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

Moving Forward TogetherJanet KellySexual health trainingThroughout 2006 one issue that kept arising in practice and in the research data(look and listen) involved sexual health. Education staff came to theAboriginal Outreach Health Service with concerns about sexual health andrisky behaviours of students in the primary and high school. Communitywomen raised concerns about teenage pregnancy, untreated sexuallytransmitted infections, risky behaviours and how to talk with the young peopleabout these things. Staff members at the Aboriginal Outreach Health Servicewere not sure how best to work with clients about these issues. We discussedoptions and a wide range of people, including Aboriginal community womenand staff members at the community and Aboriginal health services and boththe primary and secondary schools, expressed an interest in learning moreabout sexual health (think and discuss). A range of training options, resources,professional and community support was explored, and a series of discussionsabout strategies toward increasing the capacity of community people andhealth and education professionals to support young people regarding sexualheath began.Aboriginal Outreach Health Service staff and community women expressed aninterest in attending the Shine youth worker’s course (taking action), andasked if it could be held at Gilles Plains. I co-negotiated for Shine SA toprovide a six day SE&X young people and sexual health course withsponsorship enabling two Aboriginal community women (from CollaborationArea One) to attend. Originally senior high school students and the AboriginalEducation Worker were also going to attend, but date changes and a clash withexiting education commitments prevented this from being possible. Twofacilitators provided the course; one an Aboriginal woman, the other a non-Aboriginal man (who later discovered he had Native American ancestry). Planswere made for single sex viewing of videos and explicit resources if necessaryto maintain cultural safety for all participants.Having been alerted to recent conflicts between some of the Aboriginalcommunity women and staff members, the facilitators were able to maintain asafe space for all participants most of the time. However, toward the end of thecourse, a conflict arose between a staff member and a community woman246