Australasian Evaluation Society Conference – Indigenous Speaker notes from Final Plenary Session

Australasian Evaluation Society Conference – Indigenous Speaker notes from Final Plenary Session

Preamble

Introduce that a workshop was held on Monday for Indigenous people only

• Mix of ages, gender, occupations, experience, nationalities, ethnicities, tribes and clans
• Even with this diversity, some key common themes arose from our discussions, some of which have already been presented in Steve Larkin’s keynote and no doubt will also be picked up in Peter Mataira’s keynote

Theme 1

Power and control (and the relationship to ethics)

• Who has the power?
• Who controls the evaluation?
• At what point are community brought into the evaluation?
• And once brought in are they able to truly exercise any control over the information collected about them?

Theme 2 (Related to Theme 1)

Concerns around knowledge and expertise

Whose knowledge is privileged?
Who are the experts?
What happens when knowledge is shared in an evaluation process?
How much is ever returned to community to enable transformation and change?

Theme 3

Lots of discussion around the politics of evaluation and what happens when this is played out in the community.

Theme 4

And the purpose of evaluation:

• Is evaluation activity simply to ensure continuation of programme funding?
• Or are there bigger goals – wellbeing of a community for example”

Wrap-up and recommendations

• In addition to these high level, systems level issues participants also offered a number of directions to AES, from things it could do immediately to support community and Indigenous, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander evaluators
• An indigenous ethical framework, code of conduct, guidelines for those working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities Greater emphasis on two-way learning
• Greater contact with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, including NACCHO More visibility in the community More training, education and support – from formal courses/workshops through to mentoring (for Indigenous and non-Indigenous)
• More Indigenous evaluators!

Dr Amohia Boulton

Associate Director

Whakauae Research Services Ltd

Decolonisation and Neo-Cultural Gender Expression and Identity – Workshop

Decolonisation and Neo-Cultural Gender Expression and Identity

Within Indigenous Australian cultures the discourse on sexuality and gender outside of western constraints is extremely limited. When sexuality is discussed it is more often than not in the registers of pathology that in turn speaks to a heterocentric discourse. This session will use a six stages of decolonisation process, by Dr Lorraine Muller, as a response to the cultural challenges and to identify strengths in Indigenous *LGBT people. LGBQT is presupposed as counterfeit descriptor that misconstrues pre-settler colonial Indigenous gender variance and diverse sexualities. This session will explore the idea of “Neo-Cultural Gender Expression and Identity” as a dynamic part of our cultural evolution.

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#SuicidePrevention My meeting with @GerryGeorgatos as he spent time across the Kimberely to engage and to preliminarily listen to what people had to say.

An excerpt from “Kimberley suicide rate, one of the world’s highest – Yiriman is the way to go” by Gerry Georgatos

LGBTI

I met with Broome-based LGBTI advocate, Dameyon Bonson. Mr Bonson is a well-respected researcher and consultant in the field of LGBTI. LGBTI First Peoples face various pressures that can only be relieved by public discussions. Mr Bonson said that in general, 3 to 4 per cent of any population identifies as LGBTI, and therefore it is likely that 3 to 4 per cent of First Peoples identify as LGBTI.

Determining the size of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender population is difficult. However, recent studies by Gates and Newport (2012) in the United States estimated the percentage of Americans who identify as LGBTI at approximately 3.4 per cent.

According to the ABS, “Within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population there were an estimated 294,000 children and young people, representing 4.2 per cent of the total Australian population aged 0 to 24 years.” Mr Bonson said that in using the American figure of 3.4 per cent, there are approximately 10,000 First Peoples who are LGTBI “and whose needs are yet to be identified.”

“They cannot be forgotten.”

Mr Bonson suggested that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are LGTBI “are at four times the risk of suicide than Indigenous Australians whom are not LGTBI, whose suicide risk is already higher than the general Australian population.”

“LGBTI people have the highest rates of suicidality of any population in Australia (LGBTI Health 2013), and my placing this overall data in the context of suicide makes a compelling argument that a response is required. Conversely, for Indigenous Australians the rate of suicide is ‘more than 4.2 per cent, or one in every 24 Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders (The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy 2013).”

“Health promotional programs for Indigenous, particularly those that are Government – State or Federal – have no actual Indigenous evaluation tools or methodology,” said Mr Bonson.

“Recently, at the Australasian Evaluation Society Conference in Darwin, I participated with 30 other Indigenous Australians to workshop what Indigenous evaluations should look like for Indigenous evaluators.”

“Therefore, current Government Indigenous programs are not meeting standards that we need to develop.”

“Mr Bonson is promoting the development of a Black Rainbow organisation, with more to be announced at a later time. However such a concentrated organisation should be able to generate educative discussions.”

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Indigenous evaluation, as the ontological and epistemological expression of the lived reality of Indigenous peoples, as theory and as practice, is however, increasingly being recognised as a legitimate discipline in its own right.

Just an FYI there is no Indigenous Evaluation Standard that is recognised. So how did programs get assessed to be cut and by what measure.

How do I know this? I was at the Australasian Evaluation Society Pre-Conference “Evaluation by us, for us” Workshop in Darwin (Sept14) work shopping how one would look.

“Health promotional programs for Indigenous, particularly those that are Government – State or Federal – have no actual Indigenous evaluation tools or methodology,” said Mr Bonson.

“Recently, at the Australasian Evaluation Society Conference in Darwin, I participated with 30 other Indigenous Australians to workshop what Indigenous evaluations should look like for Indigenous evaluators.”

“Therefore, current Government Indigenous programs are not meeting standards that we need to develop.” The Stringer October 2014

So unless a program has an Indigenous evidenced based built in evaluation that is specifically for Indigenous improvements in school attendance, Indigenous retention rates and NAPLAN (literacy and numeracy) or to decrease Indigenous incarceration rates, recidivism, police call-outs and crime or increase the % of Indigenous adults employed in a real job (what is a real job anyway – truck driving in a mine ?). You have no basis to judge the outcome of such programs that is relevant to Indigenous people. You can’t measure the length of a road with by the gallon. So you can not measure the success of an Indigenous program based on non-Indigenous evaluations – that’s why the data doesn’t show the gap closing during the operation of the program.

“Evaluation by us, for us” : What is required of AES to strengthen, advance and support Indigenous Evaluation? – A workshop for Indigenous participants was presented by Amohia Boulton; Whakauae Research for Māori Health and Development; New Zealand.

Amohia Boulton; Whakauae Research for Māori Health and Development; New Zealand – The AES Constitution currently makes no mention of the unique place Indigenous peoples have in the make-up of societies in and around the Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand. Indigenous evaluation, as the ontological and epistemological expression of the lived reality of Indigenous peoples, as theory and as practice, is however, increasingly being recognised as a legitimate discipline in its own right. Furthermore, Indigenous evaluation – evaluation undertaken by Indigenous peoples for Indigenous peoples – is being demanded by Indigenous communities who are often in receipt of services and programmes developed without their input or consultation. Indigenous evaluation is regarded by these communities therefore, as an emancipatory and transformative force.

Despite the constitutional “silence” on the issue of Indigenous peoples, the AES Board is keen to advance and support the field of Indigenous evaluation as appropriate, and seeks guidance on how to do this from Indigenous participants at the 2014 conference. In this facilitated workshop for Indigenous participants only, workshop attendees will be asked to identify the key issues in Indigenous Evaluation in our wider Pacific region; how the AES can best support the growth and advancement of Indigenous Evaluation in our region; and how the AES can best support the growth and development of Indigenous members of the Society.

