Reducing the health disparities of Indigenous Australians: time to change focus

Background: Indigenous peoples have worse health than non-Indigenous, are over-represented amongst the poor and disadvantaged, have lower life expectancies, and success in improving disparities is limited. To address this, research usually focuses on disadvantaged and marginalised groups, offering only partial understanding of influences underpinning slow progress. Critical analysis is also required of those with the […]

Changing the lens: Indigenous perspectives on psychological literacy

An essential form of psychological literacy that is required in all psychology courses is an understanding of and ability to work with the many cultural groups that make up a given society. Psychology as a profession is part of a society that is shaped and directed by the history, values, norms and biases that characterise […]

Indigenous cultural training for health workers in Australia

Purpose Culturally inappropriate health services contribute to persistent health inequalities. This article reviews approaches to indigenous cultural training for health workers and assesses how effectively they have been translated into training programmes within Australia. Data sources CINAHL PLUS, MEDLINE, Wiley InterScience, ATSIHealth and ProQuest. Study selection The review focuses on the conceptual and empirical literature […]

Turning the corner: assessment as a key strategy to enhance greater engagement and understanding in Indigenous health

Background: Developing a culturally competent health workforce is a key strategy in the struggle to provide quality healthcare services for Aboriginal people. Since 2000, the Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health has implemented a comprehensive vertically and horizontally integrated Aboriginal health curriculum across the 6 year MBBS program at the University of Western Australia. […]

Binan Goonj: bridging cultures in Aboriginal health

Despite years of research, policy changes and interventions, it is widely documented that the health status of many Aboriginal people remains the poorest in Australia. Binan Goonj, 3rd Edition: Bridging cultures in Aboriginal health explores the processes and practices underlying this situation, while providing practical strategies to work towards redressing it. Key Features · completely […]

Health Care and Indigenous Australians: Cultural Safety in Practice

Health Care and Indigenous Australians: Cultural safety in practice uses a cultural safety approach for undergraduate health students or professionals wanting to improve their practice in relation to Indigenous Australian clients. With fourteen chapters that include activities, critical thinking questions, poems, ‘making it local’ activities, and case scenarios, readers should find that the material challenges […]

Psychology and Indigenous Australians: Foundations of cultural competence

This book fills an important gap in understanding the psychological impact of colonization on Indigenous Australians. Using cultural competence as a theoretical framework, it starts with an exploration of the nature of culture and worldviews which permeates and integrates the book. It provides a convincing explanation of how colonization has affected Indigenous Australians, the role […]

The Boatshed Racism Roundtable Declaration

Over 40 leading researchers and academics from across Australia met at the University of Western Australia Boatshed in Perth, to discuss research concerning racism towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The two-day meeting significantly advanced the themes of social justice and reconciliation in Australian society and has culminated in the production of a detailed […]

National Indigenous Public Health Curriculum Framework

The six core Indigenous public health competencies at the focus of this document are those required of every Master of Public Health (MPH) graduate. This curriculum guide provides suggestions about the integration of these competencies across both disciplinary and practice areas of public health rather than as a component of a specific Indigenous public health […]

Exploration of Australian and New Zealand indigenous people’s spirituality and mental health

Background: Spirituality has been defined as an overarching construct that involves personal beliefs or values that provide a sense of meaning and unity with self, people, nature and universe. Spirituality may be experienced within or outside formal religion. At least in English-speaking countries, therapists reported discussing spiritual issues with service users more frequently than before. […]

Strong and Smart: the story of Chris Sarra and the Cherbourg State School

Tells the story of the rise of the Cherbourg State School from a situation of aimless despair and chaos to an institution with a sense of purpose, direction and unity. The film shows the turn-around in the school’s fortunes over the last 4 years, since the arrival of a dynamic new teaching staff led by […]

Incorporating Indigenous and crosscultural issues into an undergraduate psychology course: experience at Curtin University of Technology

There has been a clear expression of the need to incorporate Indigenous and crosscultural issues into psychology curricula and to develop models to guide the process. This paper outlines the process of developing an Indigenous and crosscultural psychology unit at Curtin University of Technology. A conceptual framework that includes foundational, professional, and socially responsive knowledge, […]

Working with Indigenous Australians: A handbook for psychologists

A practical guide for psychologists and associated mental health professionals, addresses the practical issues of working in Indigenous settings and with Indigenous people in urban, rural and remote environments. Covers individual, family and community approaches and describes appropriate models of intervention.

Addictions – Violence and Spirituality

We Al-li community and workplace workshops are an Indigenous therapeutic response to individual, family and community pain that many people carry as part of their life experience. For Aboriginal peoples this pain is more specifically defined as the traumatic impacts of the multiple intergenerational experiences of colonisation resulting in ill-health, individual, family and community dysfunction […]

Trauma and Recovery

We Al-li community and workplace workshops are an Indigenous therapeutic response to individual, family and community pain that many people carry as part of their life experience. For Aboriginal peoples this pain is more specifically defined as the traumatic impacts of the multiple intergenerational experiences of colonisation resulting in ill-health, individual, family and community dysfunction […]

Institutional Indigenous Cultural Competency Program

The Indigenous Cultural Competency Program (ICCP) responds to a series of strategic priorities at CSU where we aim to improve the education and lives for Indigenous Australians. The entire Indigenous Cultural Competency Program has three components: Stage 1: The Individual Online Cultural Competency Program is available for all staff. This individual component of the journey […]

CUC107 Cultural Intelligence and Capability

Cultural Intelligence and Capability explores important issues related to living, studying and working as a professional in the diverse social and cultural environments of contemporary society. The unit examines broad interactions between culture, knowledge experience and behaviour and the way in which these interactions and our perceptions of culture shape our interactions at a personal, […]