No images? Click here
Recording and Summary: Embedding Country and Indigenous ways into health teaching with the Wurru Wurru health model
Thank you for tuning in to the third webinar of our 2023 series, Critical Public Conversations: Country, Climate, Colonialism. We had over 250 registered for the event, with 100 people joining live over Zoom.
This webinar titled ‘Embedding Country and Indigenous ways into health teaching with the Wurru Wurru health model’ featured Quandamooka (Noonuccal Nation), Goreng-Goreng and Yorta-Yorta woman, Dr Ngaree Blow and was hosted by Australian Centre fellow Dr Liz Strakosch. Dr Ngaree Blow discussed the shortcomings of colonial paradigms of the biomedical model, the need for embedding Indigenous knowledges in healthcare, and her work with the Wurru Wurru Health at the University of Melbourne Medical School.
References:
- Australian Medical Council. Standards for Assessment and Accreditation of Specialist Medical Programs and Professional Development Programs by the Australian Medical Council 2015. Australian Medical Council, Medical Board of Australia. September 2015. Accessed Jan 31st, 2023.
- Australian Government. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework. Australian Government, Department of health and aged care. 3 August, 2021. Accessed Jan 31st, 2023.
You can get in contact with the Wurru Wurru Health Unit at firstnationshealth-md@unimelb.edu.au
Themes raised in the webinar
- Dr Ngaree Blow outlined some of the limitations of the biomedical model of health in the colonial paradigm, and advocates for the inclusion of a broader range of social and cultural determinants of health, and for embedding Indigenous knowledges, grounded in community & Country into the curriculum for future health professionals.
- Dr Ngaree Blow discussed her work with Wurru Wurru Health Unit within the Melbourne Medical School, highlighting how they are working to incorporate Indigenous knowledges through cultural immersion programs, genuine collaboration and input from local Elders & community members
- She introduced the Wurru Wurru Health (WWH) model that recognises social, political, historical, and cultural factors that impact health and wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples’ including racism and self-determination.
- Dr Blow then detailed how it has been used as a teaching tool to support co-teaching with First Nations health tutors sharing lived experiences with health profession students.
Questions and comments from the audience
- How far can this model travel? How would it be adapted? Is it appropriate to be adapted for other First Nations?
- How do you see this in relation to the quite violent health systems that exist today, as a best practice model of care of First Nations way of caring for health, as Dr. Mary Graham would say, as more fully human ways of caring for people and less dehumanising? Do you imagine that this could change practice in the broader health system, or is that not appropriate?
Next webinar in the series
What the land remembers before colonisation
Presented by: Victor Steffensen
Date & Time: Wednesday 2nd August 12pm – 1pm (AEST)
This webinar is the fourth in the Australian Centre's 2023 Critical Public Conversations series: Country, Climate, Colonialism
Before colonisation, the Australian Landscape had already evolved with the custodianship of Aboriginal people for thousands of years. Everything was here, the animals, the plants, the waters were clean, the trees were Elders, and there was an abundance of our kinship with the natural world which is now considered as resource. The story is embedded within the memory of the landscape and the land remembers how it needs to be cared for which sits alongside the trauma of its recent collection of memories of decline and devastation of the natural world. Victor Steffensen will be talking on memory within the land and how important it is in understanding who we are and what role we play when it comes to caring for country. Indigenous knowledge and the relationships with Country is the foundation to understanding how we can read the language from country and what many communities are doing to align themselves with the memory of Mother Nature as a target for generations to come.
A Profound Reorganising of Things & Call For Papers
The Australian Centre is proud to announce 'A Profound Reorganising of Things', our upcoming international conference to be held 13-15 Nov 2023 at The University of Melbourne.
This exciting conference will delve into how contemporary injustices are enmeshed in colonial power relations with a focus on the co-constitutive relationship between climate change and colonialism. It will bring together First Nations and settler scholars, policymakers and public servants, artists and community organisations to build relations, share knowledge, and respond to some of the most pressing issues of our time.
A call for papers is now open. We welcome proposals for papers, workshops and creative contributions.
