CHCDIV002 Assignment: Cultural Sensitivity in Indigenous Services

This CHCDIV002 assignment delves into the crucial aspects of understanding and respecting the cultural background, history, and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) clients in service delivery. It addresses the importance of cultural competence, highlighting examples of both positive and negative impacts on service delivery based on real-world experiences. The assignment also examines the application of key values and principles in culturally appropriate programs, such as the 'Deadly Ears' program, and discusses strategies for creating inclusive workplaces that support ATSI employees and communities. The solutions provided offer valuable insights into fostering effective and respectful service delivery to Indigenous populations, emphasizing the need for cultural awareness, sensitivity, and appropriate engagement.

CHCDIV002: Assignment
What you have to do
For this assessment you are required to answer the four (4) essay questions set out below.
.
Task
After you have reviewed your learning materials for this unit, answer the four (4) essay
questions set out below.
Question 1:
Understanding and respecting the background, culture and history of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander clients of the services we provide means understanding the persons who are
receiving the service.
a. Provide an example from your experiences of delivering a service where you
acknowledged and respected the background and/or history of the recipient.
Answer-
While interning with an aboriginal organization I understood that cultural bias affects human
actions and perceptions which gets a new form with cultural experience and context. I found
out that in aboriginal culture it is common on the part of the kids to have a stronger bond with
their grandparents rather than their parents. I respected this tradition of the family culture
and thus acknowledged the demand when one of the kids wanted to sit with his grandmother
during the service. I also shed off the wrong notion that even though the bond between the
grandmother and kid is stronger but there is closeness between the mother and child too.
This bond is also strong because the child cannot live without the mother.
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b. Select two (2) topics from the list below and briefly explain your knowledge
and/or respect for each as part of the delivery service you provide.
 Diversity of culture
 Skin and language groups
 Family structures
 Art; and
 Religion
Answer-
Diversity of culture: As per my knowledge culture is an accepted and traditional way of
behaving in the society. It is a common thought and understanding that is shared by the
entire clan or community. Not only does it include land, spirituality and beliefs but also
standard of living, occupation and language along with relationships and identity (Parker and
Milroy 2014).
Skin and language groups: The skin system of ATSI people divides the society or
community into different categories of names which are related through kinship system. The
language groups also use a part which consists of four to eight skin names. The kid get
holds of his skin name by birth and it also depends on the skin names of his parents. These
skin names of the ATSI people are spelled differently in various language groups because of
the use of different symbols.
Fig: Example of skin and language groups
Source: (Carey et al. 2017)
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Question 2:
Within many workplaces, there may be dynamics or factors which effect delivery of services
to ATSI clients. These might include such things as a lack of trust in institutions or how they
understand kinship and family structures.
From your experiences identify two (2) situations that impacted upon the service delivery to
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients – one (1) positive impact and one (1) negative
impact.
Answer-
Positive impact: while working in the service delivery there was an incident which focused on
the strong and solid bond between the ATSI people of Australia. I had a prior knowledge that
the aboriginal clients feel good by sharing of resource support with the family members;
however they do not like to be the spokesperson in any meeting where other older members
are present; this characteristic of kinship shows that they are a family person and know the
value of respect. This is the reason why I did not let them conduct the program as there were
older members and took the initiative myself to commence. This had a positive impact on the
people present there and they appreciated it (Funston and Herring 2016).
Negative impact: I was not aware of the fact that the aboriginals are not used to calling
people by their personal names rather they are more comfortable in calling them by
relationship names such as brother, mother, aunt or somebody’s son. Although personal
names of the people are considered as a part and parcel of their life but those names are
used very tactfully and with care. It can be said that those are used rarely. I made a mistake
by skipping this part and during the service I called one of them by their names and also
used mine in the service delivery. My carelessness led to a serious issue in the institution.
This was considered as a grievance and posed a negative impact (Kinnane et al. 2014).
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Question 3:
Culturally appropriate programs/approaches are crucial in enhancing personal
empowerment and as a result, promote more effective service delivery (be it education,
health or whatever) for Indigenous people. For this question, please go to the link from
Oxfam Australia, and then look at the ‘Deadly Ears’ program developed in cooperation with
Queensland Health. Using table below, indicate how the program applies the seven (7)
values and principles described in developing the framework for their service delivery.
Please indicate if any of these requirements are not addressed:
1. Respect The ‘deadly ears’ program was developed in cooperation with Queensland
health but there was no such mention of respect. This requirement was not
addressed properly in developing the framework.
2. Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Control
This program was intended to decrease the rate of hearing loss among the
ATSI children. It functions in 12 rural and backward communities in
Queensland and there are 4 teams in charge of it.
3. Interpretation and
integrity
This requirement was clearly addressed in developing the framework.
There are 4 teams that work with the community to execute good ear and
sound hearing. This has led to restrict the effect of ear disease on the
development of the children (Carey et al. 2017).
4. Secrecy and
confidentiality
In the development of this framework there was no secrecy or
confidentiality maintained. This is because there is no such scope to
maintain privacy. It is a health program for the children and no reason is
there to keep it hidden.
5. Attribution The success of this program is attributed to the health service of
Queensland. They took this initiative to mitigate the hearing loss problem
among the children. It is a ten year framework that focuses on the
commitment to avoid the effect of middle ear diseases among children.
6. Sharing of benefits Lots of benefits such as guiding behaviour in a particular situation were
shared through this program. These benefits protect the Aboriginal and
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Torres Strait Islanders’ cultural and intellectual property rights. It leads to
the betterment of working relationships among the people to achieve better
program results. The teams involved with this framework train the staff
members so that the detection of ear diseases becomes easy. There are
also a number of resources used such as different kinds of package which
made trip to hospitals easy.
7. Legal recognition and
protection
There are relevant legal policies such as NSW Centre for Aboriginal Health
(2017) and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan
2013- 2023 provide a long term framework. This implementation plan is
approved by the Queensland Government, the ATSI community and other
government and non- government organizations (O'Shea and Maxwell
2017).
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Question 4:
According to Reconciliation Australia, successful workplaces are underpinned by the
following:
 People – driving the right attitudes and behaviours in the workplace to ensure the
environment is culturally and socially inclusive
 Policies – ensuring HR practices encourage and support the recruitment and
retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates
 Engagement – building and embracing relationships with Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander employees, communities and external organisations to achieve
greater outcomes and more effective and productive processes
Describe how you could use some of the ideas in the following websites to ensure your
workplace is inclusive? Maximum 250 words
 Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and their Communities
 Reconciliation Australia
 Share our Pride
Answer
For the 1st website it can be said that they need to improve their understanding of cultural
competence. The services can also be improved by checking the implications for delivery
and community development. The HR policies can be amended in order to encourage and
give support to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s history, society and culture.
With the flexibility of the policies and practices in the organization this particular website will
be able to implement inclusive workplace (Workingwithindigenousaustralians.info 2018).
The organization Reconciliation Australia is always ready to pay homage to the
traditional culture of the place and the elderly members of the community. The educational
and spiritual practices of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are also considered by
this website. Therefore by using the people to drive the right attitude and behaviour it can be
said that the workplace will be ensured of a culturally and socially inclusive environment.
Moreover the ATSI people should be aware of the fact that the website consists of the
names and photos of people who are no more in this world (Reconciliation Australia 2018).
This last website reflects on the form and shape of life from the viewpoint of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It can be ensured by building great rapport and
a healthy relationship with the employees of the community. This will lead to the
achievement of better result and efficient processes in the community (Shareourpride.org.au.
2018).
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Checklist
I have:
 answered all 4 questions in the space provided
 clearly identified my answers

