Cultural Competency

Cultural Competency

We often talk about cultural awareness among organisations and staff. Cultural competency takes that awareness to a deeper level of understanding and confidence when working within Aboriginal culture.

 

There are five essential elements which contribute to the ability of an organisation to become more culturally competent:

  • Valuing diversity
  • Having the capacity for cultural self-assessment
  • Being conscious of the dynamics inherent when cultures interact
  • Having institutionalised culture knowledge
  • Having developed adaptations to service delivery that reflect an understanding of cultural diversity

 

These elements align with the Aboriginal Cultural Competency Standards for Community Housing Providers.

Assessing how our services measure up to the cultural competencies will be a big challenge. It will take time and will need focused conversations and strong engagement by the RAP working group and our staff across all seven competencies.

- Nickie Murcell, Service Development Officer