When everyone else Goes Left, Keep Right.  It might be the harder road but its much more fulfilling.

When everyone usually ‘Keeps Left’, Go Right: My top 3 tips to achieving the fulfilling social work career you want

I read recently that the key to having a fulfilling job is to choose a job with meaning!   I would go further to say that a truly fulfilling job is one that has meaning for a cause you are really passionate about.   I was recently described by a colleague that I was the most passionate person she had ever met – what a compliment!

Up until April, I was working towards creating myself a new dream job at Relationships Australia so that I could travel a bit less and pursue something I became really passionate about – prevention of trauma in young children! In November last year, I resigned from my present position and had two months to find funding for the new project. It was a big risk! If it didn’t find the money I would be unemployed. Prevention work is not something governments are generally interested in funding. April came, I didn’t have any money , and so my work came to an end.

Others would stay on the side of the road they feel comfortable on, but not me. I ‘kept right’ and never gave up on my dream. I really believe that the program I’ve developed can stop the cycle of trauma affecting children exposed to domestic and family violence. I decided to promote the project on my new business website. Then two weeks ago Relationships Australia offered me a second chance. They have re-employed me for three days over the next three months to try again!

I feel so blessed. How many people do you know that are being paid to try to create their ideal fulfilling job?

Here are my top 3 tips to chasing your ideal, fulfilling dream social work job.

When everyone else Goes Left, Keep Right.  It might be the harder road but its much more fulfilling.

When everyone else Goes Left, Keep Right. It might be the harder road but it’s much more fulfilling.

1.  Establish a Trusting Relationship with the Big Boss

From day one, I developed an honest, open relationship with the CEO sharing my hopes, dreams and stories about my past practice that gave her insight into what made my heart tick. I just opened up to what I was passionate about and she developed a job to fit. Along the way, my CEO would pop her head into my office regularly and was always interested in what I was doing. By laying my cards on the table in the first instance, it felt like we had a relationship based on trust that has stood the test of time, even when things got hectic. Believe me, if you don’t have trust in the Big Boss, the passion will soon die! Do everything you can to keep the lines of communication open, no matter how busy everyone gets.

2.  Educate others in the office about what you are doing – the good, the bad and the ugly!

Don’t be scared to share with colleagues, supervisors and Managers what gets you really excited. I believe you should celebrate your successes. It is not bragging. I know that sometimes colleagues might feel threatened by me sharing stories of success and good practice.   However this is an inadequacy they need to deal with.   As a social worker, I feel it is my responsibility to the profession to encourage others to share their good practice stories too, like in group supervision, student supervision, debriefing, mentoring, writing about their practice or more informally. It also takes a lot of guts to admit your faults, where you went wrong and what didn’t work. I think my colleagues appreciate people who approach their work with honesty and integrity. We learn just as much from our mistakes as we do the success stories.

3.  Don’t be scared to take risks; never give up and have faith that it will all work out in the end

Sometimes I have some pretty weird and ‘out there’ ideas. They don’t always get taken up but I still feel free enough to share them and push the boundaries. You never know, one of those crazy ideas might just work! Some people respect me for “thinking outside the box” and not just accepting the status quo. Other people might view me as a feather ruffler. But I know what it’s like to have creativity stifled and it does not lead to a fulfilling job at all.

I’ve had a hundred people tell me my project is needed in remote Aboriginal communities and the resources created are fantastic. All the signs are leading me down this road but I still have one big barrier – money to get it started! I really believe this program will make a difference to the lives of Aboriginal kids not even born yet so I won’t give up.

If you are passionate about what you believe in, you will take risks! Because in the end this isn’t about you. It is about the most marginalised people in our community we are trying to help. And there’s nothing more fulfilling than that!  So my advice is ‘Keep Right’.

Nami connects with children in the community through art and storytelling.

A reflection on Western and Aboriginal World Views in Counselling and Social Work Practice

Nami and Lucy

Caught in a wet season storm at Yirrkala Women’s Centre.

I have the most beautiful memories of my work out at NE Arnhemland. I was amazed by how much I achieved in such a short time, given that I did not have relationships in the communities of Nhulunbuy or Yirrkala. The most special part was finding Nami White who I ended up employing to work with me in the Children’s Counselling program. In 2010 she invited me to go to her outstation at Buymarr for three days. I used the time out bush to document how Nami and I were operating in the space where two worldviews meet and I recently stumbled upon my writings. At the time I really appreciated being able to reflect on my social work practice in this way.   I hope it inspires you to do the same.

A MODEL OF PRACTICE: WORKING TOGETHER FOR HEALING

This document brings together ideas from Nami White and Lucy Van Sambeek who work under the SAAP Children’s Project for Relationships Australia. It aims to show how Yolngu and Western worldviews are working together to bring healing to the lives of children, their mothers and families affected by domestic and family violence.

This document was created from a conversation which occurred while camping at Buymarr, an outstation where Nami often visits and stays with family when she needs some time away from her community of Yirrkala. On this trip, Nami brought her grandson to provide him with an opportunity for counselling and traditional healing to address some of the difficulties he is experiencing in his life.

This process has given us new insight into each other’s world view and an appreciation for what we each bring to the work, what we are doing and how we are doing it. Perhaps these ideas might be of use one day to other workers who are trying to marry Western approaches to counselling with Yolngu methods of healing.

