Face to face forum strengthens Aboriginal leadership and collaboration

Aboriginal health leaders and representatives across WA Country Health Service met in Perth recently for the two-day Aboriginal Health Leadership Group (AHLG) and Senior Aboriginal Health Program Officers (SAHPO) Forum.

The events focussed on sharing information and strengthening collaboration across the organisation.

Director Aboriginal Health Strategy Russell Simpson said it was an important opportunity to showcase different initiatives across country WA.

“We’re all working towards a shared goal of improving health outcomes for Aboriginal people in Western Australia,” he said.

“While no two regions are the same, the forum was an important opportunity for us to meet, share knowledge and support one another.”

The events encouraged conversations about ways to strengthen and support the Aboriginal workforce, updates to Aboriginal health reform and highlighted projects like the Aboriginal Health Champions Program.

“Our Aboriginal health workers play an incredibly important role across WACHS,” Russell said.

“We want to make sure that we’re identifying how we can best support them and keep growing that workforce now and into the future.”

As part of the forum, Regional Aboriginal Health Consultants (RAHC) travelled from all regions to participate.

Established in each of the regions, RAHCs are part of the Executive team.

They support the coordination, development, implementation and evaluation of Aboriginal health projects, programs and services, with the primary goal of closing the gap in Aboriginal health.

The RAHCs work with regional HR teams, Learning and Development teams, and external education and training stakeholders to build opportunities for Aboriginal employment through traineeships and work experience.

They also work with Aboriginal staff in their regions to help create culturally safe environments at WA Country Health Service sites.

South West Regional Aboriginal Health Consultant Michelle Munns said it was valuable to meet face to face and bring experience from each area together in one place.

“It’s always nice to get together and share information from our respective areas,” she said.

“We get to hear what the other regions are doing and how we can support each other.

“We’re all working towards closing the Gap, and we’re strengthening relationships across regions,” she added.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we introduce you to some of our other incredible RAHCs.