Promoting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture Safety Report

This report examines the importance of promoting cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. It highlights the impact of historical events, such as colonization, on their contemporary mental, physical, economic, social, and political situations. The report emphasizes the need for cultural competence in healthcare, effective communication techniques, and respectful work practices. It discusses factors influencing communication and relationships, the concept of cultural safety versus cultural awareness, and the benefits of engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community service workers, interpreters, and cultural brokers. The report also covers how to address cultural biases and ensure work practices are grounded in awareness of these biases, and the importance of effective engagement and resource allocation for service delivery.

Running Head: PROMOTE ABORIGINAL AND TORRES ISLAND CULTURE SAFETY1
PROMOTE ABORIGINAL AND TORRES
ISLAND CULTURE SAFETY

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Activity 1
1.
It can be said that acknowledging the impact of the events as well as issues throughout the
history of the Aboriginal people, specifically the impact of the colonisation, gives the non-
non-indigenous Australian individual an insight into the contemporary mental, physical,
economic, social, political and economic situations with regards to the Indigenous Australian
people. This issues and events provide an explanation for why it is so vital for empowering
Indigenous Australian people, consisting co-workers, for advocating for self-determination,
equity, access as well as the social justice.
Throwing light on the above-mentioned discussion it can be said the vital issues and events
that have shaped the lives of the Indigenous people over the generations affect the way a lot
of Indigenous Australian people observes the people, non- Indigenous governments as well as
the policies and the way a lot of Aboriginal people tends to feel about themselves. This
affects the flow on from generation to generation and influences the self-esteem and
confidence of the Indigenous Australian children to a great extent.
In terms of communication the Aboriginal English may be termed as quite difficult for
understanding in the first instance, one need to have an interpreter present so that the
individual will be able to express themselves in their choosen language. Trust and time are
the two main elements that may be required before people tend to offer their opinion.

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Furthermore, in some of the Aboriginal cultures it is considered to be rude if someone looks
directly in the eye (Smith, 2013).
In terms of the art and culture Indigenous people tends to express their religious and
ceremonial life via songs, art as well as dance. For example, the art forms such as bark
painting, body painting as well as the rock painting has the ability for highlighting a lot of
meanings about the Aboriginal ownership of the lands and their relationship with the
ancestral lands.
There is huge amount of impact created on the service quality and it has been observed that
there is a clear link between the service quality and culture. The expectations of the service
quality under the light of the culture most of the times in conjunction with the extra socio-
economic factors considers the culture at the national level. Throwing light on the above-
mentioned discussion it can be said that the entire concept that the culture tends to affect the
perceptions of the service quality which in return influences the satisfaction of the
individuals, performance of the business and loyalty has gained a huge amount of acceptance
across the globe.
2.
The cultural competence can be regarded as the ability for understanding, communicating
with as well as interacting with the individuals across the cultures in an effective manner.
Furthermore, the culture competence is also about an individual’s actions and wills for
building understanding between the peoples to be respectful as well as to be different cultural
perspectives, strengthen the cultural security and working towards equality in opportunity.
Furthermore, the cultural competence in healthcare mainly refers towards the ability for the
healthcare professionals to highlight the entire cultural competence towards the patients with
the diverse beliefs, values, as well as feelings. One of the main goals of the culture

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competence in the healthcare is reducing the health disparities and to provide a lot of care to
the patients no matter from which ethic background, race, culture and religion they belong
from (Godlewska, Moore & Bednasek, 2010).
Furthermore, the culture competence in terms of reflecting the awareness of an individual’s
own culture and the other cultures in the work practices simply means that receiving
knowledge of the various cultural practices as well as the views of the world and then
developing necessary skills for interaction along with the communication across each and
every culture. An individual must be aware of their own culture but at the same time they
must be aware of the other culture in their work practices as well. It is also more than being
respectful of the cultures that are represented in the service or community. Furthermore, it is
also quite more than the awareness of the differences of the culture, more than knowledge of
the values and customs of those who are unique from an individual.
Activity 2
It has been observed that there are a lot of issues that influences the communication and
relationship with the Aboriginal people. On one hand, the factors that influence the
relationship with the Aboriginal people are the compatibility, communication, honesty,
forgiving, smiling, time as well as staying calm. On the other hand, the issues that influence
the communication with the Aboriginal people are as follows cultural diversity,
misunderstanding the message due to the language problem, emotional differences between
the other people, previous experiences with the Aboriginal people, intellectual and
educational differences, racial identity, social class, individual identity, age and the roles
identity factor (Sherwood, 2013).
It is an absolute necessity for identifying the cultural factors when the designing and
delivering the services because a lot of Indigenous people in the Australia faces immense

PROMOTE ABORIGINAL AND TORRES ISLAND CULTURE SAFETY 5
challenges. A lack of identifying the cultural factors can hinder in designing and delivering
the services. Aboriginal people are as follows cultural diversity, misunderstanding the
message due to the language problem, emotional differences between the other people,
previous experiences with the Aboriginal people, intellectual and educational differences.
Activity 3
The cultural safety is mainly the environment that is safe for the individual where there is no
challenge, assault, or the denial of their identity of who they are and what they need to be.
Hence, in terms of the Aboriginal people the cultural safety mainly encompasses the
individuals being provided with a huge amount of safety, nurturing and positive environment
where they are absolutely comfortable with themselves, with regards to expressing their
spiritual and belief systems, culture and they are supported by family and carer. On the other
hand, it can be said that the cultural safety is different from the cultural awareness. Throwing
light on the above-mentioned discussion it can be said that being culturally aware is the initial
point in terms of gaining a better understanding of the Aboriginal people issues so that an
individual has the chance of being mindful in a cultural manner. On the other hand, the
cultural safety is when an individual as the carer tends to provide the people with a safe
home, which in return respects their Aboriginality and hence encourages their identity and
self. In simple terms it can be said that the cultural safety is an environment which is for the
safe individuals where there is no challenges, assault, or any kind of denial for their identity.
Furthermore, it is also about shared meaning, shared respect, shared experience and
knowledge, in terms of learning together with a lot of listening and learning (Kirmayer,
2012).
The cultural safety holds a huge amount of importance in terms of the relationship between
the Aboriginal people and the service providers. The service providers must know what

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exactly cultural safety means so that they can provide it to the aboriginal community and the
aboriginal people must know the potential benefits of the cultural safety. Furthermore,
cultural safety is also said to be quite important because it is simply about the community
along with the individual and the community empowerment for managing one’s own
wellbeing and health along with the social issues. The main aim of the cultural safety is to
enhance the delivery of the health services. The cultural safety is just more than any physical
safety at the workplace. Some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals may still have
a high level of mistrust towards community workers due to the entrenched trauma of
historical events. Hence, it can be said that building a huge amount of respect along with the
trust with the service user is hence one of the most important elements to developing a strong
working relationship.
Activity 4
It can be said that an individual can make sure that their work practices are grounded in
complete awareness of their own cultural bias to a great extent. It can be said the human
beings form their own ideas of other cultures from the information that they tend to gather
from the direct contact with the people from the other culture, from media as well as from the
other people’s perceptions and experiences (Betancourt and et al., 2016).
However, the cultural biases bound to lead towards the negative stereotyping as well as the
discrimination. Developing awareness with regards to the cultural biases takes an individual a
step closer for providing an effective and environment that is culturally safe for the
Indigenous Australian people. For instance, an individual may consider how the cultural
awareness, rather than the cultural bias around the people who are old can influence how that
individual actually practices. For example, it has been observed that the Indigenous
Australian people are quite rough and they do not listen to their elders at any cost so it is not

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always easy in terms of understanding how the own culture has the power in terms of
influencing how an individual think, feel as well as behave.
Activity 5
It is quite evident that there are some of the ways by which an individual can develop the
work practices and the communication techniques that will be showing respect for the
cultural differences of the Aboriginal people to a great extent. The proper communication
techniques for showing respect for the cultural differences of the Aboriginal people are:
Listening to them in a serious manner, showing immense non-verbal and verbal consideration
and respect, acknowledging the individual’s understanding of what others have said,
consulting with the relevant others taking any action, practicing the active listening,
maintaining as much personal touch as possible, watching the non-verbal communication,
one of the main communication strategy is the empathy as it is vital as many indigenous
Australian people feel insecure in their communication with the welfare, health, and
community service systems. On the other hand, there are some of the work practices that
show respect for the cultural differences of the Aboriginal people. One of the most vital
strategies in terms of proper work practices is maintaining the workplace relationships that
are culturally safe so that the Aboriginal people feel that they are safe environment. It will
highlight that they are being respected despite of having severe cultural differences (Gerlach,
2012).
Activity 6
There are some of the benefits of engaging the aboriginal and Torres Strait islander
community service workers, interpreters as well as the cultural brokers to a great extent. The
community as a whole is benefitted. The workers will be benefitted in terms of gaining an
understanding about the community life as well as working in an effective manner with the

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Aboriginal people. Engaging with them also simple means that an individual will be able to
enhance their health and wellbeing at an alarming rate as they will be able to interact with
them and work with them together. It can be also said that the engagement mainly based on
the Indigenous on the priorities and the aspirations of the Indigenous people. Effective
engagement is also a sustained process that provides the Indigenous people with the
opportunity to participate in an active manner in the decision making from the earliest stage
with regards to the defining the problems that needs to be solved (Bennett, Zubrzycki &
Bacon, 2011).
2.
The effective service delivery is said to rely on some of the right kind of resources that are
being available to those people who are with and care for the Indigenous Australian people.
Throwing light on the above-mentioned statement it can be said that there are some of the
most important resources that are required for the effective service delivery along with the
partnership. The first one is the cross-cultural awareness it is one of the most important
elements for the effective service delivery. On the other hand the second resource is the
people who tend to understand the entire culture of Indigenous Australians and their sense of
community and family. The third one is the support from the Australian people as they tend
to enhance the service delivery. The fourth one is the procedures and policies that tend to
provide the educators dealing with the Indigenous people for the partnership and effective
service delivery. The fifth one is the involvement in the decision-making process for building
a perfect partnership. The sixth element is the full-fledged participation that is an absolute
necessity for building a perfect partnership. The seventh element is consultation with the
indigenous people for perfect service delivery. The eighth one is focusing on the self-
determination is one of the main elements for a lot of service delivery programs. The ninth

PROMOTE ABORIGINAL AND TORRES ISLAND CULTURE SAFETY 9
one is developing and maintaining relationships and the last one is engaging on the ongoing
participation also results in exceptional partnership and service delivery.
Activity 7
It can be said that there are some of the organizations present in the Australia who whole
heartedly works towards building respectful relationships between the Aboriginal, staff
people as well as their communities. The effective relationships are said to be built by
following ways. It has been found out by a lot of research studies highlighted the fact that
Aboriginal and the Torres communities should be entirely based on evidence what works and
what does not works. Firstly, working well together with regards to Aboriginal and Torres
community in a peaceful manner will happen when both of them know each other and then
trust each other, then they can work well with each other in a peaceful manner. It can be said
that if there are some of the familiar faces then it will be quite easier for the Torres Strait
Islander and the Aboriginal people for walking and feel welcome. Secondly, if the Aboriginal
and the Torres Strait Islander people are influenced to attend some of their events then it will
be one of the best ways in terms of these people meeting with each other in a friendly and in
an informal environment. In terms of supporting them there may be also other events such as
Aboriginal Medical Services, sports clubs, and Land Councils in terms of supporting them in
an excellent manner. Thirdly, in terms of also supporting the Aboriginal people along with
the Torres Strait Islander people one needs to contact the local community organizations,
universities, and health services. If someone holds a position of a manager then they have the
authority of introducing themselves to the local people of influence. If an individual cannot
find any local agencies, then they must contact the nearest office with regards to the state
department that are responsible for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs in the
state. Fourthly, in terms of supporting these people one needs to begin the relationship with