Knowledge

Together we bring a wide variety of knowledge to the work, derived from formal education, life experience, observation and history. We have a shared understanding about the nature of domestic and family violence. Lucy says that:

  • Men are more likely to be perpetrators of violence than women
  • Children are the silent sufferers
  • Drugs and alcohol affect people’s behaviour but is not a cause of violence. We know this because not all drunks are violent
  • Children are affected by being a witnesses to violence
  • Sometimes it is difficult to see the effects of violence in children. The quiet child is not necessarily seen as a child of concern.
  • Parents may not recognise the effects violence has on their children
  • Trauma from domestic violence can have life long effects
Nami connects with children in the community through art and storytelling.

Nami connects with children in the community through art and storytelling.

Nami brings knowledge about domestic violence and family violence watching children and parents in her own community and family. She worked for many years in the voluntary-based women’s night patrol, walking on foot around the community looking out for children. Nami can recognise those children that are quiet and frightened, “don’t want to mix with other children”, and “can’t be who they want to be”. Some children want to be with others but are prevented from doing so by adults who act protectively to keep them away from other children, for fear of getting into a fight. Children take a long time to talk up about their situation with someone they trust – this could be out of fear or shame. They may not want to get into trouble.

Children can take sides with their mother or father depending on what they have been led to believe by the perpetrator. When violence is happening children react different ways, some may try to protect their mother, try to stop the fight and disarm weapons while others may run or hide.

Shame can prevent women from speaking up about domestic violence. Shame can stop men from admitting fault or taking responsibility for their behaviour.   Women are likely to stay in a relationship which is violent as leaving the relationship could bring shame to her and the family. However, if the fear is strong enough women have been known to leave their partners, children and community as they feel they have no choice. They are often seen as the ones to blame.

The Western world would say that formal theories shape our understanding of observations such as these. This includes knowledge about family systems, social learning, behaviour, a holistic view of health, the cycle of violence and trauma responses. Nami also brings knowledge gained from her experiencing of living with a violent and jealous husband. She also knows what it is like to live in a gentle and loving relationship. Living with violence has given her insight into what causes violence, what it feels like to live with violence and what signs to look out for in other women. Nami has seen men become physically sick from perpetrating violence, as a result of the bottling up of guilt and shame. Serious sickness can become a precursor for a change of behaviour in the perpetrator.

Nami has also had two fathers as positive role models who have taught her to be on the look-out for warning signs. Her fathers used to tell Nami stories about times they intervened in family disputes often putting themselves in the face of danger. Their message to her was to practice the same ways, stand up strong to help Yolngu people and live by the lore. With the support of her father, Nami once confronted a hostile man saying “I’m not afraid if you hit me or hurt me”. He taught Nami how to love the enemy. This old man was a respected Elder who knew how to operate in the world of Balanda and Yolngu.

As a girl, Nami also learned about how to live a good life and how to treat other people through women’s ceremonies. We also bring knowledge about recent histories events in Nhulunbuy and surrounding Aboriginal communities, and how these have impacted on the spirit and behaviour of Yolngu people. Nami says the introduction of alcohol has had devastating effects, creating divisions within families, and between the generations, through the perpetration of violence. Elders are sick and tired of the violence caused by alcohol in their communities.

With the introduction of mining in the area, came a system of royalties paid to traditional owners of the land and their families. However, Nami sees that the system is not equal and fair, with the most powerful and greedy landowners, handing out the money as they see fit. The impact of this, filters down to families where disputes over royalty handouts not paid, erupt into bouts of drinking and violence. Traditional values about caring for the land have been replaced with concerns about power and money.

Values and Beliefs

Social justice and human rights are foundational social work values that underpin our work with children and families. Lucy says this is pertinent when working with Aboriginal communities, who continue to suffer from the effects of discriminatory policies and practices from governments. Finding ways of working which reclaim the dignity, respect and self-determination of individuals, families and communities is of utmost importance.

Together we believe:

  • All people including children have a right to feel safe
  • All people have a right to be treated fairly and with respect
  • All people should have an opportunity to make decisions that affect their own lives
  • Violence against any person, particularly woman and children is unacceptable
  • That there is always hope and therefore change is possible.

Nami believes that role modelling her values and beliefs through her behaviour can show people alternative ways of living and being to violence. For Nami this means being gentle, kind and caring, sharing with others; treating others how she wants to be treated; showing respect, and following lore and cultural beliefs. These values have developed over a lifetime but were significantly shaped at the death of her son during alcohol-fuelled violence.   Rather than take revenge against the other family, Nami chose to act with forgiveness and found a non-violent path through prayer. Her commitment to Christian values, gives Nami the strength to “love the enemy”. Nami’s father was also a significant role model who had “love for everyone”. Although her heart has been broken many times, Nami knows that she is a stronger woman today for surviving difficult times in her life. Her drive to help her own people by living out her values is significantly shaped by her life experience.

Skills

Nami reads a book about fighting to the children during a group session on the beach.

Nami reads a book about fighting to the children during a group session on the beach.

It may seem like a basic counselling skill, but attentive listening is so important in this work. Aboriginal people have been ignored for so long, that it would be unjust and disrespectful to continue to impose Western solutions to Aboriginal problems without listening to their own expressed needs, hopes and dreams for change. Lucy’s strengths are also in asking the right questions in ways which are appropriate for Aboriginal communication styles, developing trust and rapport by focusing on building relationships, finding creative and safe ways for people to tell their stories, identifying people’s strengths and supports, linking people in to other services or workers, and having genuine positive regard for people with an open mind and non-judgemental attitude.

