That leads to the last point, the fifth, which is, when there's a crisis,
when things start to fall apart in these young women's lives,
they can turn around to someone they trust and ask for help.
Liz, that ties in with programs you've been involved with
as a general practitioner.
Yes, it does. What came across to me was the connectedness,
that these were people not feeling in isolation anymore.
Yet potentially they are vulnerable people who could easily be isolated.
You can expand what happens there
when you're talking about the flexible approach.
You could easily see that GPs could come in and be involved
so you could expand the reach of the program.
NORMAN: Jodi, tell me the programs you're involved with at Barnardo's.
I work in the central-west of New South Wales.
It's a mixed community.
A lot of towns we work in are fairly small, from 400 up to 8,000.
We've deliberately worked in towns that are not regional centres.
They're all within an hour or two hours of a regional centre,
but they aren't regional centres as such.
We find with some older children we're working with
that one of the most important protective factors
is attending and remaining at school and school achievement.
We've developed a range of strategies or interventions
aimed at encouraging school attendance.
NORMAN: After you've handcuffed them to the desk, what do you do?
No, much more fun than that.
For example, at Warren, we had a group of girls who were on suspensions
or at risk of suspension because of behaviour, attitude, talking back,
spitting, swearing, fighting, et cetera.
The school came to us and asked, what can we do with these girls?
We decided to work with the girls,
initially by engaging them in some circus skills.
We were fortunate to have a worker
who had been with the Flying Fruit Fly Circus.
She did hula-hooping with them as a bit of fun,
then started to work to build a human pyramid.
To achieve that, they literally had to learn how to work together,
how to include everyone and make sure everyone participated,
because it wouldn't work if they didn't all participate,
and build trust amongst one another.
Having done that, we were able to move on to a program
that combined art channelling and scrapbooking
to explore more themes around identity and articulating feelings.
So just as with the men and fishing,
you're trying different keys to unlock that safety box.
It's about engagement skills and building a sense of trust
and that it's OK to do what we're doing.
It's that cultural safety Judy was talking about.
This is an OK environment to talk in, that we saw in the fishing program.
Likewise with the young mums, they felt safe
and that this is an environment where they could talk about their needs.
How important is the health-care team in this?
If I was watching as general practitioner
or a pharmacist or community nurse,
I might think, interesting, but I don't see my role in this.
Amongst this group of girls, one had a hearing problem.
The school was not able to get her to a hearing specialist.
But having worked with the girls and developed a sense of trust,
our youth workers were able to work with the whole family
and get that girl to a hearing assessment two hours away.
There were other problems around logical things, transport.
But until that time, the school was aware there was a hearing problem,
it was impacting her education, but they hadn't been able
to engage with the family to get to the specialist.
Liz, it's knowing, if you're a GP, that there is such a group
that you can start to have a relationship with them.
That's what I was going to say
when you said it might not directly relate to a GP.
I'm thinking, if I'm in that town and I've got a kid who's a bit tricky,
you look at what you can get them engaged with.
That's really helpful if you're working on something else,
like managing depression or trying to engage them in contraception,
if they're actually becoming more positive and agreeable.
Another program we have is a breakfast program out at Narromine.
Kids come to the breakfast program in the morning.
The program is a combination of having something to eat,
so getting a good start to the day,
and doing exercise with a load of gym equipment.
That sets children up in a more positive frame of mind for the whole day -
having fed, exercised, offloaded any problem
that might have come up from the night before or at home that morning.
Then they're ready to go to school.
What about community strengthening, Adam?
What sort of programs can you quote there,
and the principles you might take away from that?
This applies across communities.
I like what we've heard so far in terms of the idea of engagement,
then building on that engagement over time
with other professionals into a multifaceted approach.
As families get more comfortable and issues come up,
we've got ways of engaging them.
Some of the keys are, individuals in the community have to want to be engaged,
have to want to be part of something.
It might be something innocuous to start with, then build on that.
Here's my question - what's implicitly underlying this
is you're trying to build up resilience -
resilience in communities, resilience in individuals.
My understanding of the resilience literature is, it's quite a hard task.
The kids who'll do better already have a bit of resilience.
They're more open, more sociable, they're more willing to ask for help.
Can you really teach resilience, Jodi?
That's a tricky one.
That's what you're trying to do, isn't it?
Using a strengths-based approach,
you can build the factors that contribute towards resilience.
If I could interrupt,
because some of those factors are around if you're in school,
you're getting life skills as well as academic skills
to allow you to cope better with the things that life throws at you.
