Brand is a social worker with the Australian Nursing Family Partnership Program<\/a>, which provides primary healthcare to Aboriginal mothers and mothers to-be living in and around Mparntwe.<\/p>\n As part of her role, Brand helps women to stay healthy during pregnancy and their baby\u2019s formative years. She also helps them connect to services, set goals and foster nurturing family home environments.<\/p>\n \u201cWe work with pregnant mums right through until the child\u2019s second birthday. I work alongside nurses, midwives and Aboriginal community workers. Some of my work includes advocacy, assessment (safety, risk and psychosocial), referral and liaising with community services,\u201d Brand explains.<\/p>\n With the gap<\/a> for quality of life and life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians as wide as ever, Brand says it\u2019s crucial for Indigenous people to have autonomy over their own health practices.<\/p>\n \u201cIt allows Aboriginal people to be involved in decision-making about us and for us. Control of and access to health care by Indigenous people allows us to make decisions about our health in line with our priorities and our ways of working.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Brand\u2019s statement is echoed by significant research findings, including a 2016 paper published in the International Journal for Equity in Health<\/em>, which concluded that Indigenous health care services are \u201cmore likely to be free of racism and are generally more culturally appropriate than mainstream services. They also tend to employ Indigenous staff who are able to speak the local language and are often known by people accessing the service.\u201d<\/p>\n But Brand says there\u2019s a disconnect when it comes to applying this type research on the ground, and progress in the health sector continues to be ad hoc.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that some things are getting better \u2013 there is more awareness and recognition into what is needed and what practice works in this space.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat frustrates me is the copious amounts of research conducted in relation to Aboriginal health and wellbeing with countless recommendations, however, we still have the poorest health compared with non-Indigenous Australians.\u201d<\/p>\n In her role, Brand has first-hand insight into the complexities of health care. She highlights how insufficient housing, for example, can affect a person\u2019s ability to progress in other areas of their life.<\/p>\n \u201cLack of suitable housing and accommodation is one of the biggest issues, and is often associated with health outcomes because it intersects with other social determinants of health, for example education, the criminal justice system and employment.<\/p>\n \u201cHow is someone supposed to feel safe when they are living in overcrowded housing? Or how can you work with an individual to engage in employment when they have no safe place to stay, wash, and store their clothes or belongings?<\/p>\n \u201cTo contextualise, we have private and public housing in Central Australia. Due to socioeconomic disadvantage, a lot of people I work with are not \u2018eligible\u2019 nor suitable for the private market.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the difficult nature of her job, Brand was drawn to social work after her friends, family and community pointed out that she had the qualities of a good social worker \u2013 a strong sense of social justice, self-determination and respect for others.<\/p>\n \u201cMy interest in social work started when I was 18 and my foster brother joined our family. From there, I developed an interest in child safety, identity and development, and I started working in child protection,\u201d she says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cDuring this time, my colleagues encouraged me to study social work as they identified I had the skills, knowledge and values, and would benefit from the theoretical knowledge of social work.\u201d<\/p>\nA social calling<\/h2>\n
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