Nami feels that she is often at the forefront of family and community disputes as a mediator. Her skills are in using her “voice” in “strong hard ways” so that people get the message that violence won’t be tolerated. She reminds people fighting of their kinship ties and the responsibility this brings. She also knows when it’s the right time to walk away, in order to prevent getting caught up in violence acts herself.

In our counselling work, Nami is instrumental in gaining the trust of children and putting adults at ease, by communicating in her first language about our roles and the work we do. She is a translator and cultural guide for Lucy. Nami knows when it is the right time to talk about difficult issues with children and when it would be inappropriate, by reading intuit body language that looks quite unremarkable to Lucy. Nami’s intuition tells her when a child could become upset, angry or re-traumatised.  Such information is vital for the counsellor.

Using Art to yarn about Aboriginal people’s Strong and Healthy picture of the future

This week Christine and I have been preparing for the CAAPS Open Day. CAAPS will be celebrating 30 years supporting Health and Wellbeing in the Northern Territory.

Christine creating her strong and healthy picture

One of the things we’ll be offering visitors is an opportunity to make some art. Art therapy is a non-threatening, creative and stimulating way to engage people in stories about their lives. This form of self expression doesn’t even needs words, as the story transforms itself from the person’s body, mind and spirit onto the blank paper.

While we are using this activity for a bit of fun, it also benefits people who are experiencing illness or pain or are seeking to make major changes towards a healthier lifestyle (such as giving up drinking or smoking). The process invites them to think about the things that will help them move towards healing and a healthy life, rather than dwelling in the symptoms they might be experiencing. This exercise was helpful to me recently in my awfully slow recovery from chronic back pain caused by a bulging disc. I suffered with chronic pain for four months. My ‘strong and healthy picture’ helped me to stay hopeful, patient and connected with the things that support me in good health, so that the negative thinking and pain didn’t pull me back down. It could have been very easy to slip into depression if I didn’t keep reminding myself that recovery was possible.

Drawing on Malchiodi’s ‘Symbol of Health’, we’ve called this exercise developing ‘A strong and healthy picture’. These words seem to resonate with Aboriginal folk. Christine and I took an hour and a half of relaxing time to draw and create our own picture using this process.

Step 1. Take a few minutes to think about what makes you feel strong and healthy in your mind, body and spirit. This might include:

  • People that support you
  • Activities that make you feel good
  • Places you like to go
  • Sports
  • Food you eat
  • What you do to make stress go away
  • Changes you have recently made in your life

Step 2.  Create your “strong and healthy picture” using the materials provided. (We had textas, pastels, magazine cuts/pictures, fabric, glue and scissors available).

Step 3.  Is there anything missing? Add the things you would like to have more of in the future.

Step 4.  Take your picture home and put it in a place to remind you about what keeps you strong and healthy and any future goals.

At the end of our creative session, I invited Christine to reflect on her picture.

What is your picture about?

It’s about the old man telling stories for kids and the land. About painting too. He teaches them how to make the camp fire. Doing dancing and singing. Catching kangaroo and yam.

How do all these things keep you strong and healthy? Why are they important to you?

It’s the way he teaches young people, to keep our knowledge strong. And telling us, how to hunt, how to do [culture things]. When you see the picture it’s going to tell you clearly how you’re to do things.

Where do you see yourself in the picture?

Here, where the land is. It keeps me strong in the nature. How we go to hunt. How we go to catch something to feed for ourselves. There’s a lot of things we can get from the sea – seafoods. Even something from the land, bush tucker.

How do you feel when you’re out there on country?

Good. I feel great. And it makes me get lots of ideas to think. If I go through the bushes and to the beach, ideas come to me.

Is it like ‘strong thinking’ out there?

Yes, feel strong in my mind.

If this picture could talk to you what would it say?

If family went to the beach for hunting or something, it will tell you everything you can get.

It would say “I’ve got all the food that you will need”?

Yo, yo.

Creating a positive picture of health and wellbeing can serve as a reminder during difficult times of where you want to be, so that you don’t slip back into bad habits or spiral into negative thinking and behaviour.

You don’t even need to be ill or suffering to benefit from this uplifting activity. Why not take an hour to indulge yourself this weekend? Find a spot where you can be alone, put on some relaxing music and get creative!

