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

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellythe central planning meetings (like spokes on a wheel with the meeting as thehub and the wider communities along the rim).Together we developed a planning group that was non-hierarchical, based ondemocratic knowledge sharing, equality, respectfulness and open andtransparent communication. Each person was recognised as bringing theirunique knowledge, skills and expertise (fresh and salt water) that was shared ina large Ganma swirling pool. The resulting collective knowledge (foam)helped to create a unique and responsive conference. Kim O Donnell and Ibecame the two main co-facilitators, with each planning group member takingon particular self appointed tasks. I became the link person between ALARAand the planning group. We decided we needed a snappy name after beingdescribed as a loose collection of people. We saw ourselves as a dynamicgroup of people, and named ourselves Team SA (Team SA meeting minutesNovember 2008). Team SA developed into a unique collaborative team whereall participants became involved above and beyond usual work and personalcommitments. We developed a person centred no blame, no guilt way ofworking so that if a team member was no longer able to complete a task, theylet the team know and someone else who had time, energy and/or skills tookover. We all recognised that each other had busy and complex lives with manypersonal, professional and family commitments.Co-facilitating this emerging and constantly changing planning group toward acommon goal (the people who could attend planning meetings often changed)was a challenging and exciting experience for Kim and I. We learned to holdthe meetings and processes flexibly together, enabling room for creativity toemerge, while meeting deadlines and ALARA’s agendas. We facilitated amixture of face to face meetings, phone conversations and emailcommunication. I was asked to join the ALARA management team to enableme to better understand their national expectations and resources.Growing the vision – actively supporting Aboriginal preferred waysof knowing and doingTogether Team SA envisioned an action learning / action research conferenceembedded in Aboriginal preferred ways of knowing and doing. 2007 was thefourtieth year since the National Referendum, and we felt this was a significant301