Damien Loizou is the principal of Walya Productions and is your expert presenter for the Walya Productions MBA CPD Program level Cultural Safe Practice Course.
Damien is Warlpiri, an Aboriginal language nation situated in central Australia, Northern Territory. Completing his primary, secondary and tertiary education in Darwin, Northern Territory, Damien completed an Aboriginal Field Officer Certificate, A Bachelor Laws and Arts Degree with the Northern Territory University and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.
Having been a cadet with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, senior Policy officer administrating the Northern Territory Land Rights Act, article clerk and former policy Officer with the then Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. Damien has worked across State, Territory and Federal governments.
Damien’s passion however has always been about Aboriginal community development which he attributes to being exposed to his family commitment to the wellbeing and health of his family community of Ali Curung and his mother’s and father social conscious attitudes and activism.
Assisting in creating an Aboriginal community development project, Damien went on to form and develop other enterprises and community-based initiatives. Damien went on to create the Aboriginal Australia Amazing Facts and Invention poster series, a community and a cultural community
workshop series concerned with unpacking the poverty cycle and how it impacts community equity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
When not delivering or developing his initiatives. Damien has worked full time with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons as senior First Nations project lead and contributing to developing and implementing the College Reconciliation Action Plan and the College of Surgeons Indigenous Surgical Pathway Project. He has worked with the Royal College of General Practitioners as First Nations Senior Policy Officer.
Damien has visited at one point virtually every major Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory, has experience as assistant health clinic manager at Wadeye (Port Keats) Northern Territory, worked with Yipirinya School an independent Aboriginal operated school in Alice Springs and extensive firsthand experience on developing a remote Aboriginal community economic development initiative.
Damien’s grandmother survived the Coniston massacre and his grandmother, and mother were pioneers of the Stolen Generation in the Northern Territory. Damien’s grandmother and mother’s story is featured in the Walya Productions MBA CPD Program level Cultural Safe Practice Course.
Damien is an expert community development practitioner, a community advocate, policy and project officer with over 30 years of practical and firsthand experiences across communities, medical college, legal and education sectors.
As attested by the Walya Production’s testimonials Damien’s collective experiences has culminated in developing a brilliantly thoughtful cultural and community safety practice course and as attested by Dr Simon Quilty the course is a must for anyone wanting to embark on a meaningful indigenous health practice.
