Developing the Cultural Intervention Plan - Case Study Example

Indigenous People and Social Worker Intervention Plan Background The case of Naomi is not unique among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. In reality, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander group are just a minority (2%), but they still remain a significant aspect of Australian community. In dealing with them, the Aboriginal mirror of Ways of Knowing, Being and Doing should be applied. This lens is important since it will offer a holistic way of thinking about Naomi’s experience, which is highly relevant in addressing her case. In Naomi’s context, it is critical to work from a community perspective and involve both Naomi and Gary’s family. This is because aboriginal families place much emphasis on the extended family and it will therefore be very challenging to work with one side of the family and neglect the other (Stafford, & Kurt, 2007). Starting Point The first step towards developing an intervention plan for Naomi’s case will be confirming her indigenous status. This will require brining in Naomi’s mother to help in her identification. The reason for this is that for a person to be considered to be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, they have to be identified by a close relative or a community member. For way of identification, an Aboriginal person is any individual who positively identifies as an Aboriginal and is embraced as such by the people with whom he/she lives amongst (Stafford & Kurt, 2007). After the self-identification exercise, it will be important to get a written intervention order from Naomi’s mother. After this has been put in place, there will be no need to complete a comprehensive cultural support plan but only the minimal information in the cultural support plan will be recorded. This is necessitated by the fact that the family will still be at hand to meet the cultural needs of the children as they had done before. Given that it will not be possible to enquire about the health matters of Gary during the burial, it is important to determine the duration that Naomi and her sister will be in care. As a starting point, it is also important to undertake an extensive study to determine whether there is a specific cultural need that needs to be met. Identifying the level of contact with the extended family is critical since it will determine whether a comprehensive cultural support plan will have to be developed with the family (Spencer, 2006). In order to come up with an effective intervention plan, there will be need to use culturagrams. Culturagrams are tools that are specifically developed to comprehend the role of culture in families. Since a culturagram is a family assessment tool, there is need to work with the entire family to identify cultural gaps that need to be filled by the social workers. Since none of the social workers at Social Worker at Ryanary Social Work Counselling Agency is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, the use of a culturagram will be needed to individualize the members of this family (Spencer, 2006). Given that Naomi will be away from home for a prolonged time, a culturagram will help in identifying the language spoken at home and whether Joe’s friend who will be taking care of the mother while the children are away is conversant with the language spoken within the home. This will also aid in identifying the health beliefs held within the home to ensure that Joe’s friend is conversant with them. A culturagram is also important in assessing any kind of kind of crisis that might emerge while Naomi and Joe who wield the biggest responsibility to the family are away (Newton, 2010). Developing the Cultural Intervention Plan The development of Naomi’s cultural intervention plan is a critical responsibility that should be conducted with sensitivity and in collaboration with the child and indeed the entire community especially the elders. Given that Naomi and her sister are already of age, they should be fully involved in developing the intervention plan should be tailored to suit her personal circumstance and needs. In essence, any action plan designed should bear in mind the needs and requirements of the concerned parties. The family meeting meant to discuss the cultural intervention support plan should be facilitated by the meting convener. There is need for help in this area especially on the area of language interpretation since there is a possibility that some members of the family are not conversant with the English language that is spoken by the social workers at Ryanary Social Work Counselling Agency. Using the gathered information in developing the intervention plan will help in avoiding the common tendency of generalizing the entire Aboriginal and Torres Islander people (Birrell, & Hirst, 2002). Helpful Resources History In order to be able to help Naomi in her quest, it will be important to factor in the historical perspective from which the children come from. The importance about history is that it underpins who an individual is and where they fit in. One way of getting the real history of Naomi will be through engaging the elders in story sharing. Ideally, children are a part of the extended family and the community in general and they will have to be involved in the stories that go with their families for them to be able to establish their family tree. In this context, it will be important to help in the location of the elders in Naomi’s family tree for them to help in this exercise (Blainey, 2002). The importance of engaging the elders in this form of intervention is that it is respectful and unlike other forms of counselling it centres on individuals as the experts of their own life. While the social workers have the power to help in Naomi’s case, Narrative Theory (NT) treats problems as separate from individuals and presumes that people have diverse skills, competencies, beliefs and values that will aid them to lessen the influence of challenges in their life. While it might be hard to ask directly about the history of Naomi’s family, it will be easier to deduce such information through story telling. Telling stories is ideal since people only construct what they see and as such only describe what they see. Following this line of thought, there is a high probability that the elders will only be able to communicate the real situation that they saw happening in Gary’s life. This will help Naomi to pick bits and pieces about her father’s illness that can help her in connecting her own illness to that of her farther (Blainey, 2002). Extended Family and Community In order to help Naomi and her sister heal psychologically, there is need to connect her to her extended family. The reason for this is because communities are often happier and healthier if they are offered the right empowerment that would make it easy for them to embrace their culture. While in the quest to find about her own situation, there is need to offer the right support to Naomi and her sister in order to help them in meeting their cultural services. From her experience, Naomi has already realized that she is not as strong as she thought and this has brought about a conflict within her. By exposing her to her culture, we will make it possible for her to get in touch with her inner fears and to conquer them. This will only be possible if she is introduced to her extended family since each one of them is critical in motivating and supporting Naomi and her sister to practice their culture (Condon, Barnes, Cunningham & Smith, 2004). Since it is impossible for Naomi to stay with Gary’s family for a long time due to her mother’s illness, it is important to locate members of her extended family that live within her area and help her connect to them. If there are no relatives within that area, it will be important to locate members of Joe’s extended family that are living within that area and help them in connecting to that family. Given that Joe treats Naomi and her sister in a good manner is a good sign since it means that Joe has assimilated them to his family tree. Personal Identity Just by examining the life of Naomi, it is easy to tell that she has lost her sense of identity. For Aboriginal people, creating a sense of identity is critical and this is something that she needs to be helped to get in touch with. In this context, it is important to help her to know the group, clan, family, as well as the community to which she belongs. Since Naomi and her sister left their community when they were still young, they will need to be taught about the knowledge, customs, and language of their community. The reason for this is that culture is the basis of one’s past, present and the future. By having their cultural identity acknowledged, they will be able to understand who they really are and what their future holds for them. Since there is no any formal research that has been done on the disease she is suffering from, helping her to understand how other members in her community handled the disease is critical for her to understand the effects that the disease will have on her life in the future (Condon, Barnes, Cunningham, & Smith, 2004). Attitudes and Beliefs Given that the western beliefs are different from the Aboriginal beliefs and way of life, it is possible that social workers with western origin might find some of the Aboriginal beliefs unpleasant. For this reason, there is need to be well versed about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences before embarking on helping Naomi and her family. This will help in ensuring that the social worker respects and acknowledges the diversity of these people at all times. In the real sense, Aboriginal people have much respect for social cohesion. This means that they place great emphasis on social relationships, trust and mutual obligations. They also have a sense of wellbeing and resilience and these are factors that we will have to help Naomi get in touch with (Stafford & Kurt, 2007). Since community governance is still practiced among the aboriginal people, there is need to get in touch with the person governing the region from which Naomi’s father hailed from. Due to the sense of kinship that exists between the members of this community, it will be possible for the leader of this group to offer the needed help as long as they feel that they are respected. Before embarking on this venture, it is critical to understand that there will be cultural differences between the western way of life and the Aboriginal life. It is critical to understand what these cultural differences are in order to foster a sense of respect for the Aboriginal people (Stafford & Kurt, 2007). It is also critical to offer a central environment where the stories that will lead to Naomi’s realization of her place in the community and the information that she needs to know about her father can be taught. In order to create a sense of trust, it is also important for the social worker to listen and respond to the stories told within the community. There is also need to offer training to the social worker so that he can assist Naomi’s kinsmen to recreate their story in an effort to offer new meanings. This will help Naomi and her sister to deduct new meanings and ways of their existent that does not compromise their identity as Aboriginal (Sydney, 2013). For Joe, there will be need to come up with measures to help him in seeking the right medical help for his wife. For this to effective, it is critical to first seek his opinion regarding healing modalities. The moment that he is assured that his cultural beliefs are respected, it will even be easier for him to open the door for the social workers to offer counselling to his other children who are obviously in need of social work services. This means that care should be taken to ensure that through Naomi, help is extended to the whole family. This will only be possible if the Aboriginal right to self-determination is presented to Joe. References Birrell, R., & Hirst, J. (2002). Aboriginal Couples at the 2001 Census. People and Place 10 (3): 27. Blainey, G. (2002). A Land Half Won. Macmillan, South Melbourne Condon, J., Barnes, T., Cunningham. J. & Smith. L. (2004). Demographic Characteristics and Trends of the Northern Territory Indigenous Population, 1966 to 2001. Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health Newton, J. (2010). Becoming Authentic. Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice 27: 93–101. Spencer, S. (2006). Race and Ethnicity: Culture, identity and representation. London: Routledge. Stafford, S., & Kurt, S. (2007). The Viability and Resilience of Communities and Settlements in Desert Australia. Rangeland Journal 30 (1): 123-126. Sydney, B. (2013). Aboriginal People and Place. Barani: Sydneys Aboriginal History. City of Sydney. Read More