Back to work really makes me feel like Alice in Wonderland …. last week had to convince another psychologist that interpreters were needed when doing a mental health assessment on someone who could not speak English! …. and that checking the credentials of someone making a recommendation for someone to be committed as an involuntary mental health patient was not being “unreasonable and difficult”….

Just spoke to colleague on phone who recently fled the territory after many years to take up a senior position interstate …. she always thought things were really bad in terms of accepted professional practice in the NT which is why she left , but is now realising how much worse it really was now she is back in mainstream interstate ….

Nice to have it confirmed that I am not the problem here ….

…. When the bungalow closed they deliberately divided the children and sent them as far from the central desert and their families as possible …. Harold and others there that night had been sent to Croker Island off Arnhem land …. google the story of what happened to them there during the second world war!

So many Aboriginal people that night said to me what an extraordinarily healing event it had been …. not just for those that attended but all those hundreds contacted around Australia and realised that what happened to them was being recognised and remembered …. this is the kind of therapy that actually works …. (and ticks all the boxes in what we know about processing trauma) …. and yet we still have money wasted on endless therapy “sessions” done by white fellas ….

Got up at dawn and attended beginner’s guide to bird watching …. what a difference when you know how to use binoculars properly! …. 12 different birds in half an hour and a group of tiny wrens(?) passing a butterfly around their “group” to share it …. poor butterfly but had no idea they would cooperate like that over food…

Another round of experts (this time Baker Institute from Melbourne ) dropping in to Alice to talk to all the white fellas about what we either already know or could find in a journal about Aboriginal health problems …. such a pity that when they visit Alice they don’t insist that organisations only send Aboriginal staff to the event, and make their expertise relevant and useful to them …. not as endless power points but appropriate learning and exchange of info so these “experts” leave with a deeper understanding of the issues and Aboriginal staff obtain practical info they can use to improve outcomes…

Warren Mundine was in town too …. Friday night public event .… very little time for questions so…

Read More 

Dear Mr Mundine …….

Thank you for coming to Alice Springs and sharing your own story with heart disease to which many in the audience could relate.

However I would like to assure you that all the dreadful statistics you quoted about Aboriginal health are known and “lived” by people in Alice Springs on a daily basis, either personally, in their work or what they observe in the community.

Many of us are just as frustrated as you about the “industry” that has developed providing white fellas with employment servicing Aboriginal disadvantage.

I would have liked to hear more about what you meant by “focusing on outcomes” as my experience has been that programs are focused on outcomes …. but the problem is that desired outcomes, and how they will be achieved, are rarely decided by, or owned by, the individuals or communities targeted.

Since a feeling of control over your own life now, and in the future is absolutely fundamental to health and wellbeing …. this lack of real control needs to change if constructive, meaningful and sustainable change is to occur.

Unfortunately your talk indicated that you had already decided the priorities on what needed to change: health, education, and “economic development”. It was concerning that what you meant by these priorities was not articulated ….. how you define and view these priorities may be very different to how local individuals and communities view them …

e.g health and wellbeing are two very different things.

“They only want to fix my heart and kidneys ….. they are not interested in fixing me ….. they fix my heart …. what for?  So I can be unhappy longer? ….”

(Local Aboriginal man resisting heart surgery …..)

My observation over many decades is that Aboriginal people in Alice Springs and the Central Desert are fed up with being studied to tell them what is wrong, and subjected to an endless round of outside experts with “solutions” … these experts are usually invited to Alice by entrenched non Aboriginal professionals to support what they want to do …. regardless of what or how Aboriginal people know may have the best chance of actually working.

(The advantage of visiting outside experts to Non Aboriginal professionals can be that they leave again. They are not around to see the consequences of their ideas or challenge the non Aboriginal professionals when they inappropriately apply research from mainstream settings.

Apart from tax deductible side trips to an “interesting destination” these experts do not appear to realise how they can be used …. by coming to town they can increase perceived credibility of an organisation when applying to funding bodies.

