C. e) Cross Cultural Practice tips                 

Tips to becoming culturally competent in working with Indigenous people

Tick the points you can do.
Find out more about the things you cannot yet do.

Identify differences in your and others cultures and reflect on the implications for what you do
Develop an understanding of the culture and history of the Indigenous community you re engaging with.
Talk with Indigenous people about what they see as similarities and differences between the way Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people approach the world.
Be aware of your personal communication style and its cultural roots.
Be aware of and others' personal communication styles and their cultural roots.
Be aware that Indigenous culture is grounded in a non-European/Western world view.
Be aware that Indigenous kinship and family structures are different to European/Western ones.
Be aware the lack of trust in institutions can often mean that Aboriginal people may not approach or use services that are available
Accept invitations and attend events that are significant to the Aboriginal Community such as National Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC Week, Sorry and National Apology Day
When listening to Aboriginal people talk to each other you may notice that they rarely address each other by name. They often use relationship terms such as brother, aunt, cousin etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Trauma and Grief

Indigenous Australians have been affected by extreme personal, collective, and cultural trauma, and the effects are cascading, cumulative and transgenerational. The effects of trauma in one generation are the causes of trauma in the next generation, creating a continuous cycle which is very difficult to break.

READING 6: Trauma and Grief

Reading 6A: Introduction
Reading 6B:Transgenerational trauma
Reading 6C: Post Traumatic Stress
Reading 6D: Collective Trauma
Reading 6E: Destruction of Indigenous ways of dealing with trauma
Reading 6F: Cultural Trauma

Why were we not told

READING 10: Why were we not told?

• READING 10A: Why Weren't We Told
• READING 10B: An Unforgettable incident
• READING 10C: Dispossession
• READING 10D: Henry Reynolds