A door-to-door initiative in an Aboriginal Community in Queensland has exposed the need to tailor project design and implementation approaches to the needs of Aboriginal communities.
The Assisting Communities through Direct Connection (ACDC) project, run by Community Mental Health Australia (CMHA), released a new report authored by the Centre for Social Impact at The University of Western Australia and care provider Each.
The findings from the doorknocking initiative in Cherbourg, Queensland, provide a roadmap for how agencies and funding bodies can work more proactively and collaboratively with Aboriginal Communities to adapt initiatives, while meeting accountability for funding bodies and local cultural governance.
The report highlights how a mental health doorknocking project, which had been implemented in 26 other sites across Australia, ran into roadblocks when it was implemented in Cherbourg, a community where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up 96 per cent of the local population.
It found engaging Community members was less successful and the Aboriginal doorknocking team, who were a team of Aboriginal Community Connectors, felt strain and pressure about carrying out the role in their community.
Each lead and Yagara woman Murryann (Annie) Reeves said failure to ask Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people what they needed and how they wanted to access it was a continual problem in mainstream service commissioning and delivery.
"Fortunately, in this instance, we had the opportunity to collaborate with Community and our funder to create a service that people wanted to engage with," Ms Reeves said.
CMHA and Each worked together to adapt the project to ensure it was culturally appropriate and responded to local needs.
Instead of a focus on going door-to-door and having individualised conversations, Aboriginal Community Connectors led new approaches, such as hosting barbecues, attending football games and engaging in conversations shaped by cultural protocols and community comfort.
Through the new approaches, the project confirmed that relationship-building and deep listening were essential in Aboriginal contexts.
Conversations that focused on social and emotional wellbeing, rather than clinical mental health language, opened trust and space for connection and the project was able to reach people otherwise overlooked by services.
Kerry Hawkins, CEO of CMHA, said it was evident early on that the way the project had been designed was not going to fit or meet Cherbourg Community's needs.
"As an organisation we realised it was necessary to let go of some control and give the Community leads space to see what worked for them," Ms Hawkins said.
The report shows how structural transformation within mainstream institutions, especially in the way agencies commission and manage projects, is essential for creating culturally safe systems that support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
"It emphasised the need for local leadership to drive decision-making, reminding stakeholders that every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community is different, and that success depends on deep local knowledge, flexibility and trust," Ms Hawkins said.
