Why can’t Commissioner Andrew Jackomos imagine a life without Aboriginal Health Workers?
news Sept-Nov 2017
Left to right: Kate Lahiff - Senior Adviser Youth Justice - Koori Advisory and Engagement Team, Andrew Jackomos Commissioner for Children and Young People, Nathanial Taylor - Manager - Koori Advisory and Engagement Team, Keilara Briggs - Executive Assistant to Andrew Jackomos, Wayne Freeman - Senior Adviser Aboriginal Children and Families Koori Advisory and Engagement Team.
After almost five years in his position as Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People, Andrew Jackomos has announced he will not seek reappointment next year. VACCHO thought now was the time to get his thoughts on what the role of Aboriginal Health Workers play in the Victorian Aboriginal wellbeing landscape. Everybody knows you’re the Commissioner, but can you tell us a little bit about your background? I’m a Yorta Yorta man. Always was, always will be. My mother’s bloodlines are Yorta Yorta primarily on her father’s side and Gunditjmara/Tunnerong on her mother’s side. Nell Morgan (nee Morgan), born and raised on Cummeragunja Mission, and my father is Australian born of Greek heritage from an island called
Kastellorizo which is the furthest Greek island from the mainland. He was born in Melbourne, Carlton. Grew up in the Koori community in Collingwood, Fitzroy, and lived his life primarily working in an Aboriginal community. Is that how he met your mum? So he met my mum through his friendships in the Koori community. Primarily Aunty Melva Johnson introduced my father to my mum. Little bit of a short story, my father grew up in Collingwood and is best mates with Banjo Clarke. My father, during the war, fought in the armed forces and boxing tournaments. After the war he fought in Jimmy Sharman’s and other boxing tents on the East coast. On one Friday after work he was heading up to Shepparton to fight for Jimmy Sharman’s at the Shepparton Show and my mum
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was on the train; she and her sister Aunty Liz Morgan (Hoffman) were living at the Salvation Army Girls’ Home Spring House on Spring Street. Dad was going up to Shepparton for the show, mum was heading up to Shepparton to stay with family for the weekend down the river flats between Mooroopna and Shep, and dad made a pass at mum on the train. First time he met her – and then she made some comment like, “Get away you...”. Anyway, a week or so later, dad – who was best mates with Aunty Melva Johnson – was standing on the corner of Spring and Bourke Street outside the Windsor Hotel. He saw mum and Aunty Liz standing on the corner. He said to Aunty Melva, “That’s the girl I was telling you about on the train.” And Aunty Melva said, “That’s my cousin.” Anyway, here I am. I’ve always thanked Aunty Melva for playing that very important part in my life’s history.
So can we ask why you took on the role of Commissioner? It’s a big one and it’s a tough one and it’s the only one in Australia. I took on the role because I saw there was a job to be done. I believed at the time that I had the necessary skills, experience, drive and commitment to do it. I’m a father of four daughters and now grandfather of a couple of granddaughters and I wanted to see all children in a safe, strong, rich culture. I saw this role as playing a part of that. So having children and grandchildren, do you think health workers are needed in areas of Aboriginal children, young people and community? For me, Aboriginal health services – I think it’s important to talk about health services before the workers – Aboriginal health services are critical, foundational institutions within our community. They more than just provide health
services, medical services – they are points of contact; they are points that promote identity, they promote health and wellbeing. They are centres of connection where people come together to strengthen culture. They’re an opportunity for people to see each other, as well as provide employment. But, for me, Aboriginal health services – whether it’s in Nicholson Street, Bairnsdale, Mildura or wherever, are key centres for our Aboriginal community – building cultural connections as well as good health and wellbeing. And it probably goes into the issue that the majority of Victorian Aboriginal children in out-of-home care are placed in non-Aboriginal placements. They are placed outside of the community and a lot of them don’t have contact with either their siblings or cousins, extended family, or other Koori kids. The majority don’t have that opportunity or right to have
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Contents 1 Why can’t Commissioner Andrew Jackomos imagine a life without Aboriginal Health Workers?
