Beyond 2020: Addressing racism through transformative Indigenous health and cultural safety education

‘First tonight, the contentious new code telling nurses to say, ‘sorry for being white’: Mental health nurses’ beliefs about their Code of Conduct and cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

“…The ability of mental health nurses to develop and sustain therapeutic relationships is mediated by factors such as self‐awareness and reflective practice (Parnas & Isobel, 2019). The transformation to cultural safety in practice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples requires deep critical reflection on the impacts of colonization and both institutional and professional racism (Power et al ., 2020). The mental health nurses encountered in this study identified that reflection was a part of their life as a nurse, but that there was not a culture of reflective practice embedded within mental health nursing.…”

“…Cultural safety provides an approach to nursing practice that respects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples cultural identity, as well as a strategy for reducing racism in healthcare (Geia et all ., 2020; Ramsden, 2002). Power and colleagues (2020, p. e33) have stated that ‘Seeding the health system with graduates who are culturally safe for Indigenous Peoples will lead to better health outcomes overall’. Nearly 20 years ago, Henry et al .…”

Indigenous academics teaching Indigenous health: ‘it’s part of who we are, our spirit, our soul, our knowledge… that goes into our teaching’

“…These stakeholders enable and enhance the development and delivery of Indigenous health curricula within undergraduate nursing programs. The social, historical and political context of the nursing discipline highlight the general disempowerment of Indigenous peoples and their knowledges and perspectives (Power et al, 2021). Thus, methodologies and methods engaged in this research project had to be able to elucidate relevant social, historical and political operations of disempowerment (including racial and gender discrimination) and make explicit the nature of responsibilities and reciprocity afforded to Indigenous people and Indigenous peoples' knowledges and perspectives.…”

“…These circumstances also suggest a lack of trust that the SON have in Indigenous academics, to have access to resources and decisionmaking power. Distrust of Indigenous peoples within the nursing profession is historically evident in the systemic exclusion of Indigenous peoples from becoming nurses (Best, 2015;Best & Gorman, 2016) and remains evident in the testimony of Indigenous nurses who continue to endure systemic and interpersonal racism (Moreton-Robinson, 2015;Power et al, 2021).…”

“Taking our blindfolds off”: acknowledging the vision of First Nations peoples for nursing and midwifery

“…We pay our respect to Elders past and present and in particular to those who led the way, allowing us to realise our own aspirations to be healers and carers, ushering our people from and to the Dreaming. 1 "You need to take your blindfolds off and come back to the fire". These were the words of a First Nations Elder and a custodian of the sacred fire speaking to Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM) delegates and educational researchers during a recent visit to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.…”