GOVERNANCE

ELDERS CIRCLE

In July 2020, the CATSINaM Elders Circle was established by the Board. The Elders Circle is an advisory group to the Board and the CATSINaM CEO. The role of the CATSINaM Elders Circle is to assist and advise the Board in fulfilling its responsibilities to members of CATSINaM on matters relating to cultural governance, cultural leadership and membership matters. The CATSINaM Elders Circle consists of eight elders who have been selected by the Board. The CATSINaM Elders Circle is not a policy making body but assists the Board and the CATSINaM CEO in implementing Board policy.

Aunty Professor Kerrie Doyle (RN, PhD) Winninninni, Cadigal, and Irish

Aunty Pam Gow (RN, RM) Kamilaroi and Gamilaroi

Aunty Dr Lynore Geia (RN, RM, PhD) Bwgcolman Aunty Dulcie Flower (OAM, RN, RM) Meriam

Aunty Jane Jones (RN) Noongar

Aunty Dr Doseena Fergie (OAM, RN, RM, PhD) Wuthathi, Mabuiag Island and Ambonese

Uncle David ‘Tanda’ Copley (RN) Kaurna and Peramangk Nations

BOARD MEETINGS

CATSINaM is a community-controlled organisation, as such our board consists of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives from across the country.

There were a few changes in board membership during 2020-21, with the board direction and shape changing with each new member. The board membership at the end of the financial year was as follows: • Marni Tuala (President), Queensland • Vanessa Browne, South Australia • Michelle Cutmore, New South Wales • Professor Karen Adams, Board appointed • Professor Juanita Sherwood, Board appointed • Kim Henschke, Northern Territory.

2020-21 Board meetings

During this reporting period, there were eight Board meetings. Board Meetings: • 12/08/2020 - scheduled full meeting • 20/10/2020 - scheduled full meeting • 30/11/2020 - scheduled full meeting • 18/12/2020 - out of session • 01/03/2021 - scheduled full meeting • 03/05/2021 - scheduled full meeting • 04/06/2021 - out of session • 28/06/2021 - scheduled full meeting.

The number of CATSINaM Board of Directors meetings held during the financial year are as follows:

Director Director Status at 30 June 2021 Eligible Board Meetings

Marni Tuala QLD, President (casual appointment1 to 2022 AGM) 8 Vanessa Brown SA (casual appointment to 2021 AGM) 8

Michelle Cutmore NSW (member elected to 2023 AGM) 5

Karen Adams Board appointed Juanita Sherwood Board appointed Kim Henschke NT (casual appointment to 2023 AGM) 5 3 3

Past Members Vanessa Curnow QLD, term ended 01/07/20 - 30/11/20

3 Renee Blackman Board appointed, term ended 01/07/20 - 30/11/20 3 Ted Murphy NT, term ended 01/07/20 - 30/11/20 3

Roxanne Jones ACT, resigned 01/07/20 - 07/06/21 Nicole Ramsamy VIC, resigned 01/07/20 - 04/07/21 Valerie Ah Chee WA, resigned 01/08/20 - 30/11/20 7 8 3

Karita McCarthy Resigned 30/11/20 - 23/04/21 Laurence Riley Resigned 30/11/20 - 09/06/21 2 4

Attended Board Meetings

8 7 5 5 3 1

1 1 3 7 8 2 2 2

BOARD MEMBERS

Marni Tuala

(Bundjalung) PRESIDENT

Marni Tuala grew up on country in Northern New South Wales (NSW) and comes from a long line of healers. She is currently employed as the Director of Aboriginal Health for Healthy North Coast (HNC), facilitators of the Primary Health Network program across the North Coast of NSW. As the strategic lead for Aboriginal Health within HNC, Marni draws upon her experience of the regional health landscape as well as national policy and program development to inform strategy at a local level. Marni brings a unique perspective to her role having studied both midwifery and the law. Marni holds a Bachelor of Midwifery and a Masters in Primary Maternity Care. Having worked clinically as the Aboriginal liaison midwife in a hospital-based model of care, Marni is passionate about improving the cultural safety of the broader health system and working towards the implementation of culturally safe models of care. Marni is passionate about her responsibility to her community both culturally and to provide role modelling and mentoring, and enjoys contributing to the development of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce through nurturing the next generations and developing a safe system for them to work in. Marni continues to advocate for and influence systemic reform across both the health and education sectors at both a National and regional level.

Vanessa Brown

(Larrakia)

Born in Adelaide, Vanessa is a proud Larrakia, Wulna and Chinese woman, she is also a survivor of Cyclone Tracey in Darwin. Vanessa started her nursing career in 1993 as a Nurse Assistant in a nursing home while studying a Bachelor of Nursing at the University of South Australia. She worked in the Royal Adelaide Hospital for a couple of years before commencing study for a Graduate Diploma in Mental Health Nursing at Flinders University. Vanessa then worked at Glenside Campus for around 16 years moving between rural and remote acute inpatient unit, psychiatric intensive care and emergency triage and liaison service. Vanessa also spent a year in New Zealand working in an acute mental health unit which also included a rehabilitation and psychiatric intensive care unit. In 2019, Vanessa completed her Masters of Nurse Practitioner at the University of South Australia and is now working in a community mental health service. She has been in the community for the past four years working towards increasing the profile of the mental health service and assisting community to navigate the systems, understand illness, symptoms and strive for wellness. Vanessa is passionate about encouraging upand-coming nurses to complete their nursing degrees and possibly consider mental health. She is a strong believer that with support and mentoring we can better encourage our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses to reach beyond their potential and help them to make a difference in the attitudes and stigma that is often experienced in mainstream services by our Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander nurses and consumers/patients/ clients/community members.