The second point I'd make... I've lost that point.
LIZ: I've got one. - I've lost it, sorry.
If you're dealing with people who aren't very resilient -
I find that with young parents we work with -
you have to assist them to be able to engage.
NORMAN: So you model behaviour.
Also you have to provide really structural things.
Like, we will provide transport and feed people at our workshops well
and give them good resources.
If we just said, come, they probably wouldn't.
We recognise it's hard for them to get there,
but when they do get there, you can build on things you want to.
Have you seen in your area of Shoalhaven in New South Wales
a reduced rate of notification of child-protection orders?
I can't answer that. I don't know.
NORMAN: Dorothy?
Notifications tell us a lot more about activity in a child-protection system
and the degree to which people feel obliged
to report to a statutory authority.
We don't have good prevalence data in this country.
The Institute of Child Health in Western Australia
is working on developing proxy measures
for the prevalence of child abuse and neglect.
At the moment, we're relying on reports, which are a very problematic measure.
What I can say about resilience is,
if we go back to the classic resilience studies of Werner and Smith,
yes, there are constitutional factors in the temperament of some children,
but they found that resilient children,
that is, children exposed to a high level of adversity
but with fewer problematic outcomes in adolescence and adulthood,
had far fewer separations in the first year of life
with their primary caregiver.
NORMAN: Their pathway through life was different?
One significant adult who was very committed to them,
who may not even have been a relative, and greater spacing between births.
So we shouldn't always assume
that resilience is an innate quality in children.
There are factors in the social environment that enhance resilience.
I don't want to spend the rest of the program on resilience,
but my understanding was that the significant adult wasn't that important,
that it was the hiatus, that these children
had some interruption of the adversity, which could be a program like this.
Yes, indeed.
Some of the programs we've heard described, Jodi's for example,
are providing mentoring-like relationships ,
and the before-school program, so you're helping significant adults
into the lives of children in a safe way.
Judy, tell me how it works in Indigenous communities.
Resilience in an Indigenous community would not be looked at from outside
as something of real value.
In an Indigenous community, you may have one house where one woman,
a grandmother, provides a safe place for kids.
The kids will congregate there.
The kids feel safe there.
It looks chaotic at one level, and she's struggling to do things,
- but they feel happy and safe. NORMAN: This heroic aunty.
I've recently had a situation with a woman living in a remote community
who's got six kids.
She's subject to high levels of domestic violence.
We've been trying to get her out.
But if she comes out, she doesn't have the network in her community
that supports her in times of crisis.
When she comes out, she won't be subjected to domestic violence, but...
NORMAN: There's good things as well.
The other thing I wanted to say is,
I'm interested in moving beyond resilience into resonance.
NORMAN: Into? - Resonance.
The ability to empathise, to relate to another person,
another child who's in pain.
Sometimes kids can be resilient and end up in a prison system.
I've worked with kids who, when they're feeling with another child,
they understand why the other child is hurting,
then they can feel how they're hurting themselves.
To explain for people who don't know the resilience literature,
that notion of empathy and being able to empathise
is a key feature of a resilient child or person.
The thing that worked really well for us was,
my students, in the middle of all the arguments
about what was happening in the Territory,
decided they wanted to do something.
So they ran something with NAPCAN called Stomp It,
which has been amazing because it's taken off across Australia.
Communities want to do Stomp It.
We had one day when, on campus -
we were going to run it in Sydney then we decided not to -
on campus, we focused on how we could have a lot of fun,
celebration, around children.
We had GPs, we had the government departments, the NGOs on campus,
and a big celebration with a load of musicians, artists and activities.
We had more children and their parents and their grandparents
on that campus than I've ever seen.
I'd never seen Aboriginal people come
onto a university campus site like we had.
They went away and talked about it for a long time.
Out of that, we didn't have a lot more reports,
but we had people saying, we want this service. We've not got this service.
This is northern New South Wales. We want the Government to do something.
We're seeing communities turn themselves around by demanding.
The New South Wales Government has not been on top of things,
particularly after Breaking The Silence -
the report on child sexual assault in NSW.
the communities I'm working with are saying, come on.
The Western Australian Government has just said to us,
they are seeing changes in a couple of communities in NSW
that they want to have in Western Australia because of this work.
Talk us into the next case study.
I got an email from a community called Kalumburu.
If I ever get a crisis request for help, I say yes straightaway.
I don't worry about the money. Put it on my credit card.
I'm glad I'm not your bank manager.
I've got a good husband.
