Jaye Lee Snowden

Hi!  My name is Jaye Lee Snowden.  I’m a Koori/ Maori yok, born and bred on Noongar boodja.  My mum was born in Bourke NSW, she is a Ngemba woman, and dad comes from Rawhiti, Bay of Islands, NZ and he is a Nga-Puhi man. 

My academic journey so far has been life changing.  I’m a mature age student, mother, mentor, coach, team player, leader and change-maker in my community.  I am driven by the challenging and diverse experiences I have lived and continue to face as an Aboriginal matriarch.

By raising, as well as mentoring, young men and woman within my community, and showing them that if you follow your passion, build on your strengths, and adopt a growth mindset; with dedication we can become masters of what we choose – as we are the experts of our own experience.

This opportunity that Dr Tracy Westerman and the Jiliya Institute have given me adds fuel to my fire and ignites my drive to succeed even more.  It’s like I’m running a marathon and I am almost halfway there.  This is a massive achievement for me, I feel so supported and I am so proud of myself.  I am loving that I am on this journey and am really excited for the destination!  (Clinical Psychologist, PhD, Published Researcher, Academic, Professor etc..)

I am so grateful and appreciative of all the learning experiences and opportunities that I have been offered and have embraced.  I will continue to honour and acknowledge those before me by sharing my learning and incorporating the experiences had by myself and others- to influence practise and policy impacting upon the over representation of Aboriginal families in care and protection proceedings as well as those entrenched within the criminal justice system.