If you are unable to complete this task for a specific reason, please contact your teacher to
discuss alternative arrangements for demonstrating your skills and knowledge.
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Reference
Shareourpride.org.au. (2018). Share Our Pride. [online] Available at:
http://www.shareourpride.org.au./ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2018].
Reconciliation Australia. (2018). Home - Reconciliation Australia. [online] Available at:
https://www.reconciliation.org.au/ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2018].
Workingwithindigenousaustralians.info. (2018). Working with Indigenous Australians - Home.
[online] Available at: http://www.workingwithindigenousaustralians.info/index.html [Accessed
21 Feb. 2018].
O'Shea, M. and Maxwell, H., 2017. Collaborating to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander women’s sport and physical activity. In Songlines: Our languages matter.
Carey, T.A., Dudgeon, P., Hammond, S.W., Hirvonen, T., Kyrios, M., Roufeil, L. and Smith,
P., 2017. The Australian Psychological Society's Apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander People. Australian Psychologist, 52(4), pp.261-267.
Funston, L. and Herring, S., 2016. When Will the Stolen Generations End? A Qualitative
Critical Exploration of Contemporary'Child Protection'Practices in Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Communities. Sexual Abuse in Australia and New Zealand, 7(1), p.51.
Kinnane, S., Wilks, J., Wilson, K., Hughes, T. and Thomas, S., 2014. “Can’t be what you
can’t see”: the transition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to higher
education.
Parker, R. and Milroy, H., 2014. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health: an
overview. Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and
wellbeing principles and practice, 2, pp.25-38.
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