Early on in my journey to completing my bachelor of psychological science, I came to realise that culture plays a crucial role in our understanding of human behaviour. However, because many of these textbooks were American oriented, it wasn’t long before I felt as though I was lacking an understanding of how culture plays a role in the Australian context.

While looking at the UNE Course Handbook, I stumbled upon a unit called Working with Aboriginal People (OORA200). I knew that this was exactly what I was searching for and decided to pursue this unit as an elective in Trimester 2 of 2024.

OORA200 provided me with a sense of the Aboriginal worldview, the history of Aboriginal resilience, the stolen generations and the impact of intergenerational trauma. We also explored impact of racism, discrimination, and privilege, as well as how important it is for us to challenge our own stereotypes and biases. The content was delivered in a sensitive and safe manner, and students were encouraged to discuss their thoughts, feelings and emotions. Whilst some of the content is quite distressing, and it being hard to learn about the extent to which Australia’s negative history has been ignored, with an open mind and open heart, you will be well equipped to benefit from taking this unit.

As someone who is working toward becoming a practicing psychologist in Australia, gaining an understanding of these topics in this unit was invaluable and allowed me to understand the importance of being a culturally aware, culturally safe and culturally competent allied health professional. It also highlighted that the journey to becoming culturally aware, culturally safe and culturally competent is an ongoing process, and that it is our own responsibility to ensure that we are always working on embodying these characteristics.

The assignments in this unit were also very practical. Reflective practice is a desired skill in many careers, including psychology, and completing a reflective journal aided me in furthering such skills. Additionally, the case study allowed me to practically engage with the material and explore how we can conduct research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in a culturally sensitive manner, ensuring that the community in which we are working with benefits from the outcome.

Taking this unit also opened another door for me – becoming a Peer Assisted Study Session (PASS) Leader at UNE. This opportunity has allowed me to continue to expand my knowledge in the discipline through listening to the thoughts and ideas of other students from a wide array of different degrees.

As aspiring psychologists, psychological researchers or mental health professionals, we have the responsibility to ensure that we have a good understanding of different cultures, especially the cultures that we will be working with. By doing so, we can be sure that we will be culturally competent professionals. I highly recommend that other psychology students select OORA200 as an elective and look at things through the lens of psychology. I have benefited from taking this unit both in my personal and professional life and believe you will too.

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