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Lucy’s strong and healthy picture

thyroid

Is medicine failing you? How I healed myself from subclinical thyroid autoimmune disease (Hashimoto’s) with food and a bit of curious enquiry

thyroidIf you are a woman in your 30’s or 40’s, I have written this story for you. You might have thyroid auto-immune disease and not even know it yet. In October last year, I presented to my doctor with bloating and a low grade sickly feeling in my stomach which had persisted for four weeks. I began to use the sofa to take little cat naps during my lunch break and by three in the afternoon I felt like clocking off work altogether. I was jolted when I got a recall notice from my doctor and she revealed I had a Thyroid Stimulating Hormone levels of 5.63 with a normal range of 0.40-4.00. Consistent with hypothyroidism, the doctor advised it’s too early to medicate and would retest me in a month. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, it would also explain the dry hair, fogginess in my head and increased weight gain round my middle. She did say that “lots of women develop thyroid problems at your age” and tried to reassure me that it was easily treated with thyroxine, a synthetic hormone replacement that I would need to take for the rest of my life. Not content to just accept this fate, I set out to educate myself about the thyroid. A friend loaned me a somewhat controversial book “Take Control of Your Health and Escape the Sickness Industry which opened my eyes to the ways the medical profession used thyroxine to solve the problem of the sluggish thyroid. I was shocked but also took the information with a grain of salt. However, curiosity led me to delve deeper.   I consulted with my naturopath who started me on Metagenics Thyrobalance and iodine supplements to boost my thyroid and correct my gut digestion. She also told me that the normal range for TSH in Australia is higher than in countries like America, meaning that a TSH above 2 should start to ring alarm bells. My naturopath recommended I get a food intolerance test from Dorte Peterson at Coolalinga. It is the best $80 I’ve ever spent on my health. The test revealed my gut could not digest wheat, full cream dairy products, caffeine, white sugar, honey, table salt, tap water (unfiltered), as well as pork, the odd fruit or vegetable and 23 different food additives. It was painstaking as I went into Christmas with a reduced list of foods I could eat. But I‘m proud of the fact I was able to give up things I really loved like coffee. And I was starting to feel much better for it. Dorte then put me onto Sandra Cabot’s book “Your Thyroid Problems Solved”.

My second blood test in November revealed a lower but still abnormal TSH of 4.69 and this time my doctor tested Antithyroglobulin with a result of 175 (normal range <61). I had the early stages of autoimmune thyroid disease, where the immune system attacks the thyroid gland mistaking it for an alien body. With more knowledge about what I was dealing with, I advocated with my doctor to treat it naturally. Although my metabolism was being affected, I could still function reasonably well.   The doctor told me it was only a matter of time before I would have to go on thyroxine.

I started sharing my diagnosis with my friends. It seemed every second person I told said “I’m on thyroxine”. I was alarmed. Why were so many women being struck down with underactive thyroids? There has to be a reason and I wanted to find out what it is so that I can treat the cause.

These are just a few of the things I learnt about the thyroid from Sandra Cabot that seemed to be most relevant to my health.

  • gluten is capable of stimulating the immune system to produce autoantibodies. Research shows that a high proportion of people with autoimmune thyroid disease are gluten intolerant. I believe there are women walking around today that don’t even realise they could be gluten intolerant and potentially in the first stages of this disease, as sometimes there are no digestive symptoms at all. I had already given up wheat about two years ago so now I cut out rye, oats, barley and spelt.
  • Casein, the protein in cow’s milk is known to be irritating to the immune system. It promotes excessive mucus production and histamine release and should be avoided if you have a thyroid condition. This was consistent with the symptoms I would have after drinking milky coffee. It just sat on the bottom of my stomach and didn’t feel right. I started listening to my body and realised this felt like subtle heartburn symptoms. Now I use almond or rice milk.
  • Many people are consuming fluoride in quantities that is known to suppress the production of T3 and T4 hormones in the thyroid gland. Fluoride also inhibits the secretion of TSH by the pituitary gland, thereby affecting the thyroid’s ability to secrete thyroid hormone. Chlorine (widely used in water purification) and bromine (contained in a number of consumer products and used in manufacturing industry) also cause similar effects in the body. I’ve made the switch to filtered water.
  • Several pesticides have the ability to disrupt normal thyroid gland function and even cause thyroid cancer. These include chlorpyrifos, amitrole, pyrethrins and pyrethroids, dioxins, PCB’s, EBDC’s and perchlorate. Luckily, I started eradicating chemicals I used in the home and garden quite a few years ago and I try to eat organic foods wherever I can to reduce exposure to pesticides.
  • A toxic build up of heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead in the body can also have a detrimental effect on the thyroid gland. Ironically, I discovered I had a crack in an amalgam filling in my mouth in February. Some believe that amalgam fillings even when undisturbed slowly leak mercury into the blood stream over time.   Was this a coincidence or catalyst? I decided not to take any chances of further unnecessary exposure and flew to Brisbane in February to have all my amalgam fillings removed. Only a holistic dentist, like Dental Wellness can ensure that you are not exposed to toxic mercury gases when the old amalgam is drilled out of your mouth. Most dentists will try to convince you there is no harm involved in having amalgam fillings removed in the dentist chair. Yes, it’s true that science has not proven a danger, but they said the same thing about asbestos years ago.
  • Adrenal hormone imbalance can often coincide with thyroid disorders. Adrenal exhaustion occurs after prolonged periods of stress. Symptoms that I could relate to included fatigue, feeling most energetic in the evenings, low blood pressure, feeling faint, loss of libido, sensitivity to cold, difficulty concentrating and a foggy brain. The last six months at work had been a particularly difficult time causing physical and emotional stress. I knew it and I was taking action to address it including making a decision at the end of 2013 to step down from my FIFO job.
  • Iodine is essential for the production of thyroid hormones. If you eat seafood three times a week and use iodised sea salt you should consume the required amount of 150 mg a day. A deficiency in selenium can also contribute to the development of autoimmune thyroid disease.   In Australia, the depletion of selenium from our soils, means that it is almost impossible to get an adequate amount of selenium in your diet from our crops.
  • Zinc is essential for a healthy immune system. Zinc deficiency has been shown to cause low levels of T3 and T4 in the bloodstream. I have been zinc deficient for many years and with supplements still struggle to maintain healthy levels. It is very easy to test if you are zinc deficient, with a zinc tally test.

