Giving up on knowing it all to begin delivering culturally safe care.
Hello from Wakuthuni!
Word of mouth has led us to Wakuthuni, a small Aboriginal community 20kms southeast of Tom Price. Working within the Wakuthuni community makes me realise that not knowing is liberating!
Speech Pathology in Wakuthuni Community
Hang on…. What do you mean by not knowing? Isn’t this contrary to what you have been tasked to do?
To me, not knowing means
becoming comfortable examining how my own values and beliefs influence how effectively I communicate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Wakuthuni.
accepting uncertainty. Accepting there may be other ways of knowing and delivering speech pathology interventions that results clients feeling culturally safe.
being open to possibilities that can lead to something unexpected.
How to apply?
Do your homework prior to the appointment. The resources below provide useful strategies about communicating appropriately with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and what delivering culturally safe care means.
Understand that one is the non-Aboriginal health professional entering an Aboriginal community. One, therefore, needs to be prepared to learn from Elders, members within the community in addition to the client. Consequently, our ways of practice –knowing, doing and being – may change.
Embrace reciprocity and reflexivity in practice. According to Wilson et al., (2020), reciprocity refers to two-way learning while reflexivity refers to how clinical practice can be altered based on the clinician’s reflection of practice.
The take home message is
Do your homework prior to your therapy sessions yet be completely fine* with the possibility of having most of what you thought you’d known, challenged and changed to something unexpected along the way!
*This means becoming emotionally unattached to any constructive, well-intentioned feedback about practice within an Aboriginal community.
Relevant resources
Communicating Effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Wilson, A.M., Kelly, J., Jones, M. et al. Working together in Aboriginal health: a framework to guide health professional practice. BMC Health Serv Res 20, 601 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05462-5
The author
Ruyi is a practising speech pathologist and academic. She is perpetually curious and adventurous about practice; constantly questioning what is known to improve practice. @RuyiTong @rtspeechandhearing