On the banks of the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley's central desert, a group of women gather.
They run their hands over the knee of a patient and sing an ancient song.
Their meeting is part of a program called Jalngangurru Healing — a pilot project that works with cultural healers to treat patients in the outback Kimberley.
The women's practices are slow and meditative, and among the people of Fitzroy Crossing are said to be effective.
Beth (whose name has been changed for cultural reasons) is a healer who works with the program.
"We've been doing this for ages, for a long time," she said.
The elder recalled her time healing a woman at a nearby roadhouse, who had been suffering from headaches.
"We rubbed everywhere all over her body with red ochre, and then sang a healing song," she said.
"She just sat quieter, feeling the spirit … it's gone into her, into her head, everywhere."
Jalngangurru Healing was developed in 2019, and was aimed at engaging cultural healers to help patients who were complaining of ailments beyond the reach of other health providers.
While some families in the Kimberley have their own private access to traditional healers, Jalngangurru tries to "bridge the gap" for those who don't.
The project was put on pause during the COVID pandemic but has recently returned in Derby and Fitzroy Crossing.
Work is also underway to develop a model on how the program can be rolled out across the Kimberley.
The pilot is funded by the WA Primary Health Service and is supported by the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service as a part of its suicide prevention strategy.
It is auspiced by the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre with Emama Nguda Aboriginal Corporation and is being evaluated by the Nulungu Research Institute to improve access to services like bush medicine, songs, smoking, maternal health, and palliative care.
Cultural healing alongside other healthcare
Coordinator Tammy Solonec said, while the program has since morphed into a broader model about embracing cultural practices in healthcare, it was initially born out of necessity.
"The real kick off was after a spate of suicides here in the Kimberley," Ms Solonec said.
"It was clear that cultural healing needed to be part of the answer for our people here in the Kimberley."
Petrine McCrohan works with the healers in Fitzroy Crossing as a coordinator, driving them to and from patients.
She said she had seen firsthand how important the service was, and the need for it to operate alongside traditional healthcare.
"[Culturally appropriate healthcare] is desperately important because I've spoken to some older women who've been Aboriginal healthcare workers … and they've seen people die because they haven't been able to get access to their own healers," Ms McCrohan said.
"[It's through] no fault on the Western medical practitioners, but they just couldn't help.
"What they needed was something different, they needed something through their own Aboriginal knowledge system."
The program currently operates on a key feature: compensating healers for their work.
'All the healers are very gentle'
While cultural healers are well respected in Indigenous culture, a lack of formalised arrangements often means they can go largely uncompensated.
It's a feature Ms Solonec said was vital to the program's future, with the pilot due to end in December.
"At the moment our funding is covering the costs of the trial, but that ends soon," she said.
"So we're looking to enter into fee-for-service arrangements with organisations so they will pay us and we can organise the healers for them with cultural integrity."
Ms Solonec said the program continuing was not only for the better of the community but for the healers as well.
"All the healers are very gentle, soft people — they're very kind and loving, but they've also got good senses of humour," she said.
"They're also very passionate about it; every time we have a client the next time I see them, there'll be asking, 'How's this person? How's that person? Who are we seeing next?'
"There's a real level of excitement that these healers are getting this now ongoing work."
Ms McCrohan said she believed if the program were adopted around the Kimberley it would make a "huge difference".
"Moving forward, we want to see healthcare providers take it up and access the healers and give them give them work," she said.
