Tips to improve engagement

Do you know your cultural competency training by heart, and still want to know how you can improve your engagement with First Nations clients?  

As an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person, and practicing lawyer in an identified position at Caxton Community Legal Centre, here are three tips that when applied, improve your engagement with First Nations clients.

Tip 1: Recognise the distrust of First Nations people of the system

As lawyers, we understand that we are a small part of a bigger justice system. For the lay person however, this may not necessarily be their starting point. First Nations people have higher incarceration rates, historically poor interactions with government bodies and organisations – lawyers may more likely be seen as just part of the system, a western system.

This distrust will impact how a person interacts with a system. To uphold our duty to our client, best practice is to be aware of this distrust so that we do not unwittingly perpetuate this experience.

Tip 2:  Have a broad knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures

There are about 250 different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Countries) in Australia, and each have their own cultural practices, history and languages. For example, some central desert people don’t look women in the eyes; other First Nations cultures have similar customs as it may be considered rude, intimidating or intense to make direct eye contact. 

Understanding a broad range of customs means that you can adapt your appointment to suit your client allowing them to feel safer during the meeting.

I once had an experience where a First Nations client sat opposite me in an interview room. He fidgeted, looked out the window and seemed very uncomfortable and nervous to explain what was happening. As I asked questions, he would retreat and I knew this might be an intimidating experience. For him to take the most from the appointment, I knew I had to provide him the opportunity to become more comfortable.

With basic knowledge of his cultural group, I adjusted my body language to be less direct. I sat to the side – no longer square on – did not give him direct eye contact and wrote on my paper be less intimidating, looked to the side of him when speaking, and sat and listened longer. As a result, his body language changed too. He was able to look in my direction and tell his story more calmly.

Tip 3: Have knowledge of the intersectional experience of First Nations peoples

You may be aware of the long list of inequalities faced by First Nations people that result in: lower rates of education, numeracy and literacy skills; higher rates of early mortality, child mortality and suicide; and, a higher proportion of poverty, low income and homelessness.

These experiences are not often in isolation, and one person can experience many of these disadvantages concurrently and continually. This intersectionality of disadvantage means that First Nations clients may have to work harder to receive the same access, understanding or be able to take the next steps. People who experience intersectional disadvantage may require more support to get to the same outcome. When you have a multitude of needs, things that we may take for granted, may not be so easy for clients.

For example, if you had a 50-year-old, female, First Nations client, their intersection of disadvantages may include: low income, family responsibilities, lower education and or health limitations. This means, when asking your client to go to the doctor and get evidence, they may have to balance their family responsibility, manage the cost of getting to the doctor, manage the cost of getting any relevant report, manage and overcome their fear and distrust for the health system because of historic and or previous experiences, not feel comfortable with a doctor, not understand the process and be highly stressed, which can limit their ability to articulate their needs to the doctor.

This list is exhausting just looking at it. But keep in mind that any one of these barriers would have interfered with this person’s ability to complete the task.

What does this mean for my practice?

We all might have a general understanding of these three things. The difference here is how you apply this knowledge. If we keep at least these three ideas in mind, we can adjust our interviews and client engagement to make them feel safer in the process, or at least, not cause further harm in this process.

We might:

• recognise that rapport is important and take the time to ensure that we offer an elderly Indigenous client a cup of tea at the start of the appointment if you have time;
• acknowledge the social and economic disadvantage a client may face, and check that they have the support they need to attend court, mediation or an appointment. If not, consider what resources may be available and make referrals (or even better warm referrals) to overcome the distrust of the system and intersectional barriers.  
• acknowledge that sophisticated clients may still have difficulty understanding dense legal content or process;
• adopt a trauma-informed practice. There are various organisations that provide trauma-informed practice training; and
• assess whether communication is accessible to people with disabilities and adjusting it to a person’s needs.

Hannah Marai is a First Nations lawyer with Caxton Legal Centre’s Financial Rights Service.