Brown, Cath (2010) What’s in it for me? My story of becoming a facilitator of an Aboriginal empowerment program. Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal, 34 (5). pp. 12-15.

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Abstract

In the context of Australia's strategy to Close the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage in employment, this paper tells my personal story as an example of the challenges that Aboriginal people face in moving to new jobs and to face new responsibilities. In my case, I became employed as a researcher in the Empowerment Research Program of James Cook University (JCU) in Cairns and a facilitator in the related Aboriginal developed Family Wellbeing Empowerment Program. As the first paper in a two-part series, this paper explores why change and the unknown had a large part to do with my reluctance to move to new jobs, and the rewards of facing my fears. The second paper will describe the opportunities and challenges associated with facilitating the Family Wellbeing program. Both papers are based on reflections written during the training and facilitation processes over the last couple of years. I used thematic analysis to code the reflections and identify themes. I reviewed the themes and created a mind map to see how the themes related to each other. This paper concludes that becoming personally empowered through meaningful employment is an ongoing process involving both personal courage and a supportive environment.

Item ID:	11869
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1037-3403
Keywords:	Aboriginal; empowerment; wellbeing; health
Date Deposited:	06 Sep 2010 03:29
FoR Codes:	13 EDUCATION > 1303 Specialist Studies in Education > 130399 Specialist Studies in Education not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes:	92 HEALTH > 9203 Indigenous Health > 920301 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health - Determinants of Health @ 100%
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