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

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellyoff campus and if on campus, in which building? We explored our motivations,why were we doing this? Was it because of a lack of services (negative focus)or because we wished to create a space of friendship and sharing (positivefocus). The concept of positive collaborative action changed the energy in theroom, bringing with it feelings of hope, possibilities and well-being.The women envisioned a group similar to the Aboriginal young mum’s groupof 1999, but with a greater emphasis on friendship. It would be open to womenof all cultures, rather than Aboriginal women only, because their friendshipsextended beyond the Aboriginal community. In many ways it reflected the kindof group that may have developed within the NE Neighbourhood House, had itremained on campus.Originally the women envisioned;If we could have an Aboriginal health worker 5-10 hours per week, abudget that the group could work with, lunch supplied, transport to andfrom the campus, the use of a room every week to create a women’sspace, and guest speakers to talk about health, arts, and generalknowledge (AWG D5).However, being pragmatic, we also discussed the very minimum that weneeded to run a group, as we had limited resources or organisational support.We agreed that we needed an available space where everyone could feelcomfortable and welcome. The women’s preference was the mainstreamcommunity health building 38 . One of the Aboriginal health staff said she couldpossibly support the group but could not make a firm commitment due toincreasing workload and management changes. I possibly had a small primaryhealth care research bursary coming. We trimmed down the minimum to be aroom, a small budget, community women and support from Janet (AWG D5).The women felt the budget needed to cover lunch and craft items as many ofthem were in tight financial situations and could not afford to buy these itemsthemselves. Most walked to the campus with their children or caught the bus,only one owned a car. We could manage without childcare support as most of38 We discussed the possibility of holding the group off site, at another venue or in someone’shome, but that was not a workable option for most of the women. They preferred the known andneutral space of Community Health.181