Culturally-Situated Trauma-Informed Practice within an Aboriginal Out of Home Care Program

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.