Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellya life line, again’ (AWG D1). When asked who they were she spoke of whitemanagers high up in the health system; the boss who makes these decisionswithout taking our needs into account (AWG D1). The cessation of the groupbecame seen as yet another colonising experience for her (AWG D1). A yearand a half after the group finished, the women expressed feelings of sadnessand anger. They had unanswered questions about what had happened to thegroups they valued and who was to blame for them being stopped. The womenindicated an interest in being involved in research again, with a particular viewto planning and taking collaborative action together.Woman centred researchFollowing ethics approval I returned to Gilles Plains Community Campus andinvited the women to be involved in data collection discussing Aboriginalwomen’s health and well-being 27 . Originally I had anticipated discussing theconcept generally, but the women wished to discuss it in relation to theservices available at Gilles Plains, their current dilemmas and highest priority.Following principles of community based research (Stringer 2007) andAboriginal health research ethics (Chong 2005b, 2005c; National Health andMedical Research Council 2003) I went with the women’s priorities.The long awaited Aboriginal Neighbourhood House opens, but…The Gilles Plains Aboriginal Neighbourhood House had recently opened andthe services provided were vastly different to those anticipated by bothAboriginal community women and the mainstream community health servicewho were involved in its conception and early development. The originalvision for a community meeting space that could provide support and socialand emotional well-being programs was no longer supported by highermanagement in the local health system. A series of events occurred. First theonsite Aboriginal manager, well known by the women, became ill and tookextended sick leave. Second, the social and emotional well-being team was27 Look and Listen- interviews, focus groups & document analysis168