Supporting The Service Delivery For Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander

There are many strategies that can be put in place to effectively communicate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Effective communication helps establish safe workplaces and means the person receiving information interprets it exactly how the sender intended it. Strategies include:

The outcome of cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity is cultural safety (Berg, 2010). In practicing cultural safety, it is not really expected that health care workers will know all cultures; it is acknowledging and respecting people regardless of their differences and beliefs (Hughes & Farrow, 2006). Moreover, nurses and other health professionals create cultural safe practice when the patients feel safe, respected and understood (Skellet, 2012), as well as if there is a shared understanding and acknowledgement of the unique identity and diversity. Health workers should always consider the cultural and historical background of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, because practicing cultural safety is significant to

To better understand culturally inclusive care the hospital provides, nursing and healthcare practices and policies were identified and examined. An initiative was taken by the hospital in launching an Aboriginal Health Strategy that was designed to further help establish bridges and develop a culturally safe environment for local aboriginal communities on 8 of July 2015 (God, 2015). A major benefit of the program included recruitment of 30 Aboriginal staff, which corresponds to about 4% of the health care facility 's personnel to make certain culturally assured care for Aboriginal patients was achieved (God, 2015).

How many years ago, is it estimated, that the shape of Australia’s coastline was defined?

Nurses have a perfect role in influencing, and in the distinctive position to encourage health for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Brascoupe, 2009). Thus, culturally safe care is a vital component in improving the health of the Indigenous population (Durey & Thompson, 2012). Likewise, the existence of an Aboriginal health worker (AHW) in partnership with non-Indigenous health providers especially in the primary health care settings carries matching skills to improve the health care and wellbeing of the Indigenous Australians (Abott, Gordon & Davison, 2008). The AHW are the main health professionals, valued and equal members of the health care team, they have an incomparable clinical skills in health promotion, education and leadership roles which has a great involvement in closing the gap between the non-indigenous and Indigenous Australian (Abott, Gordon & Davison, 2008). The strategy of employing Indigenous health professionals and health workers to encourage culturally safe care delivery works in addressing cultural competence, acceptability and appropriateness (Ware, 2013). Therefore, acceptable health care services works from cultural safety and respect, and allowing clients to maintain their cultural practices (Ware,

Here I argue in favour of the Australian government prioritising the improvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, even if substantial resources are required to do this. This is because:

Homer et al. aimed to evaluate the perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who used the Malabar Service. It is a descriptive study, using a quantitative approach, data on clinical outcomes were collected from the NSW database between 2007 and 2008. The authors also established a focus group with women for a qualitative approach, the main areas of focus were on the perceptions of continuity of care, trusting relationships and being a part of a special service. This article is useful for my research as it highlights the importance

Australia’s Indigenous population is made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, each of whom, have discernible and diverse language, customs and cultures, spanning time immemorial (Reynolds, 2005). Aboriginal Australians maintain symbiotic interrelationships to Country, culture and kin (Sherwood, 2013), engaging in a worldview which holistically connects the wellbeing of individuals to their community and also, to place and the land. This sense of wellbeing includes varying aspects of physical, social, emotional, cultural and spiritual education (Malin & Maidment, 2003); and in determining the propagation of Country, care and sustenance of the land is imperative for maintaining its wellness, in addition to the reciprocity that this wellness provides by return, to the people (Yunupingu, 1997). The encompassing health of individuals, community and Country, is dictated through the education passed down by the Law of The Dreaming and Ancestors, ensuring balance between the aspects of wellbeing (Sherwood, 2013). It is a markedly different framework to that of Western cultures (Reynolds, 2005); and one that was interrupted, maligned and denigrated, by invasion.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are a distinct traditional cultural group of the Australian population. The historical wealth of the importance of contribution to country by the Indigenous people of this nation is truly significant. At the Indigenous Future-Venture Research Institution (IFVRI) we place at the forefront of our mission, the aim to develop and implement, through the in-depth research and analysis of data, new material for awareness platforms and information that will primarily lead to submission and contribution towards national Indigenous policy development and future venture directions. Future research initiatives include within the scope of research areas the sectors of education, health, economics, employment, cultural progress and most importantly the future of Indigenous affairs and growth in Australia. Through the generational waves of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, society in this contemporary setting is an optimal environment for the already established standards of child education as stable, safe and secure in regard to the facilities that provide the opportunities for cultural and student-centred learning.

While working with a client from an Indigenous background, it imperative that a practitioner be culturally competent in order to ensure that the client’s culture is acknowledged and incorporated into the system of care provided (Cross, Bazron, Dennis, & Isaacs, 1989, p.1, in Herring et al., 2013). It also ensures that the practitioner is able to adapt his service to meet culturally specific needs of the client as culture plays a key role in the lives of Indigenous people.

Aboriginal Spirituality Spirituality is defined as the essence of our being. It is an acknowledgement of a Sacred Source that is bigger than us. It informs our way of living and how we connect with ourselves, those people around us, and nature. It is a profound and mysterious aspect of life which is often expressed in various ways- through symbols, metaphor, and story. As health care providers, we often link our patients’ spirituality with their affiliations or religious practices and taboos.

Practitioners describe feelings of apprehension for fear of offending associated with lack of education and knowledge around belief systems, traditions and culture (Green and Baldry 2013, p.171). There is no doubt that social work as a profession has played a significant role in the incessant disadvantage experienced by many Aboriginal people and their communities (Young and Zubrzycki 2011, p.160). The assumption that many Aboriginal people are vulnerable and helpless has influenced welfare policies and contributed to various health and social issues (Bennett 2013, p. 2,17,20). It is clear we have a responsibility as a profession to understand the experiences of Aboriginal people however it can be proposed that continued colonised practices and high levels of intervention may not be the answer (Harms et al 2011, p. 157; Green and Baldry 2013, p.

Danila Dilba Heath Service envisions a society in which the health, well-being and quality of life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is one and the same to that of their non-Indigenous counterparts. In addition, the organization’s mission is:

This essay will discuss the fundamentals of the past and present which correlate to Aboriginal health and wellbeing by exploring the ideology that ‘healthy country means healthy people’. Past research and commentary, including secondary evidence from case studies acknowledges a significant connection which exists between the land, Aboriginal spirituality and social emotional wellbeing. Racism was found to be a key determinant of injustice experienced by the Aborigines during British control which labelled them ‘uncivilised savages’, inferior and living on an ‘empty’ land (terra nullius). This assertion supports the European association of ‘Blacks’ to a lower social order and burdened to heavy labour such as farming the land, it also supports the British justification of their dominance and control over the Australian land and its resources (insert reference re racism and brit control). It is also reasoned that the impact of racism, invasion and dislocation of

In Australia, the organization, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies (AIATSIS), was established to “promote knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures, traditions, languages…” (AIATSIS, 2017). It has conducted several surveys on Aboriginal language and received funding for the spreading of Aboriginal language. In their survey, they figured out that it is important to involve the community members in Indigenous language preservation activities and have adequate accesses to language resources (Marmion et al., 2014). On the state level, none of the Acts on Aboriginal heritage protection put in to action protects the Aboriginal language directly either.