Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Core principles

• Engaging with, and valuing, local knowledge and connections is the core principle for any work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
• All Emerging Minds resources intentionally developed for non-Indigenous practitioners are co-created with and reviewed by our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander National Consultancy Group, reference group and consultants.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander resources developed by Emerging Minds aim to ‘decentre’ the expert.
• The preferred terminology used by Emerging Minds in our resources is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, as guided by our National Consultancy Group.
• We believe that cultural competency trainings should only be provided by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations. Emerging Minds is not an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led organisation. Therefore, Emerging Minds does not endorse our resources being used to meet cultural training requirements.

Being allies

The Uluru Statement from the Heart, and resulting Voice referendum, formed an invitation from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia to the broader Australian community to reimagine the relationship between Australia’s first peoples and its non-Indigenous population. It was a respectful request from a society with a long history of experiencing inequity across the political and social service systems for a greater role in determining their own future.

Emerging Minds respects and honours this aspiration for a fairer and truthful relationship. We are committed to walking alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to achieve a future where every child, family and community has the right to thrive and have a say in the decisions that affect them. This commitment is outlined in our Reconciliation Action Plan and realised through our partnerships and processes.

Honouring voice

Improving social and emotional wellbeing outcomes for children, parents and their families is at the heart of our work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Our co-creation processes honour the voices and direction shared by the cultural consultants, lived experience advocates and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander National Consultancy Group members we work with. Their guidance is integral to the development of Emerging Minds resources, which intend to support and improve the understanding, engagement and practice skills of non-Indigenous practitioners. These processes build on traditional concepts of co-creation to design an approach of inclusive and targeted content development. This involves preferencing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and ways of knowing, being and doing to work towards pedagogical and epistemological equality. Our resources also include content specifically created with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lived experience advocates, researchers and practitioners to embed community members’ voices, challenges and solutions.

Watch the following video to learn more about the individuals in our Aboriginal and Torres Strait National Consultancy Group and how Emerging Minds works with the group to create resources that support non-Indigenous practitioners in their work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. You’ll hear the members talk about what being part of this group involves and how individuals and organisations can be better allies to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Social and emotional wellbeing

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have supported their children’s social and emotional wellbeing for over 60,000 years. There is much to learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing. Consider the whole child ecological framework, which understands that children’s mental health and development are shaped by the physical environments in which they live, learn and play, including the broader social, economic, political and cultural factors that children are exposed to. This framework is grounded in concepts of Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing.

Deficit discourse

The term ‘discourse’ is often used to refer to the forces that shape our understanding of a particular subject. However, ‘deficit discourse’ refers to the explicit representation of individuals or groups as ‘lacking’ or ‘failing’, often placing blame solely on affected communities while ignoring the larger societal structures at play. The power dynamics inherent in the circulation of such ideas and the impact they have on shaping material realities also remain ignored.¹

The impacts of colonisation continue today, both politically and in service delivery. The problematic portrayal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as contributors to their own poor health outcomes remains the dominant narrative, without any acknowledgement of structural inequalities, racism and inadequate access to appropriate healthcare services.²

Emerging Minds acknowledges that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s families and their communities face challenges. However, this dominant story of hopelessness is not the experience of most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families – the majority are doing well. These families inherited cultural strengths and have stories of resilience, connection and hope to tell, all of which is missed when practitioners follow only a deficit-focused path that highlights what people don’t know or can’t do and turns them into victims.

Changing the narrative

Emerging Minds uses strengths-based, hope-inspired approaches to recognise the resilience of individuals and communities. These approaches honour the abilities, knowledge and capacities gained through lived and living experience, rather than viewing things through a deficits-focused lens. Our resources reinforce that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community is a rich source of strength and knowledge, and assumes that people come with skills and expertise.

References

1. Fogarty, W., Bulloch, H., McDonnell, S., & Davis, M. (2018). Deficit discourse and Indigenous health: How narrative framings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are reproduced in policy. The Lowitja Institute & Australian National University.
2. Sherwood, J. (2013). Colonisation – it’s bad for your health: The context of Aboriginal health. Contemporary Nursing, 46(1), 28–40.