These are only a few of the factors that might contribute to the onset of autoimmune thyroid disease.

A lifestyle and diet change made all the difference to my thyroid.

I was hoping that the changes I’d made to my diet and lifestyle would start to pay off. I was rewarded in February when my TSH returned a normal result. I tried to engage my new male ‘science-is-the-only-thing-that-works’ doctor in a conversation about natural treatments for hypothyroidism, only to feel like I was beating my head against a brick wall. I would prove him wrong. In May I advocated to retest my antibodies. The level had dropped to 79 (almost within normal range). I was ecstatic. My doctor remained unconvinced. ‘Where is Cabott’s evidence?’ he asked. The evidence is in the number of patients Cabbot has assisted. For whatever reason, addressing diet and improving digestive function appears to work.

So if you are in your 30’s or 40’s and you have never had a thyroid function test (TFT), I would urge you to ask your doctor for one, especially if you have the slightest symptoms of feeling tired, have put on weight, feel yourself slowing down and feel foggy in your head. The are many other symptoms too. If your doctor says your TSH, T4 and T3 are normal, and tries to convince you there is nothing wrong, look at the results yourself. If your TSH is above 2, ask for a Antithyroid peroxidase and Antithyroglobulin test. In the early stages of thyroid autoimmune disease, your TFT may still ‘appear’ normal but your antibodies may be raised. This will be the optimal time to prevent and treat the disease.  With a bit of curious persistence and addressing your diet, maybe you can also heal yourself from the onset of serious thyroid disease requiring medical intervention.

UPDATE December 2014:  My last blood test revealed my thyroid auto-antibodies are now back within normal range.  There is now no evidence of thyroid disease.  I feel blessed to have healed myself by taking my health into my own hands!

References:   2006, ‘Your Thyroid Problems Solved’, Dr Sandra Cabot & Margaret Jasinska ND.

utopia-john-pilger

Peeling back the onion layers: How do you ‘do’ trauma-informed work?

utopia1There appears to be a large number of health and allied health professionals who have not even heard of ‘trauma-informed practice’, let alone enact it.   To me, it’s a no-brainer. If you work in the Northern Territory, this beats ‘cultural awareness’ training hands-down.

Last week, I went to hear Larrakia man Ash Dargan’s presentation on Trauma-Informed Workplaces, an activity of Reconciliation week for Larrakia Nation. Ash studied under the guidance and mentoring of Professor Judy Atkinson, author of Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines: The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia. Perhaps Ash best sums up trauma-informed practice as “looking through a trauma informed lens…where our perspective shifts from ‘something is wrong with this person’ to ‘something has happened to this person’”. It requires a large step away from the Western dominant medical model which has oppressed Aboriginal people for so long. Rather than ‘doing’ to, we can start to think about ‘being with’.

So before we can ‘do’ trauma-informed work, we need a thorough understanding of what trauma is, the complex layers of trauma Aboriginal people have been exposed to since Colonisation and how it plays out in people’s lives today. The ‘babushkas’ diagram which came out of the Healing For Stolen Generations Discussion Paper offers a diagrammatic way to appreciate this complexity that affects individuals, families and communities. Most of us are familiar with the layers of historical trauma – massacres, removal from country, child removal, suppression of culture and language, social control and disease.

utopia-john-pilgerFor a different and somewhat controversial perspective, you could watch “Utopia” like I did on Saturday night. I think this was John Pilger’s latest attempt to try to educate the unsympathetic on the impact of the invasion on Australia’s First Nation peoples. It was an attempt to shock the white population using guilt and shame as leverage for social action, however I don’t believe this approach is helpful. Guilt is not my motivation for participating in the Reconciliation Movement nor working with Indigenous people. Social justice and human rights – yes, guilt – no. Ironically, Utopia also appeared to retraumatise some Aboriginal community members from the tone of messages and sadness expressed on Facebook after the show. Anyway, that’s another story.

Alternatively, Ash offers another way of appreciating the snow-balling effect of First Contact in the ‘generational mapping of trauma’. In the first generation, males were killed and imprisoned and females were sexually abused. The next generation of men turned to alcohol and drugs (freely given by white people) as their cultural and spiritual identity was stripped away and their self worth eroded. The third generation saw men turned on their spouses and society. In the fourth generation, spousal assault turned into child abuse. And in the fifth generation, the cycle starts all over again. Trauma plays out today in unbelievably high rates of imprisonment, substance abuse, racism, child removal, poverty, family violence, lateral violence, and higher rates of suicide, poor health outcomes and lower life expectancy compared to non-Aboriginal Australians.

Ash views First Contact between black and white Australians like a raging bushfire that blazed through the country, out of control, blackening everything in its path. But the smoke is still hanging around. I think that as long as there is no justice or recognition or learning from past mistakes, Aboriginal people won’t be able to see through the smoke. And whitefellas will continue to retraumatise, like the unacceptably high rates of child removal that are still occurring as reported by the ABC on May 26th.

