Karen Reys knows the importance of healing and connection to Country. Her story carries the imprint of five generations of cultural interruption, and the responsibility she holds to restore cultural identity and belonging.
CEED Healing exists to create culturally grounded spaces where people can learn, heal and reconnect with culture, story and Country.
As a fifth-generation person removed from Country, with great-grandparents who were survivors of the Stolen Generations, Karen founded CEED Healing with support from her sisters, Sue and Jennifer. She carries a deep sense of responsibility to educate others and create culturally safe spaces where First Nations people are valued and respected.
In our conversations, it’s clear how seriously she holds that responsibility - and how she strengthens cross cultural understanding in real and meaningful ways.
Karen’s vision is to bridge cultures. CEED’s programs create shared spaces where non- Indigenous Australians learn, deepen their understanding and build respectful relationships - putting reconciliation into practice.
Gathering on Gimuy Country with alliance members from Regional Australia, Asia and the Pacific to share stories, knowledge and cultural practice.
Four years ago, CEED Healing’s programs grew into something more. As its cultural healing and deep listening work expanded on Country in Gimuy (Cairns), Karen recognised the need to strengthen the organisation’s foundations to support its future growth.
At the heart of this growth is a clear vision: to grow a sustainable cultural healing practice in Gimuy and establish cultural healing retreats on Dharrba Warra Country - Karen’s great-grandfather’s Country - creating spaces where children, youth and adults strengthen cultural identity, reclaim wellbeing, and contribute to a more respectful and culturally aware Society.
Karen and her sisters started looking at different business structures and mapping a clear path to achieve their long-term goals.
Her plan to strengthen CEED Healing led Karen to Community First Development - and so began a partnership grounded in shared values, long-term relationships and community led-growth.
Like our work at Community First Development, CEED Healing operates by meeting people where they’re at and journeying with them. Guided by ancestral responsibility and lived experience, and in cultural partnership with Elder and Traditional Owner, Hendrick Fourmile, Gimuy Walubarra Yidinji, CEED Healing brings Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together on Country to learn, heal and build stronger relationships with culture, community and Country.
Through cultural education and deep listening, participants are supported to walk alongside First Nations communities with respect, understanding and shared responsibility – taking reconciliation from intention to action. As Karen told me:
“We bring people together on Country to learn, reflect and reconnect with culture and history through ceremony, story and truth telling. We create culturally grounded spaces where people can slow down, listen deeply and reconnect with self, each other and Country.
“Everything we offer is relational. We meet people where they are, without shame, and walk alongside them as they grow in confidence, clarity and cultural understanding.”
This approach offers a pathway to healing and contributes to stronger communities and more meaningful reconciliation.
“Whether working with teachers preparing for remote placements, health workers caring for Elders, or students learning on Country, the feedback has been remarkably consistent: people feel more grounded, more connected and more culturally aware.”
Karen, Sue and Henry on the sacred grounds of Goomboora Park with North Site Contemporary Arts, Arts Queensland and JUTE Theatre.
CEED Healing’s work is strengthened by Community First Development’s approach to partnership – one shaped by long-term relationships, trust and responding to what communities themselves say they need.
Your gift will help Community First Development walk alongside organisations like CEED Healing, so their work can continue to grow.
It’s been 16 months since we first started partnering with CEED Healing.
After taking time to understand CEED Healing’s needs and aspirations, we matched them with a skilled volunteer to support their business development. They worked together to unpack CEED Healing’s ideas and transform them into action-oriented steps and a long-term Roadmap.
Karen says this work occurred in ways that were, “practical, empowering and culturally Respectful.”
“Community First Development strengthened our confidence and long-term direction by creating a culturally safe environment where we could work at our own pace, take ownership of our project, and grow into our vision as a First Nations-led organisation. Community First Development didn’t just strengthen our organisation – they strengthened our belief in ourselves and the cultural responsibility we carry.”
Today, this journey continues. With Community First Development’s support, Karen and the team at CEED Healing are growing the organisation so it can continue creating safe spaces for learning, connection, and healing.
“For the community, ongoing support from Community First Development means more culturally safe spaces, more opportunities for healing, and more pathways for Indigenous children, youth, adults and practitioners to reconnect with culture, story and Country,” Karen explains.
Across the country, your support enables Community First Development to back the aspirations and leadership of self-determined First Nations communities.
Specifically, your gift will:
connect First Nations initiatives with the expertise they are seeking to grow
provide mentoring and guidance to strengthen community-led ideas
build the governance and systems that sustain long-term impact; and
back the aspirations of communities as they shape their own futures.
Sue guiding a staff member from Access Community Housing Company in creating a clay bird that represents their story and identity during professional development day.