#38: Creating Culturally Safe Spaces

What does a culturally safe healthcare environment actually look like? In this episode of The Round Up, host A/Prof Elissa Hatherly is joined by Prof Shannon Springer, the incoming Clinical Lead for ATSICHS Mackay with experience in health education, and Dr Sarah Jane Springer, Senior Project Officer at CWAATSICH/QAIHC SEM and Director at Springer Health Consultants to discuss moving the cultural safety conversation from theory into practice. They explore simple yet powerful steps healthcare providers can take—like displaying local Aboriginal art, using inclusive language, and involving Elders in environmental assessments—to make Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients feel genuinely safe and respected. The conversation also highlights the need for trauma-informed care, co-designed policies, and continuous quality improvement driven by community feedback. Whether you're leading a rural clinic, part of a hospital executive team, or starting out in healthcare, this episode offers practical, community-led strategies to embed cultural safety into your daily work. Resources: AIDA’s (Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association) Cultural Safety Training: https://aida.org.au/cultural-safety-program/what-is-cultural-safety/ IAHA (Indigenous Allied Health Australia) Cultural Responsiveness Training: https://iaha.com.au/iaha-consulting/cultural-responsiveness-training/ National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander faculty for GP: https://www.racgp.org.au/the-racgp/faculties/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-health Cultural Safety: From Compliance to Commitment Report: https://abetterculture.org.au/news-resources/cultural-safety/