With 25 per cent of MercyCare’s Amber Youth Wellness clients identifying as Aboriginal, providing culturally safe care could not be more important.
Amber Youth Wellness is an outreach service supporting young people aged 12-25 years with complex mental health needs that are having an impact on their everyday functioning and who are experiencing significant barriers to accessing supports.
Ensuring the service is culturally safe has been a priority for the team, and they have taken a proactive approach to working with Aboriginal people and families, including:
- Commencing delivery of psychoeducational groups to Aboriginal young people in partnership with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations Derbal Yerrigan and Wadjak Northside at Balga Senior High School and Clarkson Youth Centre.
- Participating in two On Country Cultural Immersion events each year to enable staff to further their knowledge on Aboriginal cultural practices.
- Employing two 50D Aboriginal mental health youth worker positions.
- Employing an Aboriginal practice lead who works with Aboriginal staff.
- Annual sponsorship of the Aboriginal Indigenous Health Conference related to youth mental health.
Their commitment to cultural safety not only enhances the quality of care but also empowers Aboriginal youth to seek and receive the support they need.
General Manager – Youth Wellbeing and Accommodation, Family and Community Services, Suzanne Caren, said as a non-Aboriginal controlled organisation, MercyCare look to be open to what Aboriginal people can teach us with a strong appreciation of Aboriginal culture.
“Self-determination is crucial to improving access to health care for Aboriginal people.”
“We are committed to building relationships based on trust, honesty and deep listening and know this is key to ensuring our services are culturally safe, relevant and meet their needs.”
“The reconciliation journey is a long-term endeavour for MercyCare. It requires ongoing committed leadership, strategic review and refinement. We recognise we will make mistakes, but we will take time to reflect, to learn from these experiences and to ensure we are continuing to show up with open hearts and minds.”
Amber Youth Wellness Coordinator Anita and Aboriginal Youth Outreach Workers Tarah and Emily recently presented at the National Indigenous Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Conference in Cairns. The team spoke about Amber Youth Wellness’ unique co-designed model of care and the impact having a flexible and culturally secure way of working can have on the engagement and health outcomes of Aboriginal people.
WA Primary Health Alliance’s commitment to cultural competency, inclusion and diversity guides how we commission primary health care services and how we advocate to improve equity and access. We know it is an ongoing journey of continuous individual learning and organisational improvement to ensure best practice in health service delivery. This involves listening to, and learning from, the community on how to better engage, commission, and deliver safe services.
This activity has been supported by funding from WA Primary Health Alliance through the Australian Government’s PHN Program.