Working with Diversity

Being confident in working with diversity is one way you can manage the increasing complexity of human services work

Do you find yourself knowing that you need to be safe and ‘trauma-informed’ and not wanting to say or do the wrong thing? It can be difficult to maintain your confidence in working with issues of diversity and responding to the increasing complexity of presenting issues which face today’s health and human service professionals.  Nevertheless, there are also increasing professional development opportunities to upskill in order to equip ourselves with the strategies and practices required to critically assess issues of diversity, and to respond in culturally safe, respectful and inclusive ways which ultimately maximise the probability of our responses being effective.

Often we seek out these roles in human services and social work because because we want to help people, but despite our best intentions we can find ourselves in situations or working with people from backgrounds we have little or no direct experience with, or awareness of the unintentional impacts of what we can say or do.

The need to deal with issues of social inclusion/exclusion and work effectively with diversity is becoming an increasingly valuable skill set in the human services sector as service models continue to evolve in response to consumer demands and sector reforms.

For instance, pre-Covid, the Productivity Commission (2017) estimated that one in five jobs to be created in the economy in the next five years will involve working with people with disabilities.

This need primarily reflects what is deemed necessary to meet the national roll-out of the NDIS with particular skills shortages identified in relation to working with diverse populations and regional and remote communities. Furthermore, the current Royal Commission into the Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disabilities is already exposing shortfalls with current systems and responses and will no doubt lead to further reforms and investment in service enhancements for people with disabilities. We should therefore expect even greater needs and opportunities in the disability sector, moving forward.

We are yet to enter the post-Covid era, but already the economic impacts in Australia are expected to be long-lasting and have been described as a ‘pink recession’ (Riberio, 2020), and the experience of the ‘second wave’ in Victoria suggests there have been disproportionate health and social impacts on the most socio-economically disadvantaged communities in Melbourne (e.g, Briggs, 2020; Cooper 2020).

Like other many developed countries, Australia, was already experiencing marked increases in social and economic inequalities before Covid-19 exposed the differences in our ability to maintain secure employment, hoard toilet paper and engage in panic buying or to shelter safely in our own place (Harris & Sawriker, 2020).  In this context, people from diverse backgrounds were already finding themselves increasingly on the margins of society, and the significance of the economic downturn and associated social upheaval which has resulted from the current global pandemic suggests this is a trend that will not only continue in the future, but have significant service implications in both the short and longer-term.

It is clear that the intersection of poverty and disadvantage, gender, sexuality, culture, language, geographic location, age, and ability/disability will continue to impact the complexity of presenting issues and the responses required by health and human service professionals. By exploring the issues from diverse perspectives and engaging with cultural respect frameworks, human rights principles and theories on intersectionality, health and human service professionals can acquire the knowledge, skills and tools required to at minimum ensure they do no harm, and ideally, work more effectively with diverse populations and issues. These principles align closely with a trauma-informed care and person-centred practices and have utility across a range of health and community settings.

Whether the focus is on greater choice and control for people with disabilities, recovery-oriented practices for consumers of mental health services or the self-determination of First Nations peoples, there is a common theme about working in ways which recognise the expertise that people have in their own lives.

A willingness to recognise, collaborate and actively partner with the expertise and preferences that our clients bring, alongside the expertise we have as clinicians or trained professionals is becoming increasingly important – and a skill set which will be in more demand as consumer-led, trauma-informed models continue to proliferate in the future.

Working in such ways not only help to empower clients but enable greater buy-in and ownership which are key pre-requisites for affecting change.  If we are seeking to be effective in achieving outcomes then we obviously need to work in ways which are effective. This includes marrying up what we know to be effective in relation to the available evidence with what is deemed effective from end-user perspectives which is also respectful of, and responsive, to individual situations, backgrounds, needs and preferences.

REFERENCES

Briggs, C. (2020, 2 August). The Curve, Insiders, ABC, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWulWGD0iTQ

Cooper, A. (2020, 4 August).  More Covid-19 fines for Victoria’s most disadvantaged areas, The Age, https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/more-covid-19-fines-for-victoria-s-most-disadvantaged-areas-20200804-p55iip.html

Harris, P. & Sawriker, P. (2020). Challenges to social inclusion are being highlighted in the in the era of social distancing, Journal of Social Inclusion, 11(1), 1-4

Riberio, C. (2020, 24 May). 'Pink-collar recession': how the Covid-19 crisis could set back a generation of women, The Guardian (Australian Edition), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/24/pink-collar-recession-how-the-covid-19-crisis-is-eroding-womens-economic-power

Productivity Commission. (2017). National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Costs. https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/ndis-costs/report

Dr Paul Harris is a registered Psychologist who has worked in both the public and private sector with child, adolescents and young people at risk of suicide and self harm. Paul is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Human Service and Social Work at Griffith University, his research focuses on the evaluation of emerging service models; child and youth wellbeing; digital storytelling and inclusive practices with people with disabilities. Paul has held a number of service provision, health policy and management roles in the Health sector across Queensland. Paul is the Editor of the Journal of Social Inclusion.