About us

Our role

Recognising the importance of community-led and holistic solutions to health, Poche SA+NT is uniquely positioned to facilitate impact through partnership and collaboration.

Working with funding agencies, researchers and communities, we are able to create dialogues and understanding – unlocking opportunities for improved health outcomes through new approaches to collaborative prioritisation, multi-directional communication and embedded community and researcher engagement.

Poche will also enable rapid improvements in measurement and evaluation of health interventions, so that future health initiatives can be better focused.

Poche is able to create change by walking in three worlds – bringing disparate perspectives, priorities and understandings together.

Our history

Founded in January 2011, Poche SA+NT was made possible by a generous donation from leading Australian health philanthropist, Mr Greg Poche AO.

Poche Centres established across Australia each seek to leverage the best of the best in Universities with communities and governments to seek solutions to address complex health problems faced by Aboriginal people.

Mr Poche has shown how one individual can make a difference and has sought to promote a culture of giving by others to benefit society. Mr Poche has been supported by his wife Kay and guided by his great friend Reg Richardson, AM.

Greg Poche, with wife Kay and Reg Richardson

Measurable change

Poche SA+NT will serve as a key interface between researchers, government and community:

Supporting and guiding for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health workers and leaders, developing a network of 500 health leaders by 2025.
Facilitating the translation of research into programs and projects that significantly improve health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.
Researching and building awareness and understanding of best practice approaches to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.
Enabling two-way learning between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people, to build improved understanding of culture and holistic approaches to health.

Poche SA + NT vision

To deliver measurable improvements in the current and future health of Aboriginal and / or Torres Strait Islander people through:

two-way knowledge transfer;
research translation; and
holistic health leadership.

A pathway for change

Poche SA+NT will focus on five key areas to drive improvements in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health outcomes.

These five key areas have been identified in collaboration with Aboriginal communities, researchers and funding agencies.

Change starts with a circle

Our organisational chart was redrawn when we created Poche SA+NT, drawing on Aboriginal culture to create an organisation chart based on circular structures, rather than a regimented hierarchy.

This approach enables us to reflect Aboriginal community structures and practice what we espouse, in relation to the importance of learning from and implementing traditional and contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge.