Aboriginal Practitioners’ Perspectives on Culturally Informed Practice for Trauma Healing in Australia

Abstract

Colonisation continues to impact Aboriginal children and families through perpetual cycles of transgenerational trauma. To achieve culturally safe and effective healing, practitioners working with Aboriginal people must be culturally competent, yet existing research suggests culturally informed practice (CIP) is often poorly understood and implemented by many practitioners. Centring Indigenous perspectives, the present study explored how Aboriginal practitioners in Australia conceptualise and use CIPs when supporting Aboriginal children and families to heal from trauma. Six Aboriginal women practitioners from mental health and social work settings participated in individual research yarns. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to generate four themes, including centring Aboriginal ways, approaches to healing, creating space for healing, and reflexive and responsive practice. CIPs are embedded within Aboriginal approaches to healing, consider the impacts of trauma and colonisation, and require all practitioners to actively engage with Aboriginal people and their ways of knowing, being, and doing.