Working Gently on Aboriginal Land

How can we work to be actively anti-racist in our offering?

I write this through the lens of a white, cis woman, working and benefitting from moving freely and with ease on Aboriginal land. My intention is to create a list of online resources to assist health practitioners to be more informed on how to be actively anti-racist. In reading this, if you notice something I have missed or in need of review, please let me know.

Below you’ll find a list of questions I am constantly asking myself personally and professionally. It may be useful for you to ask these questions, too. While I’ve curated them with health practitioners in mind, I hope it can assist anyone (and everyone) committed to a deeper appreciation of the diverse range of embodied experiences of race, gender and sexuality.

I will engage with these questions, learn critically and then strategically apply my learnings to the way I practice. I’m taking action and doing the work. I hope you can join me.

• How has my education influenced the way I work with race, gender and sexuality?

• How do I work, live and move on Gadigal Land?

• How does my own experience of race, gender and sexuality inform the way I work?

• How am I being complicit in my privilege?

• What am I actively doing to decolonise health / pleasure?

• How diverse are my teachers / educators?

• How have my teachers informed the way I teach, and what I know?

• How do I respectfully and consistently credit the work of others?

• Is this meant to be said by me?

• Am I the best person for the job?

• How many First Nations, Black and Indigenous and People of Colour are involved in the project or on the panel?

• How am I actively implementing my learnings?

• How can I make my services even more accessible?

• Am I doing the work?

Resources:

This is an ever-growing list of resources – books, podcasts and programs – that have been vital to my understanding and learning. Some were recommended to me, others are on the top of my list. I will continue to add, edit and amend it with the support of others. Please get in touch or share resources that have been useful for you. I will add them to our list.

A Directory of Mental Health Support for First Nations, Māori and BIPOC

Here is a community generated directory of mental health practitioners, services and programs, available and suitable for First Nations, Māori and BIPOC. This resource is created by Our Directory.

First Nations: Books

• Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe

• Why Warriors Lie Down and Die: Towards an Understanding of why the Aboriginal People of Arnhem Land Face the Greatest Crisis in Health and Education Since European Contact, by Djambatj Mala

• Growing up Aboriginal in Australia, By Anita Heiss

• Terra Nullius, By Claire G. Coleman

• Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, by Tyson Yunkaportaight

• Am I Black Enough for You?, by Anita Heiss

• Throat, by Ellen van Neerven

• Heat and Light, by Ellen van Neerven

• Our Voices: Indigeneity and Architecture, By Rebecca Kiddle, Patrick Stewart, Kevin O'Brien

First Nations: Film / Documentaries

• In My Blood it Runs

• Rabbit Proof Fence

• Mabo

• First Australians

• The Sapphires

• The Australian Dream

• Kanyini

• Utopia

First Nations: Resources

• The Aboriginal Sexual Health Podcast (@theashpodcast on Instagram)

• First Nations Resource Directory, further reading and educational resources

• Working with Aboriginal People and Communities

• Trauma Informed Care, Michelle Combo, Way Forward Project: An Indigenous Approach to Wellbeing Project - Metro South Addiction and Mental Health Services

• GEM: Growth and Empowerment Measure Presented by Professor Melissa Haswell, School of Public Health and Social Work, QUT

• Reconciliation Australia

First Nations: Donate

• First Nations Resource Directory, Donate to First Nations Legal Services

• The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Alliance (NATSIWA)

• National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy

• AIME Mentoring

• The Smith Family - Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Programs

• The Healing Foundation

Training and Courses

• Cultural Safety training by AHCWA

• Black Card Training

• Core Cultural Learning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia Foundation Course

• Evolve Communities: Indigenous Cultural Awareness Training Online and Face to Face

• Aboriginal Cultural Immersions