The Australasian Evaluation Society

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The Welcome Path- (English Version) Thunder Bay Youth #SuicidePrevention Task Force

The Welcome Path- (English Version) Thunder Bay Youth #SuicidePrevention Task Force

Moving to a new place is always a challenge. Hear what youth have to say about the journey into new places and spaces.From consultation with over 250 youth, we know that the transition to Thunder Bay from remote communities remains a time of anxiety and stress for many First Nations youth. For many students, this is their first time away from their community and their family and one of their first times in Thunder Bay. Not only are students experiencing a transition to high school but also are learning to live in a new and different community. The Welcome Path is a video created with hopes of addressing and alleviating some of this anxiety. This video is a culmination of information gained from surveys, youth workshops and conversations had with Northern First Nations, both youth and adults, about their experiences coming to Thunder Bay. The video identifies common worries youth experience, what can alleviate some of the worries and how youth can use their own personal resiliency and strengths to overcome the challenges that moving to a new city may cause. First Nations youth worked closely with this project.

 

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Reconciliation and Decolonisation in Suicide Prevention

QUITE tragically, as you are reading these first few words there is a high probability somebody will attempt to end their life by suicide. There is even a higher probability that that somebody is part of the LGBTI community, particularly if they are at the point of self-realisation and disclosure. If that person is an Indigenous Australian, the probability amplifies yet again.

How do I know this? Because that’s what the evidence suggests. LGBTI people are said to have the highest rates of self-harm and suicide of any population in Australia. Same-sex attracted Australians are said to exhibit up to 14-times-higher rates of suicide attempts than their heterosexual peers. Yet, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 996 suicides reported across Australia between 2001 and 2010 among Indigenous peoples. We are told that 1.6 per cent of all Australians die by suicide but for Indigenous peoples, this rate is more than 4.2 per cent, or one in every 24.

As mentioned, the evidence only suggests this because we are coalescing the data from two different groups and hypothesising the math. In other words we aren’t really sure.

However, when we aggregate the data for the Kimberley region and take one particular town during 2012, there were 40 young people who died by suicide. That’s nearly 100 times the national average. Now, I’m not suggesting that these young people were members of the LGBTI community. However, when the social determinants affecting Aboriginal people are seen as a causation of suicidality, the question does have to be asked, what is the amplified risk if they are LGBTI?

To explore what happens when the Indigenous and LGBTI world comes together, intersectionality theory is a way of understanding and uncovering any potential health inequalities. It is also a great way to highlight those previously unknown, caused by a kaleidoscope of social inequalities, whether it be race, gender, class, and/or sexuality.

For the LGBTI community, homophobia, either perceived or actual, is a precursor to one’s level of psychological distress. And if, as suggested, same-sex attracted Australians are up to 14 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers, then homophobia, transphobia, cisgenderism, biphobia, sexism, and hetereosexist behaviours play a big part in how well someone lives, and someone dying.

For Indigenous Australians, other factors are at play and overlaid. These include racism, social location, socioeconomic disparities and intergenerational trauma. The psychological distress caused by these determinants can lead to complex mental health and drug and alcohol issues, such as manifestations of violence toward oneself (self-harm) or others: domestic, family and lateral violence.

So I have raised and discussed the issues and attempted to converse about the tragedy of suicide in the least sensational or emotive way. So where to from here? I’d like to know, because I don’t have the answers. However, I do have some starting points. First, I’m going go start by sharing with you a quote. A quote that is often referred to as the Lilla Watson quote: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting our time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

Participating with the view of being part of the liberation of Indigenous people is the single most overlooked and fundamental principle of genuinely inclusive work. Being part of the liberation is also knowing when you are required and a good indication of that is when you have been asked. Don’t let an over-zealous sense of entitlement to charity or benevolence be your motivation. Also pay attention to the research. Cultural continuity is a protective factor to suicide.

The great Writing Themselves In series, Growing Up Queer report and the current research by Dr Delaney Skerritt provides opportunity for us, as Indigenous researchers and members of the Indigenous LGBTI community, to come up with strengthening solutions. The time is ripe for those who are willing to come on this journey with us, to support us and share your resources with us. I personally believe that the issues facing the Indigenous LGBTI community, once identified and workshopped to discover actions to respond, can be added as an amendment or appendant to national strategies and health plans. Structures already exist for us to coexist within. And if the collaborative work is underpinned by liberation, an enhanced sense of reconciliation can truly happen within the LGBTI community.

I am the founder of LGBTI Indigenous Australian social network Black Rainbow and these are my thoughts on the lack of solid mental health data available among LGBTI Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

This first appeared in the Star Observer and can be found here : Reconciliation and Decolonisation in Suicide Prevention

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The Third Conversation: Has Anything Changed? | THE ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE PREVENTION ROUNDTABLE

 The Third Conversation: Has Anything Changed? | THE ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE PREVENTION ROUNDTABLE

The government says there is no evidence
– but the evidence is with the people who have healed and can claim this
for themselves.
 ROUNDTABLE ATTENDEE, 2014.

Background

The Roundtable brought together Aboriginal community leaders and experts in Indigenous mental health and suicide prevention along with experts, scholars and policy makers to engage in
a third conservation about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and suicide prevention with Emeritus Professor Michael Chandler from the University of British Columbia.

The Roundtable style enabled attendees from diverse backgrounds and areas to come together and share their knowledge and discuss ways forward. Relevant papers and briefs were sent prior to the Roundtable and this formed some of the basis about the discussions. Although specific speakers were nominated to provide brief overviews to
topics that were addressed, people came together with the recognition that all attendees have much
to offer the discussions. The speakers provided overviews to motivate and focus the process. We were particularly excited that we had a strong representation of Aboriginal individuals and community groups as well as leading community action groups, researchers and policy makers attending. Our conversations finished at the end
of the two days with strong priority messages and outcomes detailed in a Call to Action.

The Third Conversation (Final) 2014

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Call to Action 2014 | The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Roundtable on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention

THE ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE PREVENTION ROUNDTABLE COMPANION DOCUMENT TO THE CALL TO ACTION | 23RD AND 24TH JUNE 2014 PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Culture and Community: are of central importance to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and strengthen individual and community resilience against psychological distress and suicide. Any program addressing mental health issues and suicide needs to be culturally based and community driven.

Action 1: Prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ways of Working

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural ways of working and community-led healing programs to prevent suicide are prioritised. Culture is central to any program aimed at supporting individual and community social and emotional wellbeing. This should be stipulated in funding models for services and programs.

Our Young People: sometimes need support to negotiate ‘two ways’ of living. They also should be supported to contribute to the suicide prevention conversation and assisted on their pathways to community leadership.

Action 2: Establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Youth Forum

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and cultural values should support relevant healing initiatives for suicide prevention. Young people’s views on suicide prevention need to be heard. A ‘youth report’ is urgently needed to complement the recently published Culture is Life Campaign’s Elders Report into Preventing Indigenous Self-harm and Suicide.

Research and evidence: is crucial to understanding and preventing suicide and self- harm. Formal partnerships are needed between community based organisations, data custodians and researchers to develop a culturally informed evidence-base to support effective action. This
will require the development of measures and indicators of cultural continuity, the establishment of new, robust data collections, and the optimal use of existing datasets (including the use of linked administrative data) at aggregate and unit-record levels.

Action 3: Strengthen the evidence base for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention

A taskforce is established to map all services
and programs that aim to reduce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide. A further task is to review existing community consultation outcomes, research evidence, systemic approaches and community-led strategies for suicide prevention.

Government Strategies: the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Suicide Prevention Strategy, the Social and Emotional Wellbeing Framework and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan all require plans of action for implementation that are developed

in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and stakeholders to ensure the cultural integrity of the resulting services and programs.

Action 4: Develop an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural framework for suicide prevention services and programs

A cultural framework should guide Whole-Of -Government responses (services and programs) to suicide. Such would prioritise cultural competence, cultural safety and cultural consultation. It would enable the monitoring of the success of such responses by measures of the above.