Meanwhile some of the most effective grass roots organisations work on a shoe string …. or have their funding cut….)

In the time I have been involved in the Central Desert I have been repeatedly impressed at how much of what Aboriginal people say will help, is backed by a mountain of emerging research into health and wellbeing….

Before any more money and energy is wasted and Aboriginal people further used as social experiments please look beyond traditional medical / public health and social work / community development models …. look at what is already working …. look at the real reasons so many Aboriginal people are unemployed or leave good jobs they can easily do: the entrenched institutional racism, widespread covert, overt and bystander bullying and harassment, cross cultural incompetence and appalling arrogance….

Engage with traditional cultural values as well as practices to create a holistic strategic approach …. and when you measure outcomes be aware that it is very easy to fiddle statistics and records …. (one organisation here changed my patient records and those of other psychologists to “massage” outcome statistics) …. do “360” evaluations by external auditors to find out what is really happening in programs ….

Talk to health psychologists, community psychologists and social psychologists …. they have the research to back what Aboriginal people have been trying to say for decades …. But most of all if you come to town again listen to the community.

Yours Respectfully

louise

Felt sad and angry reading the local paper last week with the comments by some locals and new immigrants when a local Traditional Owner complained that the river bed (which is a sacred site) was being used by some Indian and Nepalese migrants to set up volley ball net and then leave their rubbish behind … at first I thought it was just ignorance … but then the migrants deliberately went and laughingly posed for the paper playing volleyball, the quotes suggested they were also ridiculing that the river was a sacred site …

Based on comments on their facebook page the local paper claimed the local community were wanting to use the river bed for recreational activities … hardly a representative sample …

To give you another idea of what Aboriginal people can be up against in Alice read this account of an educated Aboriginal woman working in Alice …    Read More

 Discrimination/Bullying and Manipulation/Inappropriate and ineffective use of funding

… during my seventeen months employment at the

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  Alice Springs

XXXXXXXXXXXX (Program Manager of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (Manager of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX )

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ( Clinical Psychologist)

I am 65 yrs age and a senior Aboriginal Social Worker with over 20 years experience. I have previously lodged a complaint with the Health Complaints Commission but they said it was not within their duties or legislation to address issues of discrimination and workplace bullying.

I and other staff also made a formal complaint through the Union “United Voice” but this achieved nothing.

I also consulted a lawyer at CAWLS (Central Australian Women’s Legal service) but they said they could not help me.

 Commenced employment with XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  

Ceased Employment  XXXXXXX

I was the only staff member of XXXXX not to have my employment contract renewed - for the next two years.

My contract was renewed for one month i.e. end of XXXXXXXXX – I was told if I completed more MHCP’s (Mental Health Care Plans) I could still have a job and would receive “big incentives” if I did so. I explained why this was not possible considering the demands placed on me as the only Aboriginal SW in the program (see attached letters).

Lots of tension and “bad vibes” within the office environment – division and “tell tale” atmosphere with favouritism e.g who got to go to conferences. They tried to appoint the youngest member of the staff with only a Cert 3 as Acting Manager of the program with authority over SW’s, Psychologists, a GP and all the Aboriginal staff, including the Senior Aboriginal Man and Senior Aboriginal Woman. Many other instances.

Meeting with Managers and 4 Board members

XXXX       All staff ordered to attend meeting with 4 members of Board of Management, CEO, Assistant Director, Manager xxxxxxx, HR Manager, xxxxxxxx Program Manager. Aboriginal staff were told repeatedly to leave their Aboriginality at home /not to bring this component of our identity to work (please note we were working in an Aboriginal XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Service). This meeting followed on from an Aboriginal male worker being sacked on the basis of blatant lies told by the xxxxxx manager to senior management. The man sacked is a very respected and well liked local Traditional Owner.

