Confidence, practices and training needs of people working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ clients.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ peoples face an elevated risk for poor health and social-emotional wellbeing, suggesting that this patient group are likely to attend health and community services. However, the current practices of those who deliver care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ peoples are unknown. Utilising mixed methods (survey; n = 197; focus groups and interviews; n = 56), we explored the current practices, confidence, knowledge, and training needs for working with Aboriginal LGBTIQ+ clients among Western Australian health and community service workers. Participants were predominately from the mental health and social-emotional wellbeing care sector. One-third of survey participants indicated that it was likely Aboriginal LGBTIQ+ peoples accessed their service. On average, participants reported high confidence and knowledge in working with Aboriginal LGBTIQ+ clients. Qualitative data indicated that staff struggled to accommodate what they understood to be the needs of clients who were both Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and LGBTIQ+, despite a willingness to 'get it right'. Findings provide the first-ever snapshot of inclusive practices among health and social support workers in Western Australia.

Aboriginal and Queer Identity/ies in Western Australia: When There is a Need to Know in Therapeutic Settings.

A central question for the exploratory Aboriginal and LGBTQ+ researcher led project 'Breaking the Silence: Being Indigenous and identifying LGBTQ+' (Breaking the Silence) is how provision of genuinely inclusive service responses for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people identifying as LGBTQ+ can be developed. This article presents the qualitative findings of this mixed-methods research project to show how organizational staff working in health, education and social support services in Western Australia consider the Aboriginal LGBTQ+ identity/experience. Analysis of the written, interview and focus group responses to a question about the relevance of LGBTQ+ identity show that these questions need to be considered and evaluated within diverse service cultures and philosophies of services. Staff views are diverse and organizational consensus on the relevance (or not) of LGBTQ+ identity needs to be the precursor before the development or consideration of changes to service delivery and models.