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

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellythey would not take the children away), parenting issues could not be openlydiscussed.The importance of friendships with both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginalcommunity women was another aspect discussed though the Women’sFriendship Group. The Aboriginal women co-researchers highlighted thatmaking friends was not an easy or smooth process that they took for grantedbecause racism, discrimination or past experiences got in the way. Forexample, one of the women discussed that as a child she had few opportunitiesto develop friendships outside of her family connections because her motherhad encouraged her to confine friendships to family and not identify herself asAboriginal in order to avoid racism and ridicule. As an adult, she still found itdifficult to make new friends. She indicated that the Women’s FriendshipGroup provided personally and culturally safe spaces for her and the otherwomen to develop positive friendships. All four Aboriginal women coresearchershighlighted the importance, and uniqueness of the way theWomen’s Friendship Group developed with the four Aboriginal women beingco-creators. This enabled them to feel comfortable identifying as Aboriginalpeople and in invite other women to join them in health and well beingactivities. It was not often that they had opportunities to initiate and co ordinatesuch women focused reconciliation projects. They enjoyed the freedom todeepen friendships and share their cultural values in positive ways.Working respectfully with expectationsThe process of developing the Women’s Friendship Group also providedopportunities for the women’s priorities and expectations to be respectfullyacknowledged and incorporated into a developing health program. TheAboriginal women held the Aboriginal Mothers’ Group of 200- 2002 as theideal health program. It was collaborative and had positively addressed thewomen’s comprehensive primary health care needs in culturally safe ways.Unfortunately, it was impossible to recreate this program because the healthorganisations involved had undergone staffing, policy and funding changes.Rather than dismissing the women’s vision however, I sought to identify withthe women what they most valued most from their experiences in that group(look and listen), and work with them to find creative ways to include these202