For over twenty years, ICAN has been developing the First Nations financial counselling and capability workforce in our sector through its Indigenous Financial Counselling Mentorship program and the provision of the Diploma of Financial Counselling. Our approach is about the long game: by investing in developing people, a professional First Nations workforce benefits our service users and embeds professional practice in the communities they live. In a new program, ICAN is providing hands-on workforce development support to external organisations across regional and remote Australia, in line with its internal model built through practice.
ICAN is offering support to partner organisations to help them bring together the elements that are often viewed in silos: workforce planning, training, employment pathways, workplace learning, mentoring and professional support, assisting organisations examine the needs of their local workforces and is offering training and mentoring pathways, through a scholarship program with ICAN Learn, its Registered Training Organisation.
A model build through practice
As a regionally located organisation servicing regional and remote areas in North Queensland, ICAN has experienced some of the barriers to creating sustainable employment pathways. Regional and remote employers may face challenges in recruitment, while existing staff may have limited access to training or career progression opportunities.
ICAN’s recruitment experience demonstrates that people often start from a position of strength, holding lived experience, cultural knowledges, established relationships and the capacity for professional growth. New staff are not expected to arrive with every qualification or skill. Instead, ICAN scaffolds staff around appropriate entry points and builds its support mechanisms around each person’s individual needs. For years, ICAN has developed its workforce by linking entry-level employment, vocational education, supported practice, mentoring and leadership development.
Elizabeth “Libby” Carr’s journey highlights how ICAN’s workforce development approach creates supported employment and career pathways for First Nations peoples:
Libby joined ICAN in 2024 as a Grow Officer and Financial Capability Worker Trainee after almost 20 years as a pharmacy assistant and seven years caring for her six children. She brought lived experience of significant financial and personal pressures, which gave her a firsthand understanding of how money challenges affect housing, energy, food, family stability and personal wellbeing.
ICAN recognised this lived experience as a strength and paired it with structured training, workplace learning, mentoring and opportunities to practice new skills. This support helped Libby translate her experiences into professional practice: understanding debt cycles without judgement, reducing shame and building trust with clients.
Libby completed her Certificate IV Community Services with ICAN Learn in 2025 and was offered a scholarship to complete the Lead and Support Colleagues skillset. This training strengthened the leadership skills she was already demonstrating and aided her progression from Trainee to Financial Capability Worker into the role of Yarnin’ Money Mentor Team Leader, where she now supervises two staff members.
“It wasn’t something I was originally thinking of, but it has been a really good opportunity,” Libby said. “It’s been nothing but growth and opportunities that ICAN has offered me. The growth I’ve had through these opportunities shows me that they believe in me.”
Libby’s development pathway continues to respond to both her aspirations and the needs she identifies in practice. Libby has now just completed Diploma of Financial Counselling assessments and is entering the work-placement phase; once qualified, she will be eligible to become an accredited financial counsellor at ICAN. This next step extends her career pathway from entry-level employment to financial capability practice, leadership and, ultimately, professional financial counselling.
Sharing the model
“We’ve seen what happens when we invest in people over the long term,” said Aaron Davis, ICAN CEO.
“What we’ve seen over time is, the needs of the First Nations financial wellbeing sector is maturing. Where we once looked at how to bring people into the sector, there is now a need to aid organisations to sustain their workforces and help them to build new career pathways for their staff, especially in regional and remote areas of Australia.
ICAN has opened up its partnership opportunities with external organisations delivering financial wellbeing services to First Nations populations across regional and remote areas of North Queensland, the Northern Territory and Northern Western Australia.
To register your organisation’s interest in the program, please contact: Alex Price-Busch, Workforce Development Coordinator on 0488 993 080 or email alex.pricebusch@ican.org.au .