cate began, she was frustrated. Staff weren’t on board, and she faced questions she couldn’t answer.
Through the Respectful Workplaces program, Kamira built:

• A shared understanding of why Aboriginal employment matters

• Consistency in language and policies

• The confidence to lead cultural safety as part of daily practice

This meant Cate could lead with clarity, her staff knew what was expected, and Kamira was a stronger, more respectful workplace.

Read the full Kamira success story

Ready to bring these results to your workplace?

Looking for the full overview?