A balanced approach to local and global action

The hosting of the Balance-Unbalance 2013 International Conference in a UNESCO designated Biosphere Reserve was seen as a strategic opportunity to align the objectives and activities of Biosphere Reserves to the aspirations of Balance-Unbalance

Listening to Country: a prison pilot project that connects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women on remand to Country

Research shows that prison programs addressing intergenerational trauma and grief, loss of culture and spiritual healing are necessary for incarcerated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Indigenous-led or culturally focused programs receive little attention and limited resourcing in Australia’s prison system compared with mainstream rehabilitation programs. Depending on the jurisdiction and prison, such programs can be even less accessible for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Listening to Country was an arts-based prison pilot project that was developed by and delivered to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre. It aimed to explore the role of acoustic ecology, soundscape and deep listening in connection to culture and Country. This article presents findings from a process evaluation of that pilot project in order to illustrate the potential for Indigenous-led, culturally focused and culturally safe prison programs to improve wellbeing for incarcerated Indigenous peoples

A unified call to action from Australian nursing and midwifery leaders: Ensuring that Black lives matter

Nurses and midwives of Australia now is the time for change! As powerfully placed, Indigenous and non-Indigenous nursing and midwifery professionals, together we can ensure an effective and robust Indigenous curriculum in our nursing and midwifery schools of education. Today, Australia finds itself in a shifting tide of social change, where the voices for better and safer health care ring out loud. Voices for justice, equity and equality reverberate across our cities, our streets, homes, and institutions of learning. It is a call for new songlines of reform. The need to embed meaningful Indigenous health curricula is stronger now than it ever was for Australian nursing and midwifery. It is essential that nursing and midwifery leadership continue to build an authentic collaborative environment for Indigenous curriculum development. Bipartisan alliance is imperative for all academic staff to be confident in their teaching and learning experiences with Indigenous health syllabus. This paper is a call out. Now is the time for Indigenous and non-Indigenous nurses and midwives to make a stand together, for justice and equity in our teaching, learning, and practice. Together we will dismantle systems, policy, and practices in health that oppress. The Black Lives Matter movement provides us with a ‘now window’ of accepted dialogue to build a better, culturally safe Australian nursing and midwifery workforce, ensuring that Black Lives Matter in all aspects of health care