Apart from the bullying and unsubstantiated allegations made against staff in this meeting where we were forbidden from defending ourselves, there was physically threatening behaviour by CEO xxxxxxxx in front of all staff present. We were all shocked and traumatised by this intimidating and humiliating behaviour.

After the meeting I suffered a stress related heart attack and was taken to hospital.

Conferences

The psychologists were paid to go to 3-4 conferences (including interstate) each while my requests to attend conferences were refused.

The only conference I attended was when I was asked to present a paper at the National Aboriginal xxxxXX Conference in Perth. After I wrote my paper I was instructed to change it. The management handed me their revised version of what they wanted me to say so it was consistent with what Dr xxxxxx and the Program Manager said in their papers. I did not use their version at the conference because I would have been misleading the conference about the true situation. Afterwards I was questioned by the manager.

This conference was also attended (all expenses paid) by ALL staff of xxxxxxxxxxx including the receptionist and a staff member who had resigned and was moving interstate (one Psychologist had all expenses paid to go to another conference, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx). This was a terrible waste of money considering we were always being told there was no money for cultural programs we wanted to do.

Abuse of freedom of association

All Aboriginal staff were called to a meeting and told by xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx manager of the xxxxx unit that we were not to associate with staff who had previously worked in the program. I questioned this instruction as I was then sharing a house with a lady (a former XXXXX Church Minister) who had previously worked in the program and been treated in a very demeaning manner. Also during my short period of employment I had made friends with another lady (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) who was also working for the program. She was also dismissed under somewhat horrendous circumstance while I was absent one day. Both these women are non-Indigenous but local well known people in this community.

Both these women became my friends over a period of time based on similar interests and our participation in local community events. I was the only Aboriginal person from work at xxxxx who ignored xxxxxxxxx instructions not to associate with these two ladies, or the Aboriginal Traditional Owner man who had also been dismissed. This man who staff were forbidden to associate with is related to many staff.

I witnessed many times how scared and intimidated other Aboriginal staff from xxxxx were when by chance we would run into one of these dismissed people down town. While staff said they very much wanted to talk to and meet with them they were too scared to be seen with these ex employees of xxxxx in case xxxxxx management saw this interaction (remembering that Alice is a very small place).

However I made no secret of the fact that these ladies were my friends, and am in no doubt I was seen by management as ignoring their ‘mission day mentality’ by choosing who I would associate with outside of a working week. I believe I have the right to choose who I associate with and who my friends are.

XXXXX TRIBUNAL appointment

I applied for and was accepted to be a member of the N.T. Government XXXXX XXX XXXXX Tribunal here in Alice Springs. (As the only Social Worker or Aboriginal on the XXXX Tribunal) I felt as though I was privileged to be accepted and advised management that this would only take me away from my work for about a half day a month as LWOP.

The manager xxxxxxxxxxx denied me this request for LWOP and said they would not approve my involvement. I thought this response very unfair and discriminatory considering that a Non Aboriginal Psychologist working for xxxxxx was also appointed to the XXXX TRIBUNAL and this was approved by management without question. Stopping me being on the Tribunal was also strange considering I was employed as an xxxxxxxx and was being denied the opportunity to represent the ONLY Aboriginal view on the Tribunal.

 “Incentives/rewards/kickbacks for completing medicare MHCP’s

During a regular ‘supervision session’ with the senior clinical psychologist xxxxxxx I was advised that were I to complete more Mental Health Care Plans I would keep my job and receive a “big incentive/reward” if I did so. I explained why I could not do more MHCP’s especially in order to receive a “kick back “ (see attached letters).

I feel this collusion between my clinical supervisor and the managers is unethical if not illegal.

Breach of confidentiality

30/07/2012   Male clinical psychologist xxxxxxxxxxxx spoke to me about my medical condition. How did he know about this? I had only ever mentioned this health related condition to Program Manager xxxxxxxxxxx in relation as to why I needed to take a week off work to travel to Darwin to see a specialist.

