JCPSLP Vol 19 No 1 2017

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JCPSLP Volume 19, Number 1 2017 7
be taught this thing called culturally safe practice. Australia
needs more SLPs for whom working within culturally safe
ways with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is
simply an extension of who they are every day, in the same
way that white Australian SLPs currently work day in day
out without too much conscious thought needing to be
given to cultural differences and sensitivities. Once again, it
is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
themselves who are determining ways of ensuring this
occurs. Dr Faye McMillan (2016), Indigenous Allied Health
Australia (IAHA) chairperson, stated in response to the
historic apology by the Australian Psychology Society to
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (APS, 2016)
that “IAHA encourages other allied health professions to
take the lead of psychology, and to engage in some critical
reflection around the impact of their interventions on the
health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples” to ensure “a future where Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people control what is important to them
rather than having this controlled by others.”
Prioritising First Peoples’ voices through working within
culturally safe ways can go a long way towards ensuring
that this vision comes to fruition.
References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2016).
Indigenous health. Retrieved from
australias-health/2014/indigenous-health/
Australian Medical Association (AMA). (2007). 2007
Report card: Institutionalised inequity – Not just a matter of
money. Retrieved from
ama-indigenous-health-report-card-institutionalised-
inequity-not-just-matter-money
Australian Psychological Society (APS). (2016).
Media statement Thursday 15th September: Australian
psychological society apologises to Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islanders Australians . Retrieved
from
releases/15September2016/
Braveman, P., & Gruskin, S. (2003). Theory and methods:
Defining equity in health. Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health , 57, 254–258.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2012). Our land, our
languages: Language learning in Indigenous communities.
Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. Author.
Dowing, R., Kowal, E., & Paradies, Y. (2011). Indigenous
cultural training for health workers in Australia. International
Journal for Quality in Healthcare, 23(3), 247–257.
Durey, A. (2010). Reducing racism in Aboriginal health
care in Australia: Where does cultural education fit?
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 24(1),
87–92.
Gould, J. (1999). An evaluation of assessment instruments
in the measurement of the spoken communication skills of
rural Aboriginal children (Unpublished Master’s thesis).
Australian National University, ACT.
Gould, J. (2009). The interaction between developmental
assessment, deficit thinking and home language in the
education of Aboriginal children (Unpublished PhD thesis).
University of South Australia, SA.
Gould, J. (2015). Solid Foundations assessment series
manual. Murray Bridge, SA: Solid Foundations.
Malin, M. A. (2003). Is schooling good for Indigenous
children’s health? Occasional Paper Series No. 8. Darwin,
Minimising power differentials
The families were intimidated by the power and
authority that mainstream workers demonstrated in the
playgroup.
SLPs are typically familiar with minimising power differentials
arising from the professional/client relationship as this
principle underpins much of our work within primary health
care and family-centred practice. When a non-Indigenous
SLP first meets an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
person, there already exists a predetermined relationship
accompanied by a deep history based on the process of
colonisation within Australia (Westerman, 2004).
It is extremely important for non-Indigenous SLPs to
listen to what Australia’s First Peoples tell us about how
the imbalance of power arising from colonisation directly
and strongly impacts them and their health and well-being.
Transference of power can be a very difficult process for
non-Indigenous professionals to undertake. In addition,
SLPs may genuinely feel they are achieving this important
aspect of implementing culturally safe practice when
those Aboriginal peoples with whom they are working may
continue to be feeling “overseen” or evaluated or judged.
Engaging in ongoing reflective practice, learning from
Aboriginal colleagues, is the best way for SLPs to truly learn
how protective of their professional or white colonial power
they really may be in practice.
SLPs can learn to trust in a more culturally safe process
which, in the way we do for all peoples, honours the truth
that people know their own situation the best and they
know their own culture the best. What can be perceived
as a service-delivery barrier by a non-Indigenous SLP can
often be resolved through prioritising and embodying the
respect required to have faith in Aboriginal knowledges and
understandings of their own families and communities.
Effective communication
I did not immediately become one of the mob. I
appeared as a stranger to them. I was treated with
wariness for a long time, until they saw I was there to
help the kids without judging or devaluing them.
“You [white people] say things two ways; one thing with
your mouth, and another with your eyes” (Gould, 2015, p.
8). SLPs are very familiar with the power communication
plays in everyday life. Taking meaning and understandings
directly from stories presented to SLPs to assist our
learning ensures that this learning is not lost through the
layers of analysis, analysis that may be being conducted
cross-culturally, that typically accompanies literature
discussing Aboriginal perspectives and knowledges (Sandri,
In press; 2013). Learning what is otherwise hidden within
the myth of white elitism is often only discovered through
conversing directly with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait
Islander peoples themselves.
Robyn’s story illustrates how effective communication
can break down barriers, build relationships and facilitate
reconciliation and personal healing. Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples must decide how their lives are to be
discussed, when and by whom.
Prioritising for the future
Non-Indigenous SLPs can learn about culturally safe
practice. What is really needed, however, is the involvement
within the Australian workforce of SLPs who do not need to