The Closing the Gap Report 2024 identifies four priority reforms: 1. Formal partnerships and shared decision making; 2. Building the community controlled sector; 3. Transforming government organisations; 4. Shared access to data and information at a regional level. It is an important call to action for Federal and State Governments and service providers of health, education, housing, justice and environmental initiatives that affect the lives of First Nations people. Professor Helen Milroy, chair of Gayaa Dhuwi, said “Wide scale systemic changes are needed – including sharing decision making with and building up the community-controlled sector, addressing institutional racism and providing access to locally relevant data” (The Guardian, 1/8/2024).
What can I contribute to closing the gap?
Although the language used in articulating the four priority reforms is high level, when you get down to the practicalities, there are important things that each of us can do in our work and daily lives. This includes addressing racism and learning what it means to be a good ally.
For ideas on understanding racism and supporting your Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander client (and colleague), this was the topic of WellMob’s blog in the February eMHPrac newsletter. WellMob also has a resource sheet on the best online resources on Racism – check it out.
For ideas on how to be a good ally to your First Nations colleagues and clients, check out the May 2024 blog in eMHPrac, and WellMob’s How to be a Good Ally resource sheet.
What’s Social and Emotional Wellbeing got to do with Closing the Gap?
Understanding what is meant by Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) is foundational to working effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients. Indeed, if we all worked within the framework of social and emotional wellbeing, we would be meeting the third priority reform in the Closing the Gap Report: Transforming Government Organisations… “eliminating institutional racism, discrimination and unconscious bias, and embedding and practising meaningful cultural safety”[1] The WellMob website managed by eMHPrac has many resources to support workers in this endeavor.
One excellent and recent resource is the ACCHS Social and Emotional Wellbeing Service Model Worker Guide (hereafter referred to as The Guide). Although written for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SEWB staff working in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in Western Australia, this very practical guide is just as relevant for non-Indigenous workers in mental health, AOD, children’s and youth services, and most other human services.
The Guide provides a brief explanation of what SEWB means, outlining the nine principles guiding this work. It offers clear and practical explanations of the historical, political, social and cultural determinants of health, and how they may present as both protective and risk factors for First Nations individuals, families and communities. They provide useful pointers for workers on how to understand and enquire into health and wellbeing issues and how to address them.
The Guide explains what a SEWB service model is and offers suggestions on what a SEWB informed service could look like in practice across service roles. It takes the reader through a potential client journey, identifying which of the SEWB domains are relevant at what stage of the engagement, and how they can be addressed by the four SEWB pillars of: community development, targeted interventions, supported coordinated care and psychosocial support.
The Guide also alerts managers and workers to the potential for burnout and vicarious trauma and the importance of self-care.
WellMob has excellent resources on self-care and workplace wellbeing.
SEWB in Out of Home Care Service Provision
Another highly practical resource is the webinar Working Alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Kids in Out of Home Care. This is one hour of valuable viewing – with specialist practitioners explaining how they address the enduring impact of colonization in the out of home care space. The panelists present a client-centred, strengths-based approach to developing a care plan for children, underpinned by the social and emotional wellbeing framework. The webinar takes the worker to the Emerging Minds website which has a wealth of further resources on how to provide culturally informed services in the child protection and out of home care spaces.
And check out the 2 minute testimonial given by two of the panelists, Lana Draper and Debbie Haynes, as they describe how they use WellMob in their out of home care work as an Occupational Therapist and Clinical Psychologist respectively.
Shared Decision-Making
Consistent with the SEWB framework, Finding your way: a shared decision making model for mob is a practical guide to support workers to build connection with their Indigenous clients, work in a culturally safe way and enable shared making of decisions. And it contributes to Closing the Gap’s Priority Reform One: Formal partnerships and shared decision-making.
The Power of Story Telling
In her podcast, Weaving Indigenous Wisdom into Wellbeing, Professor Helen Milroy talks about the science and value of storytelling and narrative therapy for children. She describes how storytelling can help children develop a sense of self, purpose and place and build resilience.
Links to great PD resources in SEWB
Want to find more practical ways in which you can work using the social and emotional wellbeing framework? Check out the resource sheet on Understanding Social and Emotional Wellbeing, or scroll through the Social and Emotional Wellbeing portal in the Training Resources tab on the WellMob landing page.
More information about WellMob?
WellMob is a digital library of social and emotional wellbeing resources developed by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The library gathers resources from across Australia. It also has a Training Resources tab, for worker professional development and self-care.
[1] Commonwealth Closing the Gap 2024 Annual Report and Commonwealth Closing the Gap 2025 Implementation Plan. Commonwealth of Australia. 2025. P.13
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