21 arrests on child sexual assault.
I did two things I always do.
NORMAN: This is a community in crisis? - Yes.
We have what we call ICERT -
the Indigenous Crisis Educaring Response Team.
Immediately I get a call, I either get my students to go out
or somebody else in our multiskilling team, or I go myself.
In this case, I rang the Commonwealth Government and said,
I will make a commitment to this community,
but I want you to commit me to two years of funding and I will go, so I went in.
I found a community that was in incredible pain.
It didn't have any words, any sense of positivity.
I had to work with what was negative first.
I asked them to tell me the things that weren't good. They painted it for me.
NORMAN: So it was almost like narrative therapy?
A kind of a narrative approach, yeah.
It's working from story in a very organic way.
I often get people to find parts of the nature around them
to make the story they want to tell me.
After they had started to name the pain they were feeling
and the shame they were feeling, I said, there are some really good things.
Tell me what's good in this community.
I watched them start to talk
as they named the positive things in the community. It was beautiful.
They started to paint a canvas. I use art a lot, and music and theatre.
They started to paint a canvas, and suddenly stopped
and repainted the canvas, and painted the flag.
On the flag, they painted hands,
and in the hands, they painted the good things in their community.
Then I knew. Then they took us fishing.
LIZ: Fishing? - Just like Liz.
They took us fishing, and we caught fish.
The young boys took us out.
They took the mums and the bubs out,
and we did work with the bubs and the mums went fishing,
and we sat beside different people while they told us how they were feeling.
It was kind of organic, it was therapeutic. I call it educaring.
Let's have a look.
When the community first contacted me, I responded immediately.
When there's a crisis and people want things to change and they ask for help,
a successful outcome is more likely.
Today, we're creating a safe place around the mango trees,
an open space where everyone can come.
The water round the circle symbolises creating the safe place
within the circle, which is really important,
providing a safe place for people to come in and share their stories.
It allows them to talk about their feelings
knowing that no-one else will know about it,
it doesn't go outside the circle.
I'm the director of the healing circle at Gnibi.
CIRCLE stands for the collaborative Indigenous research centre
for learning and educare.
There was a pain here, confusion and shame.
Historically, many in the community
were themselves abused by Europeans they trusted.
People feel safe working with us, here, outside, under the mango trees.
That's where we create the human circle.
Community rebuilding is about helping people to tell their own stories
and to listen to each other.
I call this community healing.
The best way to do this work is holistically, of course.
We have to include the elders - the old grannies and the old grandfathers.
Then you've got the aunties, then young mums,
then the teenagers, then the little kids.
That's six different layers of people.
We work with the elders first, gain their trust,
let them know what we're here for.
JUDY: Trauma recovery is a journey towards healing.
This can begin when people feel safe enough to ask the hard questions,
like, why were the children abused? Who brings in the grog?
Who's behind the supply of the drugs and pornography?
Through painting, dancing, story maps, you help people to find the courage
to first describe their pain
and then discover, and this is important, their hope and resilience.
First, they tell themselves what's wrong,
then they tell each other what they have to do about it.
That's what we teach at Gnibi - how to encourage people to tell their story
and to help the community build solutions.
Aunty, do you want me to take that damper?
We were invited to come to this beautiful community
to see if we could come up with a program of solutions
to help get the community back on its feet,
and families be happier again
and relationships start to work again
and people to understand the dangers of drugs
and alcohol - that they aren't the answer to dealing with problems.
JUDY: Circle work links communities to the university.
It's supported by the Government.
It's educational, or as I call it, educaring.
Community change starts with those who want to change.
If this community has the courage to do the work,
we'll sit in the circle with them and we'll learn with them.
It doesn't happen all at once.
People come to the circle of healing when they're ready.
It teaches education appropriate to their lifestyle.
At this community,
education should be based around the strong culture they have.
The fact that they live on the land, they're still well connected.
It's paramount that we teach our kids the old ways so we can survive.
As the old people, the elders, they share their stories,
they're reclaiming the traditional law.
That says that all children are sacred.
We need to honour the courage of the elder who listened
when she heard her grandchild's cry for help.
She helped her community see there's something wrong,
and she began to do something about it.
Now they're helping themselves, and we have a commitment to be there with them.
When I came here, there was a community in crisis,
a shattered community,
a community that wants to heal and go forward
and get out of all those things that are hurting this place.
A part of that, in particular, is the men of this community.
There's been different levels of support for women and children,
but there was hardly anything here for the men.
We decided when we got here that I'd start a men's group.
