|
Overcoming Barriers of Fear |
 |
 |
 |
The Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress is addressing the range of social issues facing the Anangu people from Central Australia who come to Adelaide seeking treatment for a range of debilitating diseases including kidney disease. Claire Watkinson a recently appointed Social Worker talks about her important work in supporting the Anangu manage the fears that come from being away from home.
 I commenced about 4 1/2 months ago after the need for a Social Worker position within the Church was identified by members of the Congregation, Church Council and Pastor Dean Whittaker who worked closely with Uniting Care Wesley Adelaide to develop and establish such a position. My role involves developing strong, positive relationships with Aboriginal people and families to gain an understanding of the challenges they are facing and to help them to explore and address these challenges many of which relate to accessing appropriate mainstream services.
On a day to day basis, my position involves a lot of home visits mainly within the Northern and Western areas of Adelaide and visiting clients within the community. I am regularly involved in case meetings and communicating with different organizations to establish good support for the individuals and families I work with. Engaging children and families with schools, health and housing services are all a big part of my day to day work as well as crisis management. Recently my role has also included the writing of several grants to upgrade facilities within the Church.
What is the need of people you engage with?
One of the greatest needs of the Anangu when coming to Adelaide and surrounds is secure housing. There are major issues of overcrowding which leads to other problems and individuals and families are often on long waiting lists for suitable housing. Sourcing, securing and continuing to support individuals and families to obtain appropriate housing continues to be a massive challenge.
Another pressing need is better access to Health Services. Many Anangu with whom I am working with are not accessing or regularly attending GP and Specialist appointments. There are many barriers that are still preventing people from accessing these services such as lack of English skills or fear of the doctor. I often attend specialist appointments to alleviate any fears, to help in communication and to ensure post consultation medication and treatment is followed up.
Major challenges you face?
Education is all important so ensuring children are placed in schools that offer appropriate and culturally supportive learning environments. A major challenge is a lack of ongoing funding for support organisation's that we utilize. There are some wonderful services in Adelaide that our congregation connected with regularly, one of which has recently lost their funding. This
valuable service provided a safe environment and a program that really enhanced and developed the strengths and cultural identity particularly of the Anangu men and women that I work with. I face what perhaps most social workers face on a daily basis and that is managing the time constraints on us! There are simply not enough hours in the day to conduct grass roots work, advocacy, raising social justice issues, case management, and helping in the community development process... needless to say I am kept very busy!
Your hopes for the future?
My biggest hope for the future is that we can continue to be in a position to have a direct and positive impact on the lives of Anangu who come to Adelaide. I believe this is an important role and one that benefits and supports the congregation in many ways. Another of my hopes for the future within this role is to see our Church and congregation continues to develop and grow.
We have many amazing people within our congregation all with wonderful talents to share. It is a place where people are safe, valued and supported to grow and develop spiritually and feel affirmed for their gifts. It would be wonderful if we could use these talents to further develop other programs that can make a positive difference to the lives of the Anangu such as music programs, arts and crafts and a men's and women's group within our church.
Reprinted with permission from Message Stick - Summer 2010
|
Covenanting 