So how does an understanding of historical and contemporary trauma help us ‘do’ trauma informed work? Ash asks us to view Aboriginal people like an onion. We have no idea of the many layers of trauma that they may have experienced throughout their lifetime, and maybe we will only ever peel off one or two. But with an understanding there is more, we are more likely to peel gently and respectfully.

I can’t help but be bought back to the notion of ‘Dadirri’, the inner deep listening and quiet still awareness that Miriam Rose Ungenmerr-Bauman  says is in each one of us.  She also said “Our people are used to the struggle and the long waiting. We still wait for the white people to understand us better. We ourselves have spent many years learning about the white man’s ways; we have learnt to speak the white man’s language; we have listened to what he had to say. This learning and listening should go both ways. We would like people to take time and listen to us.” The skill of Dadirri has taught me how to sit quiet and listen to Aboriginal people as they tell me their story of abuse or pain or hurt or trauma. But Dadirri invites us to look inside our own hearts. I was reminded of this, in break-time during Ash’s presentation when I bumped into an Aboriginal healer I hadn’t seen for a while. I had hardly said a word, when it felt like he was staring into my heart to see what was troubling me. He simply said the answer is inside me, and to find it I block out all the noise in the room and listen for the silence. Even over the top of loud chatter, I could hear white noise. It was calm and peaceful.

This is what healing is all about. Healing from trauma is not something one can ‘do’ to another. Others can show us the way, but it is something we need to do for ourselves.   We have to listen to what is inside our heart.   Perhaps trauma-informed work then, is not so much about ‘doing’, but ‘being’.

“We know we cannot live in the past, but the past lives in us” – Charles Perkins

If you’d like to read more on trauma-informed practice, check out my Resource section.

long-grassers

5 Small Steps Towards Healing for Long-grassers* Longing to go Home

Last week I was stopped in the street by a young man, expecting tolong-grassers be asked for three dollars to catch a bus.  I know him from not that many years ago when working on the Tiwi Islands.   He held down a respected community job assisting people to access legal services and he appeared to have a good support network of likeminded young men.   I don’t know what bought him to Darwin, but now like many of his fellow kind, he finds himself stuck here, homeless in the long grass.  Despite accessing rehabilitation, he stood before me, the overpowering scent of alcohol on his breath and a bloody, egg shaped lump on his forehead.  I’d never seen him looking so dishevelled, desperate and lost.  Before he could ask me for the dough, concerned, I quickly interjected “what happened?  Are you OK?”.  He replied politely and articulately, he had been beaten by his partner and that he really should leave the relationship.  When I asked what stops him from leaving, he replied he couldn’t go back home because he wouldn’t be welcome there.   My heart sank in sadness.  He continued “you know I’m gay right?” and proceeded to tell me that he was worried about what the mob back home think about him.  I knew there were plenty of young men back home just like him and they have developed a really strong network with each other.  Attitudes are changing.  “What matters most is what is in here…” I said, resting my hand on his chest “what you think about yourself, not what others think about you”.  He looked hard and deep into my eyes, eventually brought our conversation to an end and turned to walk off.  I noticed he had not asked me for any money this time.  I wondered whether my offering was better than three dollars?  Might this small conversation of care and concern be enough for him to consider returning home?

With the prodigal son story in the back of my mind, I couldn’t imagine anyone returning home from their community after such a long time away would be ostracised, but instead welcomed home with open loving arms.  And I was right.  My guest bloggers this week – Elaine Tiparui, Cathy Stassi and Patricia Munkara – confirmed my hunch that family do worry and care about their lost loved ones living in the long grass and want them all to come back home.  It doesn’t matter what they have done or who they are.  They are still family.

Here are Elaine, Cathy and Patricia’s five tips for helping long-grassers take that first step in returning home.

1.  Tell them “Believe in Yourself”

Cathy says  “They’ve got to believe in themself.  They’ve got to say ‘I put trust in my family’.  It’s a big step, but they could say, ‘yes I need to go home’ and see if it’s going to work.  [They can] take pride in who they are.  Throw away the shame.   Go and deal with the problem.  Face it and I’m sure their family will have an open arm for them.”
We use tough love with our families.  When they take the first step and take responsibility for their actions, we will be there for them.

2.  Give some practical help

Patricia says “Some long grass people, they get phone calls from family, from us.  And then they want to go back home.”    So ask them for a phone number that a family member can ring them on and help them to reconnect.   Whenever Elaine sees a longgrasser in town, she sits down, talks with them, meets their friends and offers to buy some food instead of giving money which might be used for grog.  We can talk to them about what is happening and if they are in trouble help them to find a solution.  They might agree to come back home if they can see we care.
A few years ago concerned Tiwi Elders had a meeting in the long grass and they helped Tiwi people return home, with financial support from Larrakia Nation.  Elaine says “I tell them you have to look after yourself.  If you need to talk to me again, you come and see me and I’ll put you on the plane.”

3.  Help them reconnect with family

“Some of them haven’t been back since they were kids.  They might have grandkids they’ve never met.” says Cathy.  “The kids need to know who they are and he needs to learn where he stands with the kids.  The kids might be missing out on the knowledge that they’ve got.   They might need to connect with family that have passed away.  They should go and visit their grave.  And tell them, ‘I’m back home’”.
“When they say that’s my friends there” in the longgrass, Elaine is quick to remind them about their “grandchildren, mum, Auntie and sister” back home.

