Not long ago, Marjorie Anderson had a near-death experience. Battling both pneumonia and sepsis, the Gamilaroi woman was on life support when her husband was informed she had a 30 percent chance of survival.

“I was back home within three weeks,” says Anderson. “Nothing’s going to kill me.”

Holding the room at the FW Leadership Summit, Lifeline Australia’s head of Indigenous Affairs admitted she should have sought out medical care long before landing in a life-and-death situation.

“The doctors kept calling me extraordinary, but I didn’t have time to be sick – and that’s a problem,” she says. “I ignored ill health probably for a month before that – and women do it all the time. They put themselves last.”

Anderson has never done things by halves. Born and bred in Redfern, she’s worked in Aboriginal affairs for decades and, for the past three years, has co-designed, developed and delivered 13YARN – a culturally safe crisis line for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

“It works the same way as Lifeline, but it has 100 percent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment,” she says.

This is the kind of vital contribution that saw Anderson named the 2025 NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year. But it comes at a personal cost and, while speaking at the Summit, she took the opportunity to share a gentle warning.

“Sometimes, you’ve got to let things go,” says Anderson. “Recognise what you can change in this world and recognise what you can’t change – and don’t get anxiety over the things that you can’t change. Focus on what you can change.”

While out in the community, co-designing 13YARN, Anderson learned to push her sky-high expectations aside.

“I got so much overwhelming information from the community – and each workshop didn’t give me all the answers, but that was fine,” she says. “It was near enough. Maybe the next workshop will give me those answers. Maybe the workshop after that will give me those answers.”

What Anderson could control in this process – and did so, very deliberately – was the diversity of voices included.

Aboriginal peoples from regional, rural and remote communities had their say. As did members of the stolen generation. Elders, youth and people who had lived in and out of home care. People with lived experience of losing a loved one to suicide. People with disabilities – and those in the LGBTQI+ community.

“I made sure that I had that diversity within the workshops, and that’s what true co-design looks like,” says Anderson.

“Near enough is good enough sometimes. Recognise that, walk away with your head held high, and deliver what you can deliver.”

“So if you want to deliver something from your organisation into an Aboriginal community, can I suggest that you go and you co-design it with the people who are going to use it? And don’t expect perfection. Don’t expect that each workshop will come up with all the answers. Near enough will be good enough.”

Anderson shares that, at 1:03am on Christmas Day, 13YARN took its 100,000th call. The first 24/7 national crisis support line for mob is now in its fifth year. Leading it to success has taught Anderson a lot about letting go.

“That was a real exercise for me, because I’d always demanded perfection in everything I did,” she says, before offering this advice to her audience:

“Look after you, number one – because if you go down, nothing happens. Make sure you look after your health. When you’re working with people, don’t expect perfection from others or from yourself. Near enough is good enough sometimes. Recognise that, walk away with your head held high, and deliver what you can deliver.”

Image credit: Vienna Marie Creative