Read carefully the following scenario.
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Scenario
Alinga is a client at Real Matters. She is a teenager with an aboriginal background. She has some issues at school and is at risk of disengaging from school, she feels like no one is listening to her. She also feels like she is being discriminated against. She has been supported a few months ago by Warrie, and a counsellor who just left. You spend some time with Alinga to explore and clarify what she means by “I am going to do something to make sure no one will be able to make me”. She says that she is going to run away to an Aboriginal community where she will be listened to and where she will feel better and more accepted. She feels she does not belong or have a ‘place’ here. You discuss with Alinga about having a yarn with Warrie, and also recommend involving another young female Indigenous case worker to speak to her.
You also seek consultation/supervision with Warrie to determine the best way to follow through with Alinga.
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- In working with Alinga:
- Reflect on any social/cultural perspectives and biases you have that may impact on the services you provide Alinga. List three strategies that you can put in place to overcome these perspectives and biases? (Approx. 200 words)
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- Reflect on how limitations in your self- awareness and social awareness may impact on the services you provide Alinga. Identify three strategies to work with these limitations to ensure Alinga receives the service that she needs. (Approx. 200 words)
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- List three advantages that a young female Indigenous caseworker would have in working with Alinga? (Approx. 100 words)
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- List two different organisations and explain how they can support Alinga (and other Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people) in social and cultural aspects (e.g. interpreters). Identify how you can establish partnership with them. (Approx. 100 words)
| Organisation | Support and services provided | How to promote partnerships |
| 1. | ||
| 2. |
- As part of your training, you have been asked to write a short report on what you have learnt about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander awareness. Your aim is to promote diversity and cultural safety at Real Matters. In your own words, make sure you cover the following points: (Approx. 450 words)
- The historical and cultural impact of European settlement, loss of land and culture and the importance of law and kinship.
- Legislative context for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultural safety.
- Identify at least three critical issues influencing and impacting on relationships, communication and services with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.
- Evaluate at least three ways to improve communication preventing misunderstandings and service delivery in respect to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people (including verbal and non-verbal communication).
- Identify key aspects of protective needs to promote cultural safety for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander in your community. Suggest how you would consult them regarding this.
You need to source the information that you have written in the report.
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Source: |
- At Real Matters, you must have proficient understanding and experience working with any types of diversity and cultural identity. (Your responses should exclude the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community as it has already been covered in the previous questions.)
- What are the types of diversity you could experience working in the counselling centre service? List five of them.
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- What are the ways you can show respect to people of different backgrounds? List at least three of them. (Approx. 80 words)
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- Explain how imagery can assist you in communicating with clients from diverse backgrounds. (Approx. 50 words)
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- Name two verbal and two non-verbal communication techniques to establish trust, rapport and effective communication with clients from diverse backgrounds (where NO language barrier exists). (Your responses should exclude the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community as it has already been covered in the previous questions.)
| Verbal technique 1 | |
| Verbal technique 2 | |
| Non-verbal technique 1 | |
| Non-verbal technique 2 |
- Warrie says that he would like to head to a remote community clinic as soon as possible and has asked you to come with him. You are impressed that the clinic really seems to be run by and for Aboriginal people. You would like to know how to best encourage self-determination and community control in services and programs.
Make correct pairs by matching the number in the first column (obstacles) to the letter in the second column (solutions). An example has been provided below in green:
| Obstacle to self-determination | Solution | Match the pairs |
| 3.
Obstacles to self-determination |
A
Solution |
3A |
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Lack of governance structures such as decision making procedures |
A
Communities and individuals take responsibility for improving their situations |
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Communities and services controlled by non-Indigenous staff |
B
Recognise there are circumstances beyond the control of people to deal with them |
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Victimhood – always blaming history and government for current problems |
C
Capacity building by training individuals |
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Lack of skills, e.g. in report writing or use of computers |
D
Capacity building by improving administration systems |
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Top-down decision making by governments that ‘always know best’ |
E
Recruitment, training and retention of Aboriginal workers |
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| 6.
Victim blaming – blaming people for their own situations |
F
Consultation with, and involvement of, Aboriginal people in service design and delivery, including forming partnerships. |
- You are further impressed by the high attendance rates at the clinic. You want to know more about ways to support delivery of services and programs that are culturally safe and encourage increased participation. You are also interested in ways to measure improvements in cultural safety to evaluate whether they worked or not. Tick the correct boxes in the table below (double-click on the box and tick ‘checked’.)
| Goal | Most suitable strategy to match goal on left in column 1 – tick ONE box (a or b) in each cell below. | Most suitable evaluation measure to match answer in column 2 – tick ONE box (a or b) in each cell below. |
| 1. Reform services and systems to facilitate culturally competent service delivery |
a) Partnerships or consultations with Aboriginal communities b) Promote ‘colour blind’ policies to avoid any sort of discrimination
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a) Numbers of staff that have received cultural sensitivity training b) Improved outcomes for Aboriginal clients
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| 2. Improve cultural sensitivity in non-Aboriginal staff |
a) Encourage non-Aboriginal staff to participate more in Aboriginal community informally b) Only allow Aboriginal clients to see culturally-competent workers
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a) Less reports of incidents/misunderstandings around cultural issues b) Less retention of non-Aboriginal staff |
| 3. Increase the number of culturally competent staff |
a) Recruit staff by ‘word of mouth’ only b) Increase recruitment of Aboriginal staff
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a) Increased numbers of Aboriginal staff
b) Increased numbers of non-Aboriginal clients |
| 4. Make services more accessible to clients that feel stigma or shame |
a) Have a clear boundary between who is a client and who is not b) Have programs that initially look at strengths rather than problems
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a) More participation of complex needs/marginalised clients b) Improvements in cultural knowledge testing of all staff |
