Milestone for course designed to improve Indigenous health outcomes

The University of Sydney is celebrating 25 years of its unique Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Health Promotion supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to improve Indigenous health and wellbeing outcomes using the theory and practice of health promotion.

Based on the principle of self-determination, the one-year full-time program consolidates and extends the existing qualifications, experience and cultural knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students working in communities across Australia, from capital cities to regional and remote parts of most states and territories.

Graduates of the program have a better understanding of the key skills required to identify any public health issues that are not receiving adequate attention from mainstream services, and the ability to develop and implement customised strategies to address them in effective and culturally appropriate ways.

They are also equipped for more senior public health delivery and policy advisory roles in mainstream as well as community settings.

Course Coordinator Jasper Garay (Darkinjung/Ngarigo) from the School of Public Health, who joined the program as an Associate Lecturer in 2018, explains that it was developed by a team of public health experts and other stakeholders to meet a specific need.

“At the time, there were minimal opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers to access a culturally meaningful tertiary qualification,” he says.

“A lot of these workers already had TAFE qualifications, as well as a whole wealth of community knowledge and lived experience, and were already doing really great work within their communities – but because they didn’t have a university degree, opportunities to progress to management or policy-influencing positions were not available, in many cases.”

While many graduates do use the qualification as a stepping-stone to such roles, many others choose to return and apply their newly strengthened skillset to their existing community-based work, secure in the knowledge that they have always been doing important work but now have the theory and evidence base to back it up.

Mick Pittman, now-retired former manager of Nunyara Aboriginal Health Unit in the NSW Central Coast Local Health District, is one such graduate.

He completed the program in 1999, aged 48 at the time, with a view to delivering better services in his existing role.

“My focus wasn’t on graduating to better position myself for higher duties, more important roles or remuneration,” Mick says.

“It was to enable me to better serve my community.

"For me, this was success – not financial gain, or the length of time I had left in my working life to progress.

“I saw that the course would benefit me in doing my job, as well as others that might come my way. And I was right.

“The course allowed me to see the big picture, and gave me the ability to work with others, especially prospective clients, to design strategies and tactics to address the many issues involved.

"It gave me the structures and processes to break things down into different projects, stages and areas, and then smaller actions.

“It also gave me confidence and self-esteem. I wasn’t afraid to attack any problem after completing the course. It was invaluable to me.”

Jasper says Mick’s reflections on the program are typical of many graduates’.

“It’s a real-world, practical health-promotion program that they can implement in their own communities,” he says.

“An immediate outcome of the program for graduates is that they feel more confident in the work they do, and that they can apply knowledge gained through the program to the important work they are already doing.”

Rebecca Hyland is another graduate of the program who found it transformative to her career.

As a Senior Projects Manager at Southern Cross University and Co-Chair of the Global Alliance Chronic Disease Indigenous Populations Working Group, Rebecca says she chose this program because “I work at national level and I wanted to explore how national-level projects can be adapted at community level for long-term sustainability.”

Having now completed the program, she describes it as “the best degree I have done”.

“Working with incredible stakeholders in health from across our nation, it’s important for me to always have the community strength and needs at mind, while empowering our future leaders to have a positive impact on health and wellbeing with mob,” Rebecca says.

“Our communities are the experts of their communities, and it’s an honour to learn from our nations, our peoples and language groups.

"To continue learning and expanding my knowledges to work with and share learnings with my people makes me proud.”

Rebecca has recently been awarded a scholarship to continue her studies with a Master of Public Health.

While the program is continually reviewed and updated to reflect the latest developments in the field of health promotion, Jasper says its essence has remained unchanged in the 25 years since it was first developed in 1998.

“That’s the really unique thing about this program,” he says.

“It’s really effective because it’s always been designed to reflect what our students actually need.”

Perhaps the best demonstration of this is the fact that more than half of the academic staff who run the program are previous high-achieving graduates of the degree, a strong indication that it resonates deeply with the cohort it was developed for.

But Jasper observes there’s also another layer to the significance of the program for many students.

“A university degree is a valued achievement for anyone but it’s extra special for our students, many of whom are the first in their family to attend a university, and never previously saw themselves as having the opportunity to gain a university qualification," he says.

“A common narrative with our students is that they’re motivated to do this course in order to be a role model within their community – to help others in their community who might have thought about going to uni to realise that it’s possible, that they can do it too.

“Doing this course, and having that 12 months of dedicated support from academics, peers and others, gives them that better perspective, and the strategies and tools to do things more effectively, based on what their community wants.”