Professional Practice

Several times I, other Aboriginal staff and the Senior Psychologist who was dismissed, talked to management and the other psychologists about how the way we were being told to work was against the Treatment Guidelines and could be unsafe for our clients but we were ignored. I also went and spoke to Dr xxxxxxxxx who controls how the program operates, but he was totally dismissive of what I had to say. He is a GP not a mental health professional.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxx (both Clinical Psychologists) know that the way we are instructed to work breaches the Guidelines but they do nothing but continue to make the situation worse for Aboriginal staff by colluding with management. This stops more Aboriginal xxxxx workers being employed who would be more effective. The psychologists are not doing anything that could not be done and is being done by the Aboriginal xxxxxxx workers. Non Aboriginal xxxxx Therapists who have resigned have all complained their skills could not be used in our context because of the language and socio economic situation of our clients. ie the psychologists are working with clients knowing they can not be effective.

Also they have gone along with management re the lack of informed consent for our clients and made no formal complaints when they found out the records of psychologists were being changed by management.

Employment terminated

I finished employment on xxxxxxxxxx. There was no office farewell from any of the non-Indigenous Staff which consisted of two senior clinical psychologists, one trainee psychologist and one Social Worker. No acknowledgement of my seventeen months employment from the program manager or from the manager xxxxxxxxxxxx Unit of xxxxxx or even from the non-Indigenous staff.

However when a Non Aboriginal staff member of the xxxxx Unit finished her employment three days after me, the manager of xxxxx sent a memo to all staff to chip in and buy her a going away present and for xxxx staff to attend her farewell afternoon tea.

On the day I left, the Aboriginal staff and clients of the xxxxx gave me a lovely farewell where I was presented with two lovely Aboriginal paintings that Aboriginal clients had painted for me and two beautiful books presented to me by the Aboriginal staff who themselves made the appropriate workplace speeches/farewell. But even though the program manager xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxx  Unit Manager were in attendance neither made any attempt to wish me well or whatever management are supposed to do when a staff member leaves their place of employment.

Please note also that not one non-Indigenous staff said anything to add to my leaving that place of employment. In my opinion all of the non-Indigenous staff were shocked that about twenty odd Aboriginal clients came to bid me farewell. I believed that I had a really good working relationship with both clients and Aboriginal work mates but this behaviour by the non-Indigenous management and professional staff shocked me and once more traumatised me.

I am especially upset that even though Aboriginal staff members and the xxxxxxxxxx Psychologist (who was dismissed) complained to HR, and then directly to the Assistant Director xxxxxxx and the CEO xxxxxxx they did nothing to help us. Instead they fully supported Dr xxxxxxxx and the other Non Aboriginal professionals and managers.

Even xxxxxxxxxxxx the xxxxx CEO xxxxxxxxx has done nothing that changes the way Aboriginal staff are treated.

xxxxxxxx  16.8.12

Hi Judy

Lots on last week with Festival …. on Tuesday night an Aboriginal friend and I made the effort to get to a forum in town on tackling domestic violence in Alice – which is apparently worse than almost anywhere else in the country …. Aboriginal women are 45 times more likely to be victims of domestic violence than non Aboriginal women and the general feeling is that things are getting worse not better …. however it should be pointed out that these women are victims of DV by not only Aboriginal men ….

The forum was organised by CAAC and an organisation called CASSE …. according to their website CASSE use a psychoanalytical approach to “Creating a Safe and Supportive Environment”…

The panel was made up of various people in our town including the Mayor, the CEO of CAAC, a Supreme Court Judge, a rep from the Chamber of Commerce, a well respected Aboriginal man who was a candidate in the last election, and a Professor from Ireland? and a Professor from America?    Read More

Unfortunately both the Professors proceeded to tell us things we already know, and suggest things already being done here …. yet again the knowledge and skills already in Alice, particularly from Aboriginal culture, were by implication diminished ….

…what I found quite strange is why an organisation like CASSE, that states its work is based on psychoanalytical principles, would be invited by CAAC to form a close working relationship for the next 5 years?

CAAC receives $40 million per year and funders are demanding that projects be evidence based best practice …. Psychoanalytic approaches may have their place, but they have repeatedly been found to be the least cost effective way (and often completely ineffective) at bringing about sustained behavior change… ??

There are so much better evidence based approaches available… ??

While CASSE may have something to offer, and CAAC is to be commended for organising a forum, this forum appeared to create an atmosphere of CASSE and CAAC having exclusive control tackling the issue and finding solutions …. the meeting opened with a box being passed around for people to put “only notes” in to raise money ($250,000 ) for a bus comprising 3 “offices” to take CAAC and CASSE around communities to talk about DV …. personally I have always found a shady tree where the whole family or community could talk about these issues not only quite sufficient, but the openness of the setting invited new thinking …. in a way that a tiny office in a bus cannot …

There were really great contributions from people in the audience … however extremely important and large sections of the Alice community (Aboriginal and Non Aboriginal) were noticeably absent …. at the end of the meeting we were told everything had been video recorded and “they” would take into consideration what had been said ..???

As Damien Ryan (Mayor) pointed out the discussion needed to be broadened and meetings of smaller groups formed to discuss the issue further ….

However his suggestion was ignored, no register created of those who had attended, and no indication that the audience could participate in any process to deal with the issues ….

Whatever the initial intention, and the evident relief by the audience that at least we were talking about the problem, the outcome left many in the audience, including some staff members from CAAC, feeling rather bewildered ….

Was this a fundraising event for a bus?  A chance for CAAC and CASSE to promote themselves and get media exposure?   Or just another talkfest going no-where?

Very disappointing!

Domestic violence is a community issue …. we will change nothing unless the community utilises all the knowledge, skills and experience already available in Alice Springs …

Over the years I have listened under shady trees to many senior Aboriginal people and their families explain the issues, and the pathways to solutions using the values of their cultures to guide them, essential in achieving real outcomes …. principles and practices that I have found work not just in the Central Desert but also in my work in mainstream Non Aboriginal contexts too (both in NT and other States).

From a three day conference I organised for senior Walpiri men and women some years ago, I learned about the fundamental cultural values that should determine choices and behaviour for all Walpiri people (these values later confirmed by senior members of other tribes as universal for Aboriginal people).

At another time on the APY Lands, under a shady tree, a senior Aboriginal couple distressed by what had happened to their daughter the previous evening, drew a picture in the sand to describe what needed to happen to change things and how it should be done to ensure sustainable change (years later research from my world began to come to the same conclusions on how to approach these issues…)

Paraphrasing from memory…..

“……… is a bit like tracks out bush … those tracks are made from what everyone does …. our people and their families … visitors … council … all them government Toyotas … everyone … a track may still let you ‘go along’ but you can get so much dust you can’t see where you are going … and so many holes, that ‘going along’ becomes too hard … too tiring … too dangerous … if you want to fix that track you have to stop … let the dust clear … look at all the good parts first … why are they good?… make sure the track is covering good country with good hard ground*… no use just patching it up … look for weak spots … why does the track keep breaking there?… get the track back on hard ground so work is not wasted …then grade that track  **proper way … to keep track safe and strong for everyone … white fella and blackfella…

Note:      ** “proper way” was explained as using Aboriginal identity as a guide for living including behaviour and choices.

*  “good hard ground” was explained as living by cultural values …. later these were further articulated and clarified for me by the Walpiri meeting and senior members of other tribes as:

Respect and Responsibility for:

• Law and country
• Each other
• Self

It was recognised that while cultural practices were very important reflections of these values, changing environments (e.g climate and food sources) over thousands of years had meant some practices had needed to change and would continue to do so …. what was critical was that any changes in behaviour and practices still reflected the cultural values …

The nitty gritty of how you changed things from childhood to adulthood was also explained with a fundamental criteria being for white-fellas to also listen and take note of Aboriginal people “properly” …

———————————————–

The audience last Tuesday at the forum also identified lots of holes and bull dust and ways to fix them …. what is needed now is a unifying body like the Council to take up the issue so that all of Alice feels they can contribute to a holistic and strategic process to change behaviour that affects and costs us all …. as one of the audience explained this is ultimately about health and wellbeing … physically, emotionally and spiritually ….