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trust. It is one of the most valuable assets that will be engaging both Torres Islander People
and Aboriginal people (Bennett, 2015).
Activity 11
It is an absolute necessity for evaluating the services and programs against the desired
outcomes. Evaluation is one of the processes that provides a lot of necessary information that
is required for examining how well a program or initiative is being implemented and also to
determine whether that specific program is achieving the results that are desired.
Furthermore, with the information from periodic and the well-designed evaluations, the
program administrators have the power in terms of directing the limited resources where they
are most effective and needed within their communities. Evaluations are also beneficial in
terms of improving the services and benefiting the families and staffs they serve mainly.
However, evaluations are also one of the main ways in terms of verifying if the program is
able to meet the objectives and aims. Evaluation is also one of the most valuable tools for the
program managers who are trying to strengthen the program quality and enhance the
outcomes specifically for the Aboriginal people. The evaluation of the program also tends to
answer the fundamental questions with regards to the evaluation of the data, effectiveness
that can be used specifically for enhancing the program services. In general terms it can be
simply told that program and service evaluation tends to benefit a lot (Aspin and et al., 2012).
Activity 8
It can be said that addressing in an effective manner the health disparities between the
Aboriginal and the non- Aboriginal Australians is almost a long overdue problem. On the
contrary, the perspective of the Indigenous people with regards to the health along with the
health issues. The Indigenous people always regard their health as one of the main issues and

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barrier in their living as they do not get any proper treatment from anyone because they are
from the backward community and no people accepts them. However, this particular
perspective is negative so it affects the designing, documentation and delivery of the
programs and services to a great extent. The health status of the indigenous people tends to
vary from the non-indigenous people. There is a huge amount of inequality that exists
between the health of the indigenous people and they are quite reluctant about their health
because they have never received any right treatment with regards to their health till date. ‘
Throwing light on the above-mentioned discussion it can be said that the Aboriginal people
must change their perception with regards to the health and health related issues. So that it
gives the community workers along with the government to work in a proper manner. It will
also enhance the designing and the service delivery for the Aboriginal Australians. It can be
also said that beyond any type of meetings the health service providers are responsible for
implementing the recommendations from the Aboriginal people for enhancing the health
service delivery especially for the Aboriginal people (Posavac, 2015).
The Aboriginal people will feel empowered once they start getting involved in the issues of
the health in an active manner so that it gives the service providers ultimate freedom in terms
of how they can design the services and deliver it in a better manner so that it will be
fulfilling the needs of the Aboriginal people. In some of the research works it has been
highlighted that when the majority of the participants with regards to the Aboriginal people
have indicated that when they have changed their perspective in terms of the health and the
health related issues then they saw the community workers designed and delivered the
programs and the services in an exceptional manner. It can be said that the Aboriginal
people’s relationship within the community, along with their spiritual link to the land and
their ancestors often gets highlighted during the health related issues. The community

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workers must design the entire program keeping in mind that most of the Aboriginal people
believe in the fact that evil spirits are the root cause for the illness in the Aboriginal people.
Furthermore, it has been also observed that the Aboriginal people also tends to delay in terms
of going to the hospital so their treatment is likely to be quite complicated in nature without
any doubt and one of the main cause for it is their poor education. Hence, the community
service providers must attempt to educate these people then they can design and implement
the programs accordingly.
It can be recommended that although the health workers in the community health services
have their own expertise in the health issues and treatments still they need to work alongside
with an intention of collaborating with the leaders of the community.
Activity 9
It can be said that the Indigenous people mainly requires to be self-determining that means
that having the similar rights as other Australians and also being charge of their own lives in
the similar way as the mainstream Australians.
It has been observed that the past Australian governments have implemented what they
thought to be the best for the Indigenous people without even consulting it with them.
However, there are some of the initiatives developed on the ground after consulting with the
Indigenous people and they are more likely to work as well as promote some amount of
collaboration along with the eships, which tends to lead towards the self-determination.
However, the line Indigenous people need to be self-determining and have some control over
the community programs and services means that self-determination is mainly the right of
each and every people to determine their status in a free manner. The self-determination is
said to be one of the collective rights rather than the individual right. Furthermore, in order to

