Profile - University of Canberra Hospital

I have a strong social justice focus that is underpinned by my professional identity as a nurse and midwife- deeply informed by my parents who guided my values development.

When listening to families who had made organ and tissue donation decisions at the end of their loved ones lives, it became very clear to me that more must be done to alleviate suffering caused by communication failures in healthcare- including the coronial process. Restorative approaches and justice are critically important in this space.

My research, teaching and leadership approaches are framed using hope and restorative practice to locate and hear the most vulnerable people in health settings- where health is not confined to an absence of illness- but the Indigenous health definition. This communitarian approach sees the individual as part of a community and the wellbeing of individual and community dependent upon each other in a transgenerational life- death- life approach. The University of Canberra Collaborative Indigenous Research Initiative have supported the work of a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers (guided by Aboriginal Elders) that I have been part of to identify restorative practices in healthcare, to close the gap on inequitable Indigenous healthcare outcomes.

The work of this team is centred on the University of Canberra Hospital and Whanganui Hospital in New Zealand. The work explores the idea that culture leads practice, and by privileging vulnerable voices it is possible to improve healthcare outcomes including performance measures such as clinical indicators, patient and staff satisfaction, staff retention and the budget 'bottom line'. Authentic voice of the most vulnerable voices in health care systems clearly heard throughout those systems are seen as pivotal to improved outcomes. We now know these 'health systems' are inclusive of child protection, justice and community services as well as hospitals and primary healthcare.

This work also informed a cardiac rehabilitation program provided for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women as a research project seeking to create a culturally safe program in an out of hospital environment.

In a related area of consumer vulnerability, bereaved families of organ donors are working with a team of academic leaders and myself using restorative approaches to explore a closed online community of bereaved donor' families and transplant recipients, and the impact of their relationships. Work publicly shared with the families and individuals in a first of its kind conference held at UC in October in 2019 hosted by Donor Families Australia.

In November 2019 the Nurturing Evolutionary Development (NED Foundation) provided a grant managed by UC in collaboration with Mary Ivec and the ACT Restorative Community to undertake a pilot community led Restorative Child and Family Protection Initiative that I was delighted to be part of- the benefits of this work continue. Most importantly listening- deep listening to hear the hopes and solutions for intractable problems that sit within the community who know the problems best. 

Other research work that I am currently engaged in includes working with Elders and using Yarning Circles as a restorative practice in teaching health students about contemporary issues related to Indigenous healthcare. 'A month of yarning' Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples healthcare journey's in the ACT explores the enablers and barriers to accessing healthcare in the ACT by First Nations peoples.'.  Other work underway at the university that is informed using restorative practice that I am also involved in includes 'Co-designing, co-implementing and co-evaluating an empowering discipline specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Community of Practice Network initiative' and Building capacity in Indigenous ways of being-knowing-doing: Yarning circles facilitated by Indigenous academics combined with oral and written individual and collective reflections.' These projects are to help firstly Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students and also non-Indigenous students and academics to work in a reconciled way. 

In teaching practice I have regularly used restorative practice with success, supported by academic leadership in situations of student misconduct, where transformational change in the students' understanding of the problem and their behaviour has provided a positive way forward for the student/s and community.