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shelf life in Indigenous communities. Like
a celebrity sports star, you need to know
when it’s time togo, when it’s time to retire.
The other thing that came with that
was, I knew that leaving a particular
community wasn’t the end of my
relationships. We’ve had a long many
decades, three decades of family
connections with many communities,
and we still have those connections.
One of my favourite brothers is a Yolngu
man from one of the communities. My
kids grew up out in these places. They’ve
had experiences no one else would
have. In fact I think the youngest at 21
is convinced, well he’s not convinced
that he’s not Aboriginal, just because
that was the way he was brought up.
How can someone ensure
that they are working
towards being culturally
safe?
Being a culturally safe practitioner is about
first and foremost, knowing who you are
and the impact of that on the people
that you are engaging with. Whether it’s
working or they’re your clients or it’s just
on a day to day interaction. So, knowing
who you are and the impact of that.
For example, I’m a third generation do-
gooder, I’m also a Collingwood tragic for
those of you who know or care about AFL,
that absolutely has an impact on who I
am and the way I can engage with people.
I remember going out to an Indigenous
community many years ago and the
entire community were Collingwood
fans and I thought, ‘Yes! Give me a job,
I’m coming to work here.’ So, knowing
who you are and the impact that has.
I think also, in order to be a culturally safe
practitioner you have to be respectful. That
can be really hard because not everybody
is nice and not every person you’re
meeting with and engaging with is going
to give you the same courtesy, particularly
if you’re in a stressful or an acute clinical
situation. It can be really hard to be
nice to someone, and be respectful and
acknowledge what they bring to the table.
Can I just give you a classic example?
When I was teaching the Aboriginal
Project Officers course, it was mostly
urban Aboriginal people and I’m an
interactive teacher so I’d say to them
‘what do you think?’ And, this young man
who had come in from one of the mining