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Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttps://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rasw20Australian Social WorkISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rasw20Experiencing Aboriginal Perspectives Through theEmbodied Concept of the Tree of Life: Implicationsfor Developing a Teaching ResourceJodie Satour & Sophie GoldingayTo cite this article: Jodie Satour & Sophie Goldingay (2021): Experiencing Aboriginal PerspectivesThrough the Embodied Concept of the Tree of Life: Implications for Developing a TeachingResource, Australian Social Work, DOI: 10.1080/0312407X.2020.1849333To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2020.1849333Published online: 10 Feb 2021.Submit your article to this journalView related articlesView Crossmark dataExperiencing Aboriginal Perspectives Through the EmbodiedConcept of the Tree of Life: Implications for Developing aTeaching ResourceJodie Satoura, and Sophie Goldingay baNational Indigenous Knowledges Education Research Innovation (NIKERI) Institute, Deakin University,Geelong, Victoria, Australia; bSchool of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria,AustraliaABSTRACTIn Australia, some non-Aboriginal social workers and academics havedifficulty working in partnership with Aboriginal children, families,and communities because they do not know how to buildauthentic relationships and are fearful of doing so. This isparticularly the case in Child Protection where children continue tobe removed from Aboriginal families. Reciprocal and genuinerelationships involve holding Aboriginal worldviews as equallyvalid as Euro-western ones. For non-Aboriginal social workers andacademics, this means moving beyond a “helping” stance, andtowards genuine openness to learn and understand the world, andtheir place in it, in new ways. This paper shows how two socialwork academics undertook building relationships with TraditionalCustodians in our local area to establish a resource for studentsthat foregrounds Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning byusing the Tree of Life concept to embody Aboriginal experiences.The Aboriginal author focused on coming together respectfully tocreate a better-shared understanding on connecting to Country.For the non-Aboriginal author, a transformation occurred, gainingembodied understanding of her own belonging and connection toCountry. The paper concludes with reflections useful to othersembarking on this journey.IMPLICATIONS. Cultivating an academic environment that prioritises formingauthentic relationships with Traditional Custodians on Country is essential in order to be culturally responsive.. A decolonising embodied concept, Tree of Life, invites socialworkers to take a journey of personal self-discovery, ofbelongingness, and cultural heritage. . A simulation resource developed with Traditional Custodians candisrupt daily instances of colonisation and work toward socialworkers reflecting on practice to minimise further harm inworking with Aboriginal communities.ARTICLE HISTORYReceived 30 June 2020Accepted 14 October 2020KEYWORDSAustralian Aboriginal;Cultural Responsiveness;Decolonisation;Embodiment; Relationality;Social Work© 2021 Australian Association of Social WorkersCONTACT Jodie Satour j.satour@deakin.edu.auAUSTRALIAN SOCIAL WORKhttps://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2020.1849333Embodying the Aboriginal Research ProtocolIn observing Aboriginal cultural protocols both authors position ourselves by brieflyintroducing who we are as a process of having formed a genuine relationship. Jodiebelongs to her ancestral home in the Northern Territory. She is the fifth generation ofEastern Arrernte women following her matriarchal line. Sophie is of mixed AfroCaribbean and Celtic heritage who was born in England and grew up in New Zealand.We would like to draw attention to the importance of process from an Aboriginal perspective where we culturally locate ourselves before introducing the work. Now that wehave done this, our aim is to share some dialogue about a process we undertook to build arelationship with local Wadawurrung people in Victoria to establish a learning resourcefor students. We will introduce the rationale for the resource, and then detail how we proceeded to build meaningful and genuine relationships with the Wadawurrung people.We aim to draw on Aboriginal ways of doing this, by showing the process of embodyingAboriginal experiences, rather than telling how to go about doing it, as one might expectin a non-Aboriginal-led paper. There is no one way to develop genuine relationships withAboriginal families and communities, hence we hope reading the following will enablereaders to reflect on how they could likewise build meaningful relationships in thespecific Country in which they are located.The Problem: How to Embody Aboriginal Perspectives in Social Work PracticeMany non-Aboriginal social workers, students, and social work academics want to workin partnership with Aboriginal families, agencies and communities but may continue tolack confidence to do this, or even fail to recognise the importance