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be successful in the self-determination the Indigenous people must follow the following
principles. Freedom- the Indigenous people has the right of exercising the similar rights as
each and every citizen. They can be creative as well as ambitious and then express
themselves. Support- they also have the right of determining how they can organize their
resources. It simply means that individuals do not receive any type of perceptions and
supervision. Knowledge- It means that the Indigenous people are allowed to build their own
knowledge bases rather than prescribing what is best for them. Financial responsibility- it
may control their budget consisting re-prioritising monies when it is necessary. The money’s
are used as an investment and not to purchase services other individual get for free. Stable
policies- the government policies should support and encourage Aboriginal solutions and the
reliable. It can be said that the Indigenous people mainly requires to be self-determining that
means that having the similar rights as other Australians and also being charge of their own
lives in the similar way as the mainstream Australians.
It has been observed that the past Australian governments have implemented what they
thought to be the best for the Indigenous people without even consulting it with them.
However, there are some of the initiatives developed on the ground after consulting with the
Indigenous people and they are more likely to work as well as promote some amount of
collaboration along with the partnerships, which tends to lead towards the self-determination.
Activity 10
It can be said that the measurement metric and the outcomes must be recognized and decided
on to improve the possibility that the metrics are completely applicable. It also allows the
individuals to get more concerned in the entire development process which mainly leads
towards the extra of the team having imminent into the significance of the metrics. This
particular process also makes sure that the management involvement and the willingness.

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Furthermore, the management needs to be engaged properly in the procedures that require
identifying as well as developing the metrics. On the other hand, it is also guaranteed by the
process that the metrics to deliver significance and not at all the disruption as they have to be
identified in an unmistaken manner, totally understood and largely communicated. The
individuals will be able to understand in an unmistaken manner with regards to how the
metrics, evaluates the performance in terms of the procedures they carry out, associate to and
sustain the company’s objectives as well as outcomes.
On the other hand, it can be said that the outcomes and measurement metrics must be agreed
upon and identified because of the following reasons.
- The identification of the measurement metrics tends to provide a huge amount of
space for some of the activities in terms of following
- The measurement metrics and the outcome are regarded as the basis for witnessing
the validity of the study or a given research simply by undertaking especially in the
cultural study that tends to cover the qualitative data.
- It makes sure that the finding’s consistency in a given research or study. It is also
quite evident that consistency is one of the most vital elements for any type of
research or study
- The results tends to provide the rationality on which the research can be relied upon
and hence without any kind of agreement the findings are said to be not at all in a
reliable
- Standards are also provided by the measurement metrics on which the total research
measurement is based.
On the other hand, it can be said that the measurement metrics is also an indication of the
quantity, size, amount or dimension of a specific attribute with regards to the process or

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product. For instance, a number of errors with regards to the system are known as the
measurement. On the other hand, a metric is a measurement of the degree that any
attribute belongs to a system, process or even a product.
Activity 11
It is an absolute necessity for evaluating the services and programs against the desired
outcomes. Evaluation is one of the processes that provides a lot of necessary information that
is required for examining how well a program or initiative is being implemented and also to
determine whether that specific program is achieving the results that are desired.
Furthermore, with the information from periodic and the well-designed evaluations, the
program administrators have the power in terms of directing the limited resources where they
are most effective and needed within their communities. Evaluations are also beneficial in
terms of improving the services and benefiting the families and staffs they serve mainly.
However, evaluations are also one of the main ways in terms of verifying if the program is
able to meet the objectives and aims. Evaluation is also one of the most valuable tools for the
program managers who are trying to strengthen the program quality and enhance the
outcomes specifically for the Aboriginal people. The evaluation of the program also tends to
answer the fundamental questions with regards to the evaluation of the data, effectiveness
that can be used specifically for enhancing the program services. In general terms it can be
simply told that program and service evaluation tends to benefit a lot.
Evaluation helps the managers the program to demonstrate their external and internal
accountability for using the resources of the public. Furthermore, it can be said that the
programs which tends to perform the evaluation activities highlights internal and external
accountability for the use of the resources of the public.

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Strait Islander engagement with the Australian Association of Social
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Bennett, B., Zubrzycki, J., & Bacon, V. (2011). What do we know? The experiences of social
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Betancourt, J. R., Green, A. R., Carrillo, J. E., & Owusu Ananeh-Firempong, I. I. (2016). Defining
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Gerlach, A. J. (2012). A critical reflection on the concept of cultural safety. Canadian
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Godlewska, A., Moore, J., & Bednasek, C. D. (2010). Cultivating ignorance of Aboriginal
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