The First Nations Health Unit delivers programs that are specifically focused on supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and those who are part of the Indigenous Health Workforce. If you’re reading this article, it is highly likely that you are a member of this Indigenous Health Workforce. Our full suite of offerings is on our website at the link at the end of this article, but right now we’d like to provide a focus on one program that you and your work colleagues may be interested in. This is the Understanding Diabetes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners program.

As the name implies, the program is focused on Health Workers and Practitioners, but all who work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients and community are welcome to participate. The program provides foundational information and uses the Feltman and Feltmum education tool which is made by the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) and Diabetes Victoria.

The program covers the usual topics you might expect in a session such as this and these include:

• what is diabetes;
• the difference between type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes;
• symptoms;
• complications;
• preventing complications and diabetes management strategies.

In this program though, the topic of diabetes is presented from an Indigenous point of view. The program starts off by examining health before colonisation, then examines the health impacts that arose out of colonisation and concludes with examining the importance of social and emotional health and wellbeing, not merely examining diabetes from only a biomedical point of view.

As we have learnt to pivot and adapt to COVID restrictions over the past two years, we have become quite adept at our skills in online delivery. While our preference is always to deliver programs such as this face-to-face, we understand this is not always possible. We also understand that given the schedules and workloads of the Indigenous Health Workforce, it is not always possible to schedule every possible professional development opportunity into your already busy schedules.

Thus, we have developed this program so that it can be delivered face-to-face or online in a one-to-two-hour period (depending on the amount of conversation generated). While we have a rolling monthly schedule of online deliveries already incorporated into our calendar, the online nature of the program means that we can respond to you and your team at your convenience. Whether its two of you or twenty of you, we can work with you to deliver the program. If that sounds like something that would benefit you and your colleagues, please do not hesitate to contact us via email at [email protected].

https://www.diabetesqld.org.au/about-diabetes/first-nations-health-unit/training-for-health-workers/