4 Wathaurong health workers: their stories and journeys 7 Rewarding careers in Aboriginal health 8 A dream 30 years in the making 11 Out and about
that, purely as a result of child placement principles. And I see that it’s crucial that our children in out-of-home care each have their first and continued health checks at Aboriginal health services. Koori kids have particular health needs, there’s that, and there’s specialist health specialists – Aboriginal health workers – who can relate to the children, who are trained in certain elements. It’s also an opportunity for the kids to play in the playground that’s attached to many health centres with other Koori kids. Many of them may be their siblings, cousins or extended family. Most Aboriginal health services have a notice board, you know? It’s an opportunity for non-Aboriginal carers of our children to see what activities are happening here, local, State, regional. When I meet with a lot of non-Aboriginal carers the thing they say to me is that they don’t know where to go to take the kids for cultural connections. Having our Aboriginal children attend specialist Aboriginal health services provides an opportunity for carers to connect, for the kids to connect and carers to connect. When I hear stories of a 6 year old child who is in kinship with the grandmother, but under a guardianship order where the Secretary of the Department is the parent and the kid has no teeth. That’s multi-layered neglect
through a range of individuals, agencies and the Department. If that child was having regular and minimal annual health checks – as they should be having – then that child wouldn’t be in that situation.
our children need, and they can only get that at the moment from Aboriginal health services, albeit underfunded.
So it’s failing?
I find this question difficult to answer because I can’t imagine a future without AHWs. I have my health and medical needs met by the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS). I’m a regular customer. I only go to VAHS for my medical needs and health needs and probably wellbeing needs as well. VAHS on Nicholson Street. You’re welcome there – the first assessments are done by the Aboriginal Health Workers – and I think it’s important because they have empathy, they can relate to the patients and the children.
Yeah. And I think there’s another important thing: every child that’s removed from family – forcibly removed – for whatever the reasons and placed in out-ofhome care are traumatised. The degree of trauma depends on the reasons why they were moved, and we know in Victoria that nine out of ten of our children are removed because of family violence. And, for me, children aren’t collateral violence; they are true victims of family violence. So they are suffering from the trauma that they witnessed, that they experience, and they carry. That trauma is unresolved trauma, and increasingly now we’re seeing, it’s been identified, the need for Koori specific therapeutic care, counselling and treatment. And you can only get that through Aboriginal health services at the moment. The Victorian Government is stepping up and announced recently that Korin Korin Balit-Djak, the Koori health and wellbeing strategy is investing, promoting and training Koori professionals in Aboriginal mental health, wellbeing, therapeutic care, and that’s what
So what would the future look like without AHWs?
For me, they’re a critical part of the system and Aboriginal health services. Doctors have their roles, reception have their roles, management have their roles and Aboriginal Health Workers, for me, are critical in doing the initial assessments, being part of the communications with clients and doctors. They’re Koori friendly. I’m a regular. I think they’re sick of me. For more information about the Commission for Children and Young People go to https:// ccyp.vic.gov.au. You can also get information on VAHS at www. vahs.org.au.
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Wathaurong health workers: their stories and journeys
VACCHO travelled down to beautiful Wurdi Youang Indigenous Protected Area to yarn with two of Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative’s Health Workers at their Community BBQ. Wurdi Youang is home to the world’s oldest solstice/equinox stone arrangement (approx. 10,000 years old) and is managed by Wathaurong as a culturally significant and heritage site.
Melissa Commons My name is Melissa Commons (above left with Judy Rosson, Bringing Them Home Worker/Counsellor) and I’ve been the Drug and Alcohol Clinician for six months now; I think it was yesterday! I have two roles though; I also work at Barwon Health as the Aboriginal Family Drug Support Worker one day a week, but then I work at Wathaurong four days a week. So, it can often cross over a little bit with clients in the Geelong community. I’m still searching for my roots. My stuff is all up at BDAC with a lady up there. So, I’m just waiting to hear something. I’m looking on both sides. But I’ve felt Aboriginality my whole life, so I’m just trying to explain it. A friend encouraged me the last three years, so that’s what I’m doing. I did a course probably 18 months ago with a local mob in Geelong and I got a Diploma and Cert IV in Mental Health and Alcohol and other Drugs. Then I’ve gained the two roles out of that so I’m pretty impressed. I’m very, very lucky but I also have lived experience and I think that’s definitely put me in better stead for how I can relate to people. I had a yandi addiction pretty much. I still functioned, but it was there. Three years ago I just stopped. I’d had enough and it was affecting my mental health greatly which people don’t realise that it does.
So, what does a day look like for you? Well, six months down the track, like I’m in and out the door constantly. I either do outreach so you book the car, and I generally have my week set the week before. So, I come in on the Tuesday and I’m go, go, go. Say, yesterday, I saw a person for the first time. I had someone else come back that had done a home withdrawal for alcohol and he needed more help, so, he’s probably going to do it again which is great. I work with people with all sorts of issues. With the drug and alcohol comes Child Protection, comes Justice so you’re liaising with all these other agencies. So, is the position about getting people connected to services? Definitely, there’s mental health involved too, so I will refer them to perhaps someone upstairs, a psychiatrist and I’ll have conversations with them. It’s pointing them all in the right directions. We do need to focus on AOD obviously, and my Barwon Health role is specifically working with Indigenous ice users. It’s a tough one because they don’t always present, and I can support their family members as well. Every time I talk to workers all around Victoria they say it’s hard not to take their work home. I definitely switch my phone off, but you can’t help it, sometimes you think about it when you go home. I don’t want to burn out either because you know, you do hit the ground running every day pretty much. But, honestly there’s New Tracks with Paul, and I sit next to the dual diagnosis clinician who’s awesome – Karen. Then Phil’s joined the team, I’ve got Judy who is awesome as well. We just do a gamut of stuff and we all work really well together. It’s about teamwork.
So, did you think you’d be here three years ago? No. No way. I was ready to leave. Pretty ready to leave the world, so that’s pretty sad. I was going to work, running my business, but I was just down. My mum passed and that turned my life around actually. I just thought I can’t keep living like this, this is crap, I’ve got so much more than this. So, yes. I just want to do the best I can. This is the early stage of my career as far as I’m concerned.
Paul Thornton So my name’s Paul Thornton (Below, sixth from right). I am employed at Wathaurong as a psychologist, and I’m currently the team leader for the newly funded Darrabarrook Karndoor program, which means ‘new track’. That program is targeting people with moderate to severe mental illness. But the people I work with are drug and alcohol workers, people with mental health training, counselling, psychiatry, Bringing Them Home workers and some community development type work as well. And at the same time, I’m acting health services manager as well. I’m originally from Ballarat. I was born in Canberra, but I grew up in Ballarat, which is Wathaurong Country of course. I came to Geelong about 13 years ago when the drought was on because I’m a fisherman and all the waterways dried up around Ballarat. Then then I realised that there were lots of job opportunities in Geelong for psychologists. I initially worked with Barwon Health’s hospitals admission risk program, which helps with people who frequently present to the emergency department. And then from there I worked with some members of the Wathaurong community and they liked the way I worked and they said to the community and the health services that they’d like me to go and work for them. I was invited by the community. So, that was a really key part, I think, to be welcomed in. I’m supervised by a psychologist by the name of [Graham G], he’s an Aboriginal psychologist. I catch up with him fairly regularly, but he helps me to work with the challenges of working within community,
mental health, looking after myself and planning for the future. So, what does a day look like for you then at work? Okay. A day for me … a psychology day could be seven patient bookings in seven and a half hours. Predominantly serious mental illness, trauma and personality disorders associated with growing up in really hard environments. I work with young kids who are at risk of falling out of school. I work with a whole range of the community. On a New Track day, which is the project work, it’s basically helping our staff who are new to understand what their roles are, to link with community, to respond in a timely and a culturally appropriate way. We use Wurdi Youang as a therapeutic intervention for people. Because it’s a connection to land it has been shown to have some real benefits to mental health. So, that’s one of the seven principles of social and emotional wellbeing for Aboriginal people, which I think works for all people. So, one’s connection to land, to community, to culture, to the family, to the ancestry, or spirituality, to physical health, and to mental health. I think that’s the seven principles. And so at the moment, we’re working on a project with Karreenga and Marngoneet prison, doing a bollard project. So, each of those principles will displayed in artwork by the prisoners themselves. And they’ll come up with their own symbols and pictures for those different elements. And then those bollards or pillars, as the guys have wanted to name them, will be placed around the grounds of Wathaurong to remind everyone about the seven principles … the seven pillars of health and wellbeing. Rod (CEO) was telling us that mental illness has just received an injection of funding? It has received funding. We’re a part of a pilot project, which has got significant funding, which will be chewed up by the resources we require to employ appropriate people. We’ve got a psychiatrist, myself, a psychologist, a psychiatric registrar, which is a psychiatrist in training. We’ve got Phil, our Aboriginal mental health
Continued on next page VACCHO NEWS September - November 2017
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Wathaurong Cultural Officer and Wurdi Youang Custodian Reg Abrahams Welcomes Community to Country
worker, we’ve got Karen, a dual diagnosis worker, and we’ve also got Gwenda, she’s our mentor coordinator. So, as using culture as a therapeutic intervention, we realise that there’s a lot of people within the community that hold a lot of cultural knowledge, but don’t have an opportunity to share that. So, we’re welcoming them, we’re going to pair those people up if they’re willing with clients and use their knowledge to help empower clients. We are a part of the regional pilot sites. There was to be a metropolitan site, but I think that’ll come on a little bit later. Our main goals are to reduce distress in people with moderate to severe mental illness. And that’s by following the medical paradigm of medication, and all the interventions around like medication or meditation, learning about mindfulness, and we’ve got some great psychiatrists that are helping people with that. But, it’s also the psychosocial things about making sure people have got food, and appropriate shelter, and access to education and employment. We identified that there’s a large proportion of men in the community that were involved in the justice system who had to do a men’s behaviour change program, because they were involved in the justice system because of breach of family intervention orders. But, locally, the waiting list for a bloke to
get into one of these programs was eight months. It’s nearly the end of their Order, and their Order would be reinstated because they hadn’t done their training. And the courses they offer are school-based. And they’re delivered predominantly by females. And Aboriginal fellas don’t really respond well … well a lot of adults don’t respond well in that classroom based environment with no … it’s tricky to say, but having a fella engaging you about your behaviour, rather than a female engaging, it seems, without saying the wrong thing, it’s nearly … it’s like a deficit model of intervention, rather than a strength based model of intervention. So, we came up with this idea of developing a project called Fishing for Answers. Fishing for Answers is about behaviour change and anger management. And it’s about communication skills. So, there’s an organisation in WA called the Centre for Clinical Intervention. So, they’d already developed a program that had what we required. And it was set at a level for 16 to 25 year olds with really plain language and really simple concepts. And so, we built our project around that. So, we come out here to Wurdi Youang. On site, the guys would participate in their community corrections order by doing weed spraying, tree planting, they’d also get certificates in land care management by doing fencing, OH&S, first aid. But, at lunch times we would do the behaviour
change project where we’d talk about the difference between aggression and being assertive, about improving communication with partners, about identifying triggers for behaviours. One of the key things with Fishing for Answers also was we a cultural consultant who talked with the guys about culture. A lot of the guys … a lot of people don’t realise that some Aboriginal people grow up with no knowledge of their culture and it’s really tricky for them to ask for that knowledge. Whether it’s the shame, or I’m not really sure what it is, whether it’s just unfortunate that they’ve lost that connection to culture. And so, that’s why it’s such an important thing for our project to make sure that that’s part of the intervention. So, why do you reckon you work for community? I have always worked with people who often would be seen as the real battlers. I like to work with people who are the real strugglers in life. For my own selfishness, actually you see greater change. It’s a really beautiful thing to be part of, when on days like today when the community is together, the energy around it is amazing. It’s like no other community I’ve been involved in. For more information about the deadly work Wathaurong and its worksers do contact them on 03 5277 0044 or go to www. wathaurong.org.au/.
Rewarding careers in Aboriginal health VACCHO asked our Student Engagement Officer Nareida Wyatt from our Education and Training Unit (ETU) to yarn a little on how Community can enter or further a career in Aboriginal health.
are working in. There’s a general knowing and acceptance of ‘we understand how challenging it can be’ to be working in our industry. Although working in Aboriginal health is a rewarding experience, it can be a tough gig, so I think that is one of the benefits of coming to VACCHO rather than a mainstream service.
Where are you from? I’m from Western Australia, from the Yuat Noongar mob in WA. Roughly between Yanchep and Jurien. I’m the Student Engagement Officer at VACCHO, so I have the privilege of providing support to students who might find themselves overwhelmed with their work or fall behind, and I do a bit of recruitment and dabble in some of the training. If a student was going to study, what are the kind of things that they may need to think about? Well, the qualifications that we have with the Aboriginal Health Worker courses especially, are quite lengthy and life happens. People change jobs, they might be overwhelmed within their own work and perhaps ‘burning out’ for example. There is constant trauma through grief and loss in our Communities, which has a huge impact on everyone. Any sort of metaphorical speed humps that we travel over can put students behind their work. Students are usually working hard within their services so balancing workloads, family and life in general is always a challenge for anyone. So the idea is that the trainers can seek intensive support for any students they are concerned about, I contact the students and arrange to meet to discuss strategies to catch up with their work. There is no ‘one size fits all’ or magic formula – I work within a ‘studentcentred framework’. When you say the courses are lengthy, what are we looking at? For a Cert IV we’re looking at two
years. They are full-time courses and most are block- release where students will travel to Melbourne, stay in accommodation for four days and participate in their training. Once they return to their work, they apply their studies to their practice, complete work-based assessments, log books and journals. So they are essentially working the whole time, but the intensive training delivery is once a month. If they are enrolled in Cert IV practice, they really need to be attached to a place where they can have access to 800 hours of practical work within a certain timeframe. So we’ve covered some of the difficulties, what are the benefits of them studying at VACCHO? Basically VACCHO provides a culturally appropriate environment to study within. We sometimes provide intensive support if and when required. So if you’re not studying at an ACCO or VACCHO, then you are not necessarily going to get that support. Although there are supports out there, we get to know our students, we are linked in with their health services, and we support them to the best of our capacity. We also understand the challenges that are faced by students, especially if they’re returning to study as an adult after a long period of time of not having studied, and also if they have had issues with the education system in their youth. We understand the context within the health industry that they
How will these qualifications help the individual or Communities? The qualifications actually help in a number of ways. If you have a really good education then your health, wellbeing and trajectory in life can actually change for the better. Having that knowledge through a qualification also helps us as individuals to help others who may not have that knowledge. Students also develop a sense of purpose and confidence within their work, and personally it can help improve their self-esteem if that has been low. It is really lovely to see students coming in at the beginning of their course, and then watching them grow to become confident health workers. It also helps if they are doing the Aboriginal Health Worker practice qualification. They can become Aboriginal Health Practitioners should they choose to register with AHPRA. There are also pathways into further study through our courses. So why do you work for community? Because I feel I can give, it is about giving back for me. I have had lots of opportunities, and experiences, and so I feel that it is just nice to be able to give back. If you’re interested in starting or furthering your career in Aboriginal health contact our Education and Training Unit on training@vaccho. org.au or 03 9411 9411 or go to www.vaccho.org.au/educational/. Image (L-R) Katie Smith - ETU Manager, Nareida Wyatt, Bernadette Ervin (front) and Christine Dineen - Educators.
