Skip to main content
Women’s and Children’s Health Network
Acknowledgement
The Women’s and Children’s Health Network acknowledges Aboriginal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Custodians of Country throughout South Australia. We acknowledge and respect their ongoing and deep spiritual connection and relationship to land, air, sea, waters, community and country. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have passed away.

Aboriginal Health

Aboriginal Cultural Identity Artwork

WCHN is committed to improving health outcomes for Aboriginal women, children and families. We provide our staff with learning and development opportunities in Aboriginal culture, to help build culturally appropriate, relevant and accessible services.

Launch of 'Working with Aboriginal Families: A Practice Resource'

The Women's and Children's Health Network (WCHN) is committed to improving health outcomes for Aboriginal women, children and families.

To support our staff in building services that are culturally appropriate, relevant and accessible, we provide all of our staff with a range of learning and development opportunities in Aboriginal culture.

We've also developed a guide called Working with Aboriginal Families: A Practice Resource, which provides a consistent and culturally appropriate approach to working with South Australian Aboriginal families.

Building this respect is an important step towards implementing SA Health's Cultural Learning Framework as well as WCHN's Aboriginal Health Plan 2018–2022, Reconciliation Action Plan, Aboriginal Workforce Strategy and meeting our target of 4% Aboriginal employee representation by 2022.

Download the full resource or the summary document here:

The resource is also freely available for use by other organisations in South Australia.

Aboriginal Health Plan

In 2014, the Women's and Children's Health Network began the process of reviewing its Aboriginal Health Improvement Updated Action Plan 2012 – 2016 to improve the health of Aboriginal women, babies children, and young people. In 2017, the WCHN released the Discussion Paper, Shaping the Future Strategic Directions for Aboriginal Health in the Women’s and Children’s Health Network.

The intent of the Discussion Paper was to develop our Aboriginal Health Plan 2018 – 2022 by encouraging stakeholders to consider the factors that influence Aboriginal health outcomes and what actions are most important to help improve health outcomes and close the gap in life expectancy.

The WCHN understands that efforts to improve Aboriginal health in South Australia must be community led and respectful of culture. Achieving better health outcomes for Aboriginal people requires action across all life stages; it requires attention not only to medical factors but also the social, emotional and cultural wellbeing of the whole community.

The WCHN Aboriginal Health Plan 2018 – 2022 is the result of an extensive consultation process undertaken both internal and external to our Network. We are confident that the strategic priorities and the focus areas for action will guide all aspects of service delivery, from individual care through to service planning and policy development.

Aboriginal Workforce Strategy

The WCHN Aboriginal Workforce Strategy 2018 – 2022 enables our Health Network to take the necessary steps to attract new Aboriginal employees into the organisation, retain and develop existing Aboriginal employees and plan for a future workforce that is responsive and reflective of our communities' needs.

Consistent with the WCHN Aboriginal Health Plan 2018 – 2022, we recognise that our commitment to growing and developing our Aboriginal workforce is essential to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal babies, children, young people and women.

Through the WCHN Strategic Executive Committee, we are committed to delivering on the recommendations in this Aboriginal Workforce Strategy as an enabler for the WCHN Aboriginal Health Plan 2018 – 2022.