There was so much rich and heartfelt information and learning in the presentation, and I thank you kindly for your wisdom! 

Below are two learnings that stood out to me:

The use of intuition and trusting the gut. This is a tool I would now use in every interaction and situation with Aboriginal people. Using the gut /or intuition in times when I will work within our westernised system. I can keep check on myself in reflections on my work and others that I will work with. I will seek to understand from the Aboriginal family and/or community perspective, to inform my practice. I can always double check my own worldview and ensure I am not the oppressive voice. This is a way to balance all worldviews. Sometimes this will not seem logical to me because I have a differing world view. If I listen to intuition this will open my thinking up and this will help me become a better social worker.

Determine who the Elder is in the Aboriginal community. In this presentation the Elder was described as the "Influencer" in the community/family.

I would, in practice spend time and put great importance in researching and discovering who is the influencer. That is, who makes the decisions, who is the person who guides all and is respected and known as the leader. The influencer can be the person within a family that can support me as a social worker and who can stand with me when it comes to more challenging issues. The influencer can assist me with connecting family to their culture and to country.

Again thankyou so much and I hope to see you and attend other presentations in the near future.

Joelle

 

The learnings I took away relate to my work with Aboriginal children as a residential youth worker (carer). As a wadjela, I often question my place within this role given that I am appalled by the staggering overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in care, and by the lack of implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle for these children. While I am always aiming towards practice that is culturally safe and responsive, I have struggled with how (and even if) I can support these children's connection to culture as a carer (not a case worker) with very limited decision-making power. Someone braver than me asked a version of this question towards the end of the session and Rose gave an example of giving power back to children through choice as a way to privilege collectivist ways of being and doing. Dawn also gave an example of engaging children with local Aboriginal art or cultural exhibitions. These suggestions caused me to reflect on how cultural connection could be supported in perhaps less overt or obvious ways than I had considered before, as well as in ways which I have previously feared could be tokenistic. I have since wondered about other ways I could support cultural connection; for instance, should I be advocating for the development and better implementation of cultural support plans for the children I care for? It is my strong belief that control of Aboriginal child welfare must be returned to Aboriginal families, communities, and organisations. This is something I hope to advocate and fight for in my future social work career, but as a residential carer, I wonder how I can do better now.  

Again, thank you all so much for your time and I really hope we can meet again in the near future.

Jess