Wherever possible, non-Aboriginal community services will promote and seek to have services for Aboriginal people provided by Aboriginal people. The Forum recognises Aboriginal children and families will benefit from having services delivered from within their own communities. Strong Aboriginal communities will ensure the improved health and well-being of Aboriginal communities.
The Kit is designed to promote access to the whole community sector, Aboriginal community members and other non-government service providers, whilst promoting mutually beneficial relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community and organisations on the Central Coast.
This resource kit is designed to be used in conjunction with Cultural Appreciation training. It must be understood that Aboriginal culture is extremely diverse and that this limited exposure is specific to the Darkinjung Aboriginal community.
It is acknowledged that Aboriginal people require non-Government and Government delivered services to be respectful of the Aboriginal culture and relationships within communities. Therefore, all community services will work with Aboriginal communities to ensure services delivered by NGO’s and Government Agencies are culturally appropriate and accessible to Aboriginal people. A fresh approach is needed, characterised by goodwill, good faith and a commitment to Aboriginal access to services.
One aim of the kit is to foster culturally appropriate behaviour through an understanding of Aboriginal people’s history and culture. Culture consists of patterns of behaviour and beliefs, which characterise a group of people at a given point in time. The behaviour may relate to religious practices, rituals, food choices etc. Cultural awareness is an understanding of the likely impact of these behaviours and beliefs.
As such this Resource Kit should be viewed as a road map to achieving the Aims identified by the Forum as outlined in the Executive Summary.
It must be stressed that this is only an overview of Aboriginal people and their culture on the Central Coast.
This Kit aims to help both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal organisations develop better working relationships and partnerships to foster better community harmony. This will create cultural safety, by giving consideration to Aboriginal people when providing a service in a way that Aboriginal people feel comfortable. This includes the displaying of posters, pamphlets and information to ensure that the building is reflected as culturally appropriate. If you don’t know how, seek advice from local Aboriginal organisations listed in the Toolkit. In addition, Cultural Appreciation training will be provided for further understanding and how to use the Toolkit.
This Kit will assist non-Aboriginal organisations that want to pursue or expand partnership relations with the Aboriginal community. In the non-Aboriginal sector, the Kit is designed to be useful to all sizes of agencies, operating in many different parts of the community.
The Toolkit explains how the parties may work together to provide service and consult each other regarding services to the Aboriginal community. The Toolkit is modular and aims to be practical with checklists that can be used as guides in the development of a partnership, and it provides tips and helpful hints about ways to make the partnership process a success.
The Toolkit is modular consisting of Helpful Tips, Walking Together (the Guide) and Cultural appreciation training.