4.  Remind them of their country

There are old people that can take them out bush when they come back home.  “Eat some bush tucker, we say that to them” says Patricia.  “Get some fresh air, sea, water, food.  Go home, back to our country.  Try something new.   Instead of doing the same thing.  Because some have been away a long time.”  Elaine says “It’s up to them, not us, but we can heal them”.   They can throw all the bad stuff into the fire.

5.  Help them to see they are missed

For every Tiwi longgrasser living in Darwin, there is a family member back home that cares and worries about them.   Cathy says “They are being missed.  There’s always a safe place for them to go; a person there, to talk about the issue that they’re facing.”   Elaine says “no one judges them.”

We can all feel a bit helpless at times, when we see a homeless person on the street.  But you never know where a small conversation of care and concern will take them.  Do you know their story?  What thoughts and feelings might be stopping them from going home?  This may be the first small step on the road to healing for our long grassers.
If you or someone you know living in the long-grass needs support, we recommend Larrakia Nation to continue the conversation and help our mob get home.

Patricia    cathy    Elaine

(Strong Tiwi women: L to R)  Patricia Munkara lives and works in Wurrumiyanga.  Cathy Stassi lives and works in Pirlangimpi.  Elaine Tiparui is an Elder from Wurrumiyanga.  They all work as Child and Family Support Workers at Relationships Australia NT.

* According to Wikipedia, long-grasser is a contemporary word for a fringe dweller who camps “on the outskirts of Australian towns and cities, from which they have become excluded, generally through law or land alienation.”  It is especially relevant in “Northern Australia where year-long warm weather conditions allow itinerant Aborigines to live indefinitely on the outskirts of towns without official places of residence.”
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How Aboriginal women of the Tiwi Islands are reclaiming the knowledge of traditional healing practices

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Preparing for traditional healing smoking ceremony, Tiwi Islands

Last year, while working at Relationships Australia I was in the privileged position to be involved in a healing ceremony for a teenager who had recently returned to her community after many years away.  At that time, I had been working on the Tiwi Islands for six years and I had often wondered why the Tiwi people weren’t using more traditional ceremonial practices in their daily lives to heal the children, women and families that were accessing support through our counselling service.  Did they think that whitefellas had all the answers about how to solve the problems blackfellas experienced?  That Tiwi knowledge and traditional ways had nothing valuable to offer?    Had the women lost the knowledge about how to do these traditional healing ceremonies?   Or were they feeling disempowered due to lack of resources to offer it?   It is very much part of my belief system that Tiwi culture offers so much in terms of emotional and spiritual healing, and in fact, empowering Tiwi people to heal themselves and each other is really the only way to make long lasting change from the impacts of intergenerational trauma.  The traditional knowledge is there – I had heard it being talked about by old ladies for many years and I had seen a beautiful strong culture in action in various places – the art centres, out on bush camps, at footy games, at funerals and at Kulama ceremony time.   So why was it then that Tiwi people did not feel confident to speak up and advocate for people accessing our counselling services?  I imagined them saying strongly to me “What is needed here is to take this person out bush and do a smoking ceremony – that’s it, that will heal them”!   I would have been totally supportive of such an initiative.

Despite my approach to social work practice which explicitly values two way learning, I was never asked to support a traditional healing ceremony for any of our clients.   Until last year.  And even then, I had to drop a hint into the ear of my cultural mentor “What would you have done in the old days if someone came home after being away a really long time?”  I waited, then followed up with the more direct “Would you have done some healing on her?   Our client, having lived in foster care much of her life, didn’t know much about her family, didn’t know the language and appeared to be struggling a little with fitting in, a month or so after being reunited with much loved Aunts and grandmothers.   I could see the cogs ticking over in my cultural mentor’s mind, until a smile suddenly spread across her face.  She realised, as this girl’s grandmother, she could definitely round up all the women and take our teenager out bush for a proper Welcome-into-our-Tiwi-family healing ceremony.  So that’s what happened.

The word had spread gently but purposefully like a Dry Season burnoff through women’s channels in the community about what a difference this small gesture had made to the life of this teenager.  I saw the chameleon-like change with my own eyes – she came back from that healing time and place a totally different person.   The women were excited.   Shortly after this, when we were asked to make a presentation to the regular women’s group about the services that Relationships Australia offer, instead I suggested, we facilitate a conversation about the role of traditional healing in recovery from trauma.  So that’s what they did.  It is so important that Tiwi women feel empowered to continue to value their knowledge and traditional healing practices, so that they may offer it to others who are hurting, lost or traumatised by their past.  There are individuals and families that stand to benefit from these women’s healing hands, where Western counselling practices simply cannot go.

While I was able to bring a twist to the discussion by offering an opportunity for the women in the group to make a collage picture representing “What traditional Healing means to you?”, the Tiwi workers largely held the space on their own, with their awesome presence, age-old wisdom and loving devotion to each other.  What was an isolated event for a teenager has now turned into a conversation which aims to keep traditional healing alive, by reclaiming forgotten stories, educating the young people and more actions to go out bush with the holders of this ancient knowledge.

The Tiwi women kindly allowed us to record some of their stories, so it would not be forgotten.  Their hope is that their ‘Messages of Hope’ might assist other communities to bring back the traditional healing practices that have been passed down to them.

