When Aunty Joyce Cooper leads a child through their first smoking ceremony, she knows something is changing.
Her body painted in the red and brown ochre of Yorta Yorta country, she guides them through the smoke, letting it wash over them.
In First Nations culture, it is believed smoke has healing properties, and can ward off bad spirits.
It can also be a form of communication, a cry for help in crisis.
And while she may not hear it audibly, Aunty Joyce knows many of these young people are crying out.
Hers is a community rocked by a deep grief, an overwhelming sense of loss – of culture, of community.
And now, of its young people.
"It's a ripple effect.
"Because no-one is listening to our young people. No-one is listening to their stories."
Shepparton an area of concern
When it comes to Indigenous youth suicide, Greater Shepparton is an area of high concern.
In the past year alone, several young people have taken their own lives and there are concerns if nothing changes, a suicide cluster could form.
In January this year, national Indigenous postvention group Thirrili was called in to provide urgent crisis support to the grieving community.
Talking to families, chief executive Annette Vickery said several devastating themes emerged – systemic racism and bullying, and a widespread loss of culture.
Many families told her this had only gotten worse since Shepparton's four public schools amalgamated into one "super school", making it more difficult for children to escape their tormentors.
This comes after a scathing report released last year, which found Greater Shepparton Secondary College was a "picture of systemic racism".
Camps provide healing
Placed in out-of-home care at a young age, Yorta Yorta man Graham Briggs was a victim of racist bullying as a child, and didn't learn about his culture until he was in high school.
He still feels the psychological aftershocks of early separation from family, community and country.
It was a damaging disconnect which impacted on many others in his community, and he too has lost loved ones to suicide.
So in 2018, he launched Aldara Yenara – Lead the Way – a Goulburn Valley-based organisation aimed at enhancing Aboriginal cultural knowledge.
This included cultural-empowerment camps for young people, known as Galnya Lotjpa – Strong Talk.
'A sense of belonging'
The camps are held over three days in Barmah, a site of rich Yorta Yorta cultural heritage on the banks of the Dungala – Murray River.
Children are taught language, art and dance, rituals such as smoking ceremonies and the telling of Dreamtime stories.
They are also taken to sacred sites.
This includes a "graveside reunion" at the site of the old Cummeragunja Mission nearby, where Yorta Yorta people staged a walk-off in 1939 to protest oppressive living conditions.
"A lot of young people don't know they have an ancestor buried at the cemetery," said Aldara Yenara managing director Rob Briggs, Graham's brother.
By the time the young people leave the camps, a transformation has taken place.
"They feel like they have that sense of belonging," Aldara Yenara general manager Keilara Briggs said.
"They walk with pride, finally knowing who they are and where they come from."
Hope after heartache
It is Aboriginal protocol to have elders involved in teaching culture, so Aunty Joyce and her husband Uncle Boots have played a key part in the camps since day one.
The couple is passionate about ensuring no young people fall through the cracks.
For them, it is a deeply personal cause.
Twenty years ago, three of their nephews – all aged 17 – took their own lives within a single month.
But by educating young people about culture, the couple hopes to play a part in breaking the cycle.
"Most young people are struggling with identity," Uncle Boots said.
"Some of them know they're Aboriginal, but they don't know what it really means."
Dark legacy
The disproportionate impact of suicide on Indigenous communities is a dark legacy of colonisation.
According to the latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data, First Nations Australians die from suicide at twice the rate of non-Indigenous people.
Greater Shepparton has some of the highest Indigenous suicide rates in regional Victoria, according to a 2018-2021 Coroners Court of Victoria report.
Many communities can be caught in a constant state of grief and mourning, as they grapple with losses in short succession.
"But that feeling of connectedness can also be a preventative factor."
Calls for ongoing funding
Every time a Galnya Lotjpa camp wraps up, young people say the same thing: "Can I come back next year?"
It is a question Keilara Briggs has never been able to answer.
The organisation is crying out for ongoing funding from the state and federal governments, but can only seem to secure one-off grants.
"It keeps the doors open for another 12 months," she said.
Ms Vickery said the continuation of programs like these was crucial in breaking cycles of suicide in a community.
"A lot of times when people die by suicide they think that no-one will miss them," she said.
"And that's just absolutely not true. Ever.