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A dream 30 years in the making
Community Development Officer Ebony Hickey and Hon. Natalie Hutchins MP
VACCHO sat down to yarn with Ebony Hickey from Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative to talk about her role in the development of the new Colac Aboriginal Gathering Place. My name’s Ebony Hickey, I’m a Gulidjan woman from the south west of Victoria, so Maar country. I work as the Community Development Officer at Wathaurong and am developing the new Colac Aboriginal Gathering Place, so, that’s sort of been a really big journey. Colac is a black hole for service. It’s 105km to your closest co-op or Aboriginal specific service, and it’s my Country so it’s really disturbing that there hasn’t been anything there. They’re really under serviced and in need of something. My grandfather fought for that for 30 years and passed away two years ago. I’ve just managed to get it across the line so it’s bittersweet in that instance. We’re working with the Councils
now. So, we’ve got a partnership group of the local hospital, the local shire, the catchment authorities and it’s been really good. It was just a chance meeting that someone said, hey, have you heard about this property and I said, no I haven’t, but I’d love to. So, I followed that lady from that meeting to her office to find out more about this property and then we had a house! We’ve got 24 months to try and prove the need, and document data and evidence. Then hopefully after that, we’ll be able to get some council backing and a more permanent, viable, structure moving forward. There’s no sort of soft data; like what people need, so I’ve been doing that for 12 months now. I’ve interviewed; I got 105 paper interviews back and I interviewed 40 people face-to-face about what the service gaps were, what they needed, what they wanted, what they think their community needs. Every answer was service first, community connection, and just
somewhere to go; and advocacy. I don’t know about you, but when I’m in trouble, the first person that I call is someone connected to the Co-op in some way shape or form. There’s always an answer. What kind of role is this new one in Colac? So, at the moment, it’s going to start off as being a little bit of everything. I’ll be the advocacy point down there. I’ve got a pretty good understanding of who’s around and who does what and I think you could probably throw me with any scenario and I’d be able to find the person to refer someone on to. I hope that over the next 12 months I can train up a couple of other people to do the same thing. For the first six months I reckon I just cold-knocked and cold-called until people realised that I wasn’t going away and that I was there to do some real work. So, they’d felt that they’d told their story before and it hadn’t changed anything. I had heaps of knock backs.
L-R: David Moar, Manager of Support Services - Department of Education, Senior Sargeant Ken Slingsby - Victoria Police, Chris Potter, Mayor - Colac Otway Shire, Hon. Natalie Hutchins MP, Geoff Isles, CEO - Colac Area Health, Pam Williams, Area Director Barwon - Department of Health and Human Serices, Renee Owen, Aboriginal Health Executive - Barwon Health, Kym Monohan, Acting CEO - Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative
Uncle Reg helped a lot, his family’s from down that way. Then I was getting surveys sent back to me on pieces of paper that I hadn’t given them, with questions that I hadn’t asked them. They stated what they wanted to change and they were coming in anonymously, they were coming in through service providers down there. What services are you going to provide? Everything that is DHHS funded that Wathaurong is funded to provide in the Barwon region of the Barwon South West. All of them. So, Bringing Them Home, Mental Health, AOD and then all the family services. So, In-home Support, play group, bush kinder, KPSA, Best Start. I think 42 programs. I’ll be slowly integrating on a monthly rotating roster down there. It’ll just be me and people who are running those programs coming down. We also got on the four-year council plan this year. It means that Aboriginal culture, heritage, and
events, will now be represented in Colac. And that they will put together a working group to work with that. So how long have you been at the co-op for? About three years. I started off as a service user, not a worker. When my baby was about four months old, I had a lady come to do an interview about motherhood … Aboriginal mums and like how they’re going through the first six months of baby’s life. Three weeks later she had me signed up in a youth work course, and it really changed everything. What difference do you think there’s going to be for your bub now? I hope that he grows up with a connection to community that I didn’t have. So, I didn’t come to playgroup or anything when he was young because I didn’t know any other mums. And these mums have known each other their whole lives. And I was really scared
to come. But, yes, as soon as I did, just week after week, stone after stone, brick after brick, it all just started making sense. My whole life made sense after that. So, I hope that he grows up a whole heap stronger, so that when he faces the drugs, and the alcohol, and puberty, and growing up, that he has the people and the support around him that I didn’t have growing up, through no fault of anyone’s. How would you explain to someone why you’re doing this kind of work? Because I don’t know what else I’d love to do. If I could pick a dream job or a dream anything, I’m already here. I think that I’m pretty lucky because I don’t think that many people could go home every day and say, “this is what I want to do”. Since this interview the Colac Aboriginal Gathering Place was launched on 3 November. For further information please call Ebony Hickey on 0449 948 475.
VACCHO NEWS September - November 2017
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