Because you know what?   Sometimes we just have to give people a little push to remember the value of what once was.

Please watch their story and feel free to leave a message to send back to them.

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Chasing the Dream

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Travelling remote every week takes its toll

So this is my first post and probably my most important.  Some of my closest friends and colleagues are probably wondering what I’ve been doing in the last month?  To understand how I’ve come to be doing what I am today, it’s best to begin this story in November last year.   Unexpectedly, I had a positive thyroid antibodies blood test returned from my doctor.  The comment “Positive for auto-immune disease” struck me at my core.  Hashimoto’s disease as it is affectionately known was causing my immune system to attack my thyroid and affect my metabolism.  That would explain why I was struggling to get through a week without feeling drained.  Travelling every week to remote communities was tiring enough without having this disease to fight against, so I told my boss I couldn’t keep doing my job as a Children’s Counsellor and Community Worker in the Tiwi Islands in 2014.  This was the most difficult decision I have had to make professionally but I had to deal with my health.  Thankfully it seemed I had caught it early and there was hope of treating it naturally before having to resort to taking synthetic hormones.
I desperately didn’t want to leave Relationships Australia NT as I loved community work and I had established a great team of Aboriginal colleagues.  So I put a proposal to them.  Keep me employed for a three month term to find the funding to establish a new program we had been developing called ‘Healing Our Children’.  This would allow me to keep working with the Tiwi communities but without the heavy demanding schedule of travelling every week.  It would also allow me to move into an area of work I’ve become very passionate about – PREVENTION OF TRAUMA.

Now I want to take you back four and a half years.   Since 2009, I’ve been providing counselling and follow up support for many Indigenous women and children who’ve been affected by family and domestic violence.  Indeed, some of the children we were counselling were going straight back home to an unsafe environment!  I picked up strong messages from Elders and women on the Tiwi Islands and in NE Arnhemland that they were worried about their grandchildren.  Much of their concerns related to children’s responses to witnessing domestic and family violence, alcohol and substance misuse in their families, intergenerational and personal grief and loss issues, child abuse or neglect and other traumatic events.  I started talking with a couple of Elders about how we could have conversations with women we knew were living with violence, but would feel shamed and blamed if we talked directly with them about their experience.

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Women’s group – Family Healing Bush Camp 2012

Around this time a number of other things were happening.  We were co-ordinating family healing bush camps, taking our clients out bush and co-facilitating narrative group activities such as the Tree of Life.  It was very obvious to me that being on their country improves the holistic health of the whole family – physically, mentally, socially, spiritually.  Their relationship with the land provided entry points to engage in difficult conversations!   There was also a growing interest towards neurobiological perspectives of trauma which we brought to our counselling work, and I began to teach our Aboriginal support workers some of these stories about what happens to the brain when young children are exposed to violence.  Out of this, grew a desire to collaborate and produce a resource, which would invite women into safe conversations to explore the effects of trauma on children’s development at four stages of the life cycle.  Elders felt that women must hear the ‘brain story’ to give them a proper explanation of why their primary school aged child might be “going off the rails” or their teenager harming themselves!  This was an opportunity for understanding, integration and healing.  The conversations would also provide food for thought about what women might do differently if they were pregnant or had a young baby.  An opportunity for prevention!  And so after an extensive period of consultation, trialling and development with communities in Tiwi and NE Arnhemland, the “It Takes A Forest to Raise a Tree” talking tool was finally launched in August 2013.

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‘It Takes a Forest’ talking tool

Relationships Australia did keep me around until April 2014 to try to find funding to launch ‘Healing Our Children’, but despite my best efforts, funding for this new program was not found.  This program would employ, train and empower local people to run educational support groups using the resources we’d developed.  However, without the funds to keep me any longer, my employment ended.  So here I am, on the road to recovery from my own health challenges and chasing the dream.  I decided to set up …Metaphorically Speaking as a launching pad to make ‘Healing Our Children’ a reality.  I’m just not willing to give up just yet.

It’s time we started looking at preventing the long-term impact that exposure to violence has on the generation being born right now.  I know that I can’t stop the cycle of violence.  But I do believe I can make a great difference in stopping the cycle of trauma, through culturally sensitive education and support of Aboriginal women with children (especially unborn babies and toddlers) who are at risk of exposure to violence.   By stopping the trauma in the first three years of life, I believe we will start to see a decline in behavioural issues in older children, mental health issues including suicide in our youth, aggression and rage, and even criminal behaviour and incarceration, as these children instead grow up to be strong, healthy, functioning and proud Aboriginal men and women.

Relationships Australia NT has demonstrated their ongoing commitment to  ‘Healing Our Children’.  I also have the written support of a number of child and family services on the Tiwi Islands, ready to host this program.  All we need is a funding partner who wants to make a real difference in the lives of children in remote Aboriginal communities.  A small commitment for a pilot project would allow us in partnership to implement a 12 month trial and evaluation.  I am really excited about the potential of this work in other communities across the NT.  If you know someone who shares our passion to stop the trauma, just send them this five minute video clip.  Click here for further information about ‘Healing Our Children’.

And for those who are wondering, I’ll be sharing more about my own journey of healing from subclinical autoimmune thyroid disease in further posts.  I’ve made some amazing discoveries that may be of benefit to others questioning if there are alternatives to taking synthetic thyroid hormones for the rest of your life.