Call to Action 2014

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There is very little Indigenous anthropological material regarding the historical place of LGBTI Sistergirl and Brotherboy Indigenous Australians.

 Black Rainbow

There is very little Indigenous anthropological material regarding the historical place of LGBTI Sistergirl and Brotherboy Indigenous Australians. What has been accessible is predominately framed within sexual health or to be specific a HIV/AIDS context; not our histories or roles and functions. Black Rainbows aims to make visible Indigenous LGBQTI Sistergirl and Brotherboy peoples.

Here in Australia there is limited information/resources/stories accessible of Brotherboys in Men’s Health. There is also limited information in the general space of positive social and emotional wellbeing, mental health and suicide prevention.

The representation of other colonised nations’ multiple sexualities and genders has a place informing the discussion regarding Indigenous Australian LGBTI Sistergirls and Brotherboys. On the Black Rainbow facebook page, what is shared is what is available. Some reports are out of print and have had to be sourced from overseas (Did you meet any Malagas by Dr Dino Hodge was purchased from Amazon) or hunted down through archives (Malaga to Malaga by Gary Lee which was purchased as scanned PDF copies from a Canberra library).

I have been heartened by discovering The Postgrad Sista: A Blog about Indigenous Gender Diversity and become good friends with the author. In the Guest section of Indigenous Consultancy you will find a couple of blogs by The Postgrad Sista.

Cultural considerations that prohibit certain things being shared and conversations and sharing does also happen away from non-Indigenous spaces.

Black Rainbow is run from Broome, WA.

Please feel free to share anything you come across and you can either message directly on here or email BlkRnBow@gmail.com

Black Rainbow is part of a larger network and conversation and its primary function is about visibility and keeping the conversation going. In under three months it has managed to do just that. Last week Black Rainbow was the front page of the most circulated gay and read gay street press, the Star Observer.

Check it out here : http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/deadly-initiative-black-rainbow-flies-flag-proudly/11814

Black Rainbow exists primary as a resource of information sharing, conversation and visibility. It will no doubt grow as it too is organic and it is hoped that it will grow beautifully.

It is not the voice of Indigenous Australian LGBTI Sistergirls and Brotherboys but one of the many mechanisms for those voices.

Thank you for your interest in Black Rainbow, your membership is much appreciated.

The Black Rainbow Facebook Page

 Our Facebook page is here : www.facebook.com/BlackRainbowAustralia

Here are some posters Black Rainbow developed. 

   

  

A paper on Indigenous LGBTI Suicide Prevention looking for publishers or journal

Voices from the Black Rainbow – Indigenous LGBQTI in Suicide Prevention

Abstract : The suicide rate for Aboriginal people can fluctuate between 4 to 12 times the national average. Similarly Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer and Transgender Individual (LGBQTI) health literature note LGBQTI populations are also a high risk of suicidality. A review encompassing 15 years of Aboriginal and LGBQTI health literature was undertaken; including the current National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan (NATSIHP) 2013-2015, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy 2013 (ATSISPS) and national LGBTI Health Strategies; Growing Up Queer (2014) and Writing Themselves In I, II, III (1998, 2004, 2010). The review noted a paucity of information on the causation of any potential suicidality at the intersection of Indigeneity, gender variance and diverse sexualities. This study captured voices of Aboriginal LGBQTI peoples through workshops called “Yarning Circles” (Bessarab and Ng’andu 2010); online surveys circulated via Aboriginal LGBQTI networks; and “tweet yarns” (Parker 2014). The online surveys and Yarning Circles established that overwhelmingly participants had not seen any health, wellbeing and suicide prevention strategies or activities for the Aboriginal LGBQTI community, and that this group would like to see some preventative measures in place.

These findings suggest the current Aboriginal Suicide Prevention Strategy and national LGBQTI Suicide Prevention Strategy need amending to reflect the unique needs and solutions for Aboriginal LGBQTI communities.

©Indigenist

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