Michelle Cutmore

(Gomeroi/Gamilaroi)

From Moree in North-West New South Wales, Michelle is from a family of five children and was the only one to finish high school and achieve higher education. Michelle started as an Aboriginal Health Worker in 1993 but realised that nursing would allow a greater scope of practice and management of the issues faced by her people, so she went on to complete a Bachelor of Nursing as a mature aged student at the University of Western Sydney in 2008. She finished her university studies with the help of the NSW Health Nursing and Midwifery Scholarship and Cadetship program and has been a member of CATSIN (now CATSINaM) since 2003.

Michelle’s passion has always been divided between providing grass roots care within the community as well as empowering and enabling more of her people to become nurses and midwives. These passions have seen her working in a variety of high-level roles to grow career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives, ensuring a First Nations voice in health care delivery, to contributions in curriculum development at universities to increase knowledge and awareness of issues pertaining to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Currently, Michelle is working as Nurse Navigator for Queensland Health, where she would like to create opportunities for sharing cultural knowledge and learning with colleagues, ultimately increasing cultural safety in the workplace for growing the representation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives workforce in Queensland Health.

Professor Karen Adams

(Wiradjuri)

Professor Karen Adams is the Director of Gukwonderuk, the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences’ Indigenous engagement unit at Monash University. Professor Adams is ignited by the question: “how do you know if it’s working?” fuelled by work in the early years of her career in community education within Aboriginal Community Controlled organisations. This question led her to complete a Master of Applied Epidemiology, followed by a PhD which focused on social network analysis and child health. Today, along with her team, Professor Adams’ research aims to increase the number of Indigenous Health professionals across the sector, and to educate healthcare workers to respectfully engage with Indigenous patients. Professor Adams speaks of her research as a life-long learning journey and asserts that the path forward needs to be a staunchly anti-racist approach, involving increasing the capacity of Indigenous students and a robust Indigenous healthcare workforce. Professor Adams stresses that “healthcare learning and teaching needs to include what Indigenous health service consumers want. The voice of the consumer must be present during the education and training stage.” A founding Member of Muliyan, Professor Adams also convenes an Indigenous Health Graduate Research Circle. The Circle is comprised of a growing number of Indigenous and non-Indigenous PhD students researching in the Indigenous health space. Students’ research has an educational and social and emotional wellbeing focus including areas, such as: lateral violence; men’s groups; young urban peoples’ connection to culture and the relationship between land-based practices and social and emotional wellbeing.

Professor Juanita Sherwood

(Wiradjuri)

Professor Sherwood is currently the Pro ViceChancellor Indigenous Engagement at Charles Sturt University. For more than 35 years, she has worked as a nurse, teacher, lecturer, and researcher to change health and education outcomes for First Nations peoples. Professor Sherwood is widely credited for recognising colonisation as the primary determinant of First Nations health and increasing the uptake of First Nations centred research and decolonisation methods. She is one of the top five most productive researchers globally on the topic of decolonisation and her work has popularised the use of decolonising frameworks and praxes in teaching, research, and health care across Australia.

Having lived and worked in many diverse urban, rural and remote settings, Professor Sherwood has experienced and witnessed firsthand the damaging impacts of colonial racism – particularly in the health system. Her longstanding commitment to Indigenous health research as a social justice praxis is concerned with building local First Nations power in the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health sector as well as pursuing structural change in mainstream health settings to ensure greater cultural safety for First Nations patients and health workers.

Professor Sherwood is currently involved in several National Health and Medical Research Centre (NHMRC) funded projects toward these ends, including ‘Birthing on Country’ (BoC), ‘Strengthening systems for Indigenous healthcare equity’ (STRIDE), ‘Decolonising Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care’ and the ‘National First Nations Research Network’. Prof Sherwood is a CATSINaM founding member, member of the Elders’ Circle, Board Director and Muliyan founding member.

Kim Henschke

(Kalkadoon/Waanyi/Butchella)

Born in Mount Isa, North-West Queensland, Kim’s career in health began as an Enrolled Nurse. From here she progressed to Endorsed Enrolled Nurse, and then went on to complete a Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Diploma of Midwifery, Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Nursing Practice (RIPN) and a Masters in Research (thesis) followed by a Diploma of Leadership and Management. Having studied over a period of 35 years, Kim said that during this time she has been fortunate enough to have worked in both the public and private health systems, rural and remote and Aboriginal Medical Services. Each of these areas have provided the opportunities and experiences which have impacted on the desire and drive to be part of the bigger picture of policy development and strategic directions in Aboriginal Health care delivery and attrition and retention of an Aboriginal workforce including Aboriginal Health Professionals and Aboriginal Nurses. Kim feels that her work and study has equipped her with the knowledge and experience to advocate for better health outcomes and provide management, leadership, advice, coordination and integration of efficient delivery of core Primary Health Care services in the regions. Kim is currently working as the District Manager (N7 equivalent to the Director of Nursing), for Primary Health Care in Top End Health looking after the health delivery across Top End West area of the Northern Territory. Health has been Kim’s passion, recognising early in her career the need to have an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurse with extensive experiences as a part of change management and implementation for improvements to ensure culturally safe primary health care delivery to communities.

“Coming back to the fire was about privileging our leadership as Indigenous people, privileging our Indigenous ways in which we know things, the Indigenous ways in which we learn and the styles in which we lead.”