Just hope this happens …. Alice could teach the rest of the world and those Professors from overseas a lot!

Sad last debrief over a drink with an astute, honorable and very valuable mental health professional (Social Worker) leaving the N.T after some years …. traumatised by the dire situation for the children … but compounded by the lack of professional integrity (and competence) she encountered in so many of the “professionals” she had to work with …. utterly worn out and despairing at the collusion between managers and professionals to keep the status quo … (another example of what I was talking about in the radio interview) …. I will miss her support and clarity of thinking so much …. even though she is happy to give me some supervision from interstate it is not the same as knowing she was always “there”…

SO much happens in Alice …. including within just last few weeks “Bike Film Festival”, Eco Fair, Henley on Todd “Boat” Regatta in the dry river bed …. Children Singing under the stars,  Australian Ballet …. every week so much .… coming up is the all male Cabaret “Its Raining Men” …. choirs in the Gorge and of course the four day “Mbantua Festival”  (all the Desert Cultures represented – including their dancing)  is coming up …. including a night of the “Bush mechanics”….

This town has a lot of sadness but the participation and connection in the community, creative spirit and fun is extraordinary …. and only five minutes to everything, no traffic (peak traffic is half a dozen cars waiting to cross bridge at 8 am …. or perhaps waiting for train twice a WEEK) …. want to get more of an idea go to www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/events

Hi Judy

 Yes I know it can be hard to believe what I reported about forensic testing of sexual assault victims…..you may find this interview I did on local ABC radio helps understands what is going on…..

 As a result of this interview I got a letter from a solicitor saying he had been instructed by a group of psychologists working for an NGO in town not to talk about these issues….

 Cheers

ABC Radio Interview

 Hi Judy  (See Introduction)

Well you will be pleased to see I have finally listened and decided to let you know how things really work out here in the Central Desert….it is a tough gig for any professional but particularly if you take a Code of Ethics and Practice Standards seriously….

 Since first coming out here in the early 70’s – visiting, travelling, living at Angatja (an outstation in near SA/ NT/ WA border on APY Lands) and now working here full time for 6 years (based in Alice but working in dozens of remote communities) I have come to the sad realisation that too many professionals in health, psychology, social work and  teaching are part of the problem not part of the solution…..while politicians and bureaucrats have played a part in the mess out here it is the insidious collusion between many managers and professionals that really stops things changing…..

 To give you an idea of how distorted what “acceptable practice” is out here…..

 I was at a conference on responding to sexual assault in Alice recently (we often have very interesting PD here run by Centre for Remote Health – Flinders University with lots of visiting mainstream academics talking on their thing – although our “unusual circumstances” mean that I suspect they learn as much from us as we do from them…)

 In a general panel discussion with local SARC staff it emerged that if you are a sexual assault victim, of any age, needing to be forensically examined then you will have to fly to Darwin on a commercial flight……they reassured me that people were allowed to change their clothes (from the assault)…..although they could not wash…..and although no-one accompanied them on the flight “someone” would take them to the airport and “someone” would meet them in Darwin…..when I expressed my shock that a traumatised victim was to be treated like a piece of evidence to be sent for testing, the response was a calm “ we realise the situation is less than ideal”……

 No–one could tell me if leaving people contaminated with “evidence” for up to 72 hrs increased their risk of infection from STI’s , hepatitis or AIDS ?????

 When I persisted with questioning to find out why this appalling situation existed I eventually discovered this was not as first suggested that no suitable trained people were available, but because of some bureaucratic dispute and game playing…..

 Just writing about  this now is really upsetting….will leave this now   ….