More Than A Word: Cultural Competence Training for Victoria’s SHS
12.06.21
The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2021 is More than a word. Reconciliation takes action. In this article, Council to Homeless Persons outlines its vision for reconciliation and announces subsidised cultural competence training for Victoria’s specialist homelessness sector.
National Reconciliation Week
This week, Council to Homeless Persons joins with organisation and individuals across the country in supporting the theme of National Reconciliation Week, More than a word. Reconciliation takes action.
Council to Homeless Persons recognises that dispossession and colonisation are ongoing, and are present in processes that result in increased homelessness – including over-incarceration, child removal, and housing discrimination.
We also recognise that separation and removal from traditional lands and disconnection from cultural networks has resulted in the ongoing spiritual homelessness experienced by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.
Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort (Every Aboriginal Person Has a Home)
Currently, one in six Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victorians seek help from our homelessness services each year.
To address this and help achieve housing equity, we support and endorse the Victorian Aboriginal Housing and Homelessness Framework, Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort (Every Aboriginal Person Has a Home).
Launched in 2020, the Framework describes a pathway to grow Aboriginal Community Controlled responses to homelessness and achieve quality housing outcomes in a generation.
A Commitment to Reconciliation
Council to Homeless Persons’ vision for reconciliation is an Australia where the process of colonisation ceases, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are no longer over-represented among those experiencing homelessness.
Our vision is a country where:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures across the country, are valued and respected
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination is meaningfully achieved
structural forces that can lead to homelessness do not impact disproportionately on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
More Than A Word: Cultural Competence Training
We acknowledge that reconciliation takes action. As part of its actions towards reconciliation, Council to Homeless Persons is committing to build the cultural competence of the Victorian Specialist Homelessness Sector.
Through our SHS Learning Program, we are making available 300 subsidised places in intensive cultural competency training to sector workers over the next year.
To deliver training to the sector, we are working with The Centre for Cultural Competence Australia (CCCA) – a majority Aboriginal owned consulting and cultural training organisation with an outcomes-based approach that delivers real and lasting change at a personal and professional level.
The CCCA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Competence training involves:
an intensive self-directed eLearning course that allows learners to complete at the program at their own pace
follow-up in-depth face to face training delivered by CCCA. The blended model supports a learning environment where learners can go beyond raising awareness and developing knowledge to building cultural competency.
This will support one of the Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort objectives, which is a mainstream housing and homelessness system that is culturally safe.
Take action
We encourage workers in the Specialist Homelessness Sector to take action to make the homelessness system culturally safe. Undertaking the CCCA cultural competence training is a practical action that will support achieving that objective.
Register your interest in the CCCA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Competence training via the following steps:
Go to the CHP Catalogue from the main menu, and enrol in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Competence – eLearn
Begin the course from your “My Training” dashboard and complete the register of interest form.
You will be contracted in due course for further instructions.
If you have any questions about the training or the SHS Learning Hub, please contact training@chp.org.au
We also encourage you to visit the Reconciliation Australia website to learn about 20 Actions you can take for Reconciliation in 2021.