Once a week we get together and talk about our problems,
then we work out ways of, how do we address them?
I was offered a job here with the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation.
I supervise a small mowing crew.
That has helped me to work in every yard in the community,
which in turn helped me to get to know the people in that household
and what kind of problems they were facing, family issues or whatever.
Young Ian, when I first came here, a very friendly young man,
very proud of his culture here.
This is a bush apple tree.
Always involved in putting together activities
for the youth of his age, boys and girls.
A lot of kids go mad over this.
These things that look like a kangaroo -
(Speaks Indigenous language) ..flying fox.
Ian has been accepted at Southern Cross University Lismore.
With him completing his studies,
the rest of the youth in this community will see that,
and say, I'd like to step up like Ian did.
That's where the strength will come from - from themselves.
The strength that we have inside of us, we share it.
We learn from our elders, it gets passed to us, we pass it to our young people,
and the cycle goes on.
JUDY: It takes a community to rear a child.
It takes a strong, healthy community to raise healthy, strong kids.
If we help the parents to love and protect their kids,
even in ways they've not been protected themselves,
we're building a generation of strong and happy kids,
and then they'll be loving and caring parents themselves.
That's all we can ask for.
The Kalumburu community.
What are the take-aways here that could be generalised elsewhere, Judy?
That it does take a community, that there's no magic wand,
that we have to be in it for the long haul,
that we have to engage across the community to all levels -
with the children, the people at the school, the health workers.
There's a couple of nurses in Kalumburu.
With the old people, who really want change.
I've never yet been anywhere and sat with anybody
who's sitting in pain who doesn't want change.
That's really important.
I totally believe, and what this does, is show...
We've built a program around education -
education for early childhood, education for life-long learning,
education for healing.
Well, impressive.
Thank you very much to you all.
It's been a moving and important program.
What are your take-away messages? Liz?
For me, on a clinical level,
it would be to bear in mind the risk factors Dorothy so clearly identified,
and keep them at the back of your mind.
But rather than feeling overwhelmed by them,
don't underestimate your capacity as a GP
to be assisting parents by reducing those risk factors.
NORMAN: Picking off the pieces you can manage.
I'd also say, if you're a GP like me,
who has the luxury of not working full-time in clinical practice -
and I know lots of rural GPs are so overwhelmed,
they don't have time for something else.
But don't be afraid to team up with somebody,
like my fantastic program coordinator Kim Oliver,
and have a go at applying for some funding
and do something in the community that's incredibly rewarding.
It's completely different from the work you do in your consultation room.
It's definitely worthwhile having a go.
There's often money if you look for it.
Jodi?
For me, in the rural context, where we often have very limited resources,
the key message is - work collaboratively.
Make the most of what we've got in the community.
Know your community resources and refer early when you can.
That's not just a workaround.
That's what I've heard again and again - that's what you've got to do.
Even if you had all the money in the world,
you actually want to build up from the community,
not parachute something shiny in that's new and alien.
- Judy? - Take from what we already know
and build on it.
Don't try to make something new.
We already know a lot, and we need to build on that.
We need to work collaboratively.
And we need to get government to work with us.
Now you're getting ridiculous, Judy.
You were practical up to that point.
No, seriously - Adam, government?
I absolutely support the working-with.
We're trying to do that in the North.
My point would be, finding the right hook is really important.
We've heard that clearly tonight in the programs presented.
Finding the right hook, getting that key relationship with individuals
so they feel support and can ask for more support.
There's more interest in communities that we recognise.
We get overwhelmed sometimes by how much interest there is.
Even in struggling communities, you'll get that interest.
We have to walk with them to create opportunities
for the community to take further action,
putting that system around them to support that work.
Dorothy?
I'd say, developing trusting relationships
with children and families and nurturing hope in communities
and looking after yourself.
I hope you've enjoyed tonight's program -
It Takes A Community: Preventing Child Abuse And Neglect.
If you're interested in obtaining more information
about the issues raised, there are a number of resources available
on the Rural Health Education Foundation's website:
Don't forget to complete and send in your evaluation forms.
They help us constantly improve our service to you.
And please register for CPD points by completing the attendance sheet.
Our thanks to Perpetual Trustees, the Ian Potter Foundation,
the Mary Potter Trust Foundation and the Milton Corporation Foundation
for making this program possible.
Thanks also to you for taking time to attend and contribute.
I'm Norman Swan. I'll see you next time.
Captions by Captioning & Subtitling International
Funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing,
Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
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