of doing so. Thisoccurs in many fields of social work practice but is particularly damaging in the fieldof Child Protection due to over representation and statutory child removal (ProductivityCommission, 2020; Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care[SNAICC], 2020). For example, figures show that in 2018 in Victoria, Aboriginal childrenwere 20.5 times more likely to be in out of home care compared to non-Aboriginal children, and 21% were not placed with kin or Aboriginal families (Australian GovernmentAustralian Institute of Family Studies Child Family Community Australia Resourcesheet, 2020).One of the reasons identified for not placing Aboriginal children with kin is inconsistent involvement of, and support for, Aboriginal people and organisations in child protection decision-making (Arney et al., 2015). Contributing to this is a lack of training of socialworkers about the importance of cultural identity and connection through the family(Australian Centre for Child Protection, 2013) and a need for a shift in attitudes andunderstanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family structures and worldviews(Arney et al., 2015). It is therefore the responsibility of social work educators to addressthis gap in knowledge and ability, not only because it is in line with AASW requirements,but because it is the right thing to do, to prevent social workers from continuing to harmand oppressing Aboriginal children, families, and communities.In terms of how universities prepare for culturally responsive practice, the Behrendtreport (2012, pp. 20–22) raised several recommendations to partner with local Aboriginalgroups and implement Aboriginal teaching and learning strategies. However, it does not2 J. SATOUR & S. GOLDINGAYspecify how to engage or implement approaches in the co-construction of Aboriginal-ledsolutions in the codesign of university policy, practice, and curriculum to improveClosing the Gap [CtG] targets. The CtG targets have consecutively shown that therecommendations on improvements when engaging with Aboriginal peoples failed(SNAICC, 2020). The recent CtG announcement toward introducing Aboriginal-ledsolutions is positive (Australian Government, 2020). Despite these reports they stilllack the how when working alongside Aboriginal families and communities. The contribution of this paper is that it introduces one way to achieve a shift in attitudes andabilities in developing genuine relationships with Aboriginal colleagues, families, andcommunities.One of the reasons for the disconnect between what is learnt in schools of social workand what is required to work culturally responsively with Aboriginal peoples is that thestandard social work curriculum was developed from Euro-western worldviews andtheories. These dominant Euro-western perspectives privilege how knowledge is formedand they were not developed with or by First Australians. Training foregrounds “critical”approaches imported from elsewhere and focuses on the distributive notion of justice andWestern notions of self-determination and power. These may fail to prioritise voice andself-determination of Indigenous peoples. In addition, Euro-western notions of socialjustice may be limiting in their ability for non-Aboriginal people to embrace Aboriginalways of knowing and learning (McKnight, 2016), actually serving to undermine thevery justice they seek to obtain and continuing to cause further harm to Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander peoples. Acting in decolonising ways and becoming culturallyresponsive requires an ability to grasp, embrace and prioritise ways of knowing andbeing that are not dominant in Euro-western culture. This is a learning journey for allwho live in colonised countries, teachers and students alike, and is achieved through building relationships, embodying Aboriginal perspectives on Country, foregrounding theenvironment and place in which one is located when working with Aboriginal people.The Current ResearchThis paper represents a journey of two social work academics in regional Victoria. Inaddition to our role of preparing social work students for practice, we are also colleaguesand change agents in our workplaces. In taking responsibility for our own potential actsof colonialism, we strive to foreground and respect ways of knowing, being, and doing ofthe Wadawurrung people, Traditional Custodians of this area in which we currently liveand work. We began our work together in 2015, to strengthen the connection betweenwhat was then the Institute of Koorie Education (now NIKERI) and the “mainstream”social work teams. We also aimed to develop a learning and assessment package toimprove students’ cultural responsiveness in social work practice units across a university’s BSW and MSW degrees.The Tree of Life: Embodiment of Connection to CountryOn advice of Wadawurrung woman Corrina Eccles, we built our simulation tool aroundthe Wadawurrung interpretation of the well-known concept of Tree of Life, which embodies relationship to Country. The Tree of Life is a well-known concept but inAUSTRALIAN SOCIAL WORK 3Wadawurrung Country it is used in a unique way to express the deep