Celebrating progress in Indigenous health & wellbeing | Katie Thurber | TEDxFulbrightCanberra

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are the world’s oldest living cultures. There is increasing evidence that connection to culture is associated with positive outcomes for families and communities. However, these strengths are not what we hear about in the media and other reporting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing — what we hear tends to be focused on gaps, deficits, and shortfalls relative to the non-Indigenous population. This presentation will highlight some issues with this deficit discourse, and suggest an alternative, strengths-based approach: measuring progress within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, and celebrating the success achieved.

2011 Fulbright Anne Wexler Scholar to the Australian National University. Katherine (Katie) Thurber is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH), Australian National University. From 2011-2013, she undertook a Masters in Epidemiology at NCEPH on the Fulbright-Anne Wexler Scholarship in Public Policy, and she continued this research by undertaking a PhD in Epidemiology from 2013-2016. The aim of her research is to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing, through building on strengths of families and communities.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx