JCPSLP Vol 22 No 1 2020

Discussion The examples provided demonstrate the creative and clinically applicable work that can be done when intercultural and interdisciplinary teams come together in genuine collaborative partnerships. With combined expertise there is opportunity for novel, innovative and generative work that better meets the needs of Aboriginal clients and communities. This paper is a call for broader conversations between disciplines and active pursuit of intercultural, interdisciplinary teams prioritising partnerships with Aboriginal people based on listening, shared knowledge building, responsivity and trust. Working with clients, families and communities from a strength-based perspective is part of Speech Pathology Australia and the profession’s commitment to “equitable health, wellbeing and educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples” (SPA, 2019). This commitment requires deep reflection in regard to our SLP practices including the power dynamics intertwined with our work and our identities as “professionals” with “presumed expertise” (SPA, 2019). We need to seek collaboration with people who bring different perspectives and expertise, including Aboriginal clients and their families, and acknowledge when things are not working or we do not know what to do. To find ways forward we need structural changes and research (and associated funding) that supports clinicians to make significant changes to how we work, understanding we will be uncomfortable in the process. Our team of colleagues advocate for the following: • Creation of positions to enable sustainable, collaborative work with paid Aboriginal community health partners and other people who hold “alternative ways of knowing/ practising” (Pillay, 2003, p. 298) to effectively identify needs and culturally appropriate ways to respond to these needs in remote and rural Australian contexts. • Active forums for communication between paid Aboriginal community members, academics, researchers, linguists, educators and SLPs to support culturally and regionally responsive services. • The creation of resources to support more effective processes of intercultural engagement, e.g., strategies for service engagement with local communities, culturally responsive relationship building, and processes for collaborative design and development of tools and supports which build on cultural strengths (Amery et al., 2019; Armstrong, Bukulatjpi et al., 2019). • More support for clinical research such as Speech Pathology Australia’s Clinician – Researcher Partnership Grants. • Participatory action research to explore the needs and challenges faced by Aboriginal families accessing speech-language pathology services and to inform the development and sustainable implementation of services responsive to the cultural and linguistic needs of clients and their communities. • For research teams to engage with the questions and issues of applied practice. Ideally, an Australian Research Council centre of excellence would engage experts, including service users and their families, around the theme of delivering culturally appropriate services for Aboriginal clients. • An active breaking down of professional silos through interdisciplinary activities such as meetings, journal clubs and sharing of information and resources. Might we also strive to break down the barriers of professionalism itself

by senior Yol ŋ u researchers and community members (Lowell et al., 2018a). Following the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) (The Intervention) (Brough, 2007), community members expressed concern that the many early childhood programs coming into their community did not recognise Yol ŋ u strengths and priorities. In response to these concerns, our intercultural team conducted research to share what is important to Yol ŋ u in growing up children (strengths and challenges) and how families support children’s development. The research aims are centred in acknowledgement of the strength and importance of bringing different knowledge systems together – for children and families, service providers and researchers – to reduce confusion of difference with deficit and to provide evidence so that Yol ŋ u skills, knowledge and priorities can be built into early childhood assessment and support. For this team, the spaces where cultures, knowledges and worldviews meet have been a point of rich connection and allowed the team to develop and explore new understandings. Since the time of “The Intervention”, Yol ŋ u governance has increased in some early childhood programs and service providers continue to work on strategies to increase recognition of cultural knowledge and priorities. The resources developed through the Growing up Children in Two Worlds project are supporting this change in the large remote community where the research was conducted. From 2013 to 2019 as part of this research, videos were recorded of children (0–7 years old) and their families in everyday activities, e.g., at home, out hunting, at ceremonies. Families and Yol ŋ u researchers interpreted the videos to explain what they show about child development and child rearing. Researchers also interviewed a wide range of other community members. This large body of data was analysed collaboratively and findings from this research have been shared in many forums, both in the community and more widely, in accessible mediums for families as well as professionals (e.g., Fasoli, et al., 2018; Lowell et al., 2018b). One ongoing resource is the project website: www.growingupyolngu.com.au. This research is “uplifting Yol ŋ u voices” (Yal ŋ arra Guyula, Yol ŋ u Researcher). We recognise Yol ŋ u as experts on Yol ŋ u child development and on Yol ŋ u research. Yol ŋ u recognise Balanda (non-Indigenous researchers/SLPs) who follow Yol ŋ u leadership, come to contribute their skills in the community, who are flexible and trying hard to change how they see, and who stay over the long term to learn about what’s really going on here. People need time to connect and to learn, otherwise they will only be accessing the surface and not the deeper stories. Yol ŋ u need time to get used to team members – talking together, walking together, going out to do work together. The approach used in the Growing up Children in Two Worlds research project has brought invisible knowledges and practices to the surface – those that are invisible to Balanda who are not connected to Yol ŋ u gurrut- u (kinship system). Intercultural, interdisciplinary, interlinguistic research is difficult, complex work that takes a long time. Teams need to work on the ground and be with people in the community. To do this, we need funding and support. Work like this needs to be properly resourced for the long term so that connections can be sustained and researchers and participants can keep sharing detailed information in accessible ways and see the research through to outcomes for the community.

37

JCPSLP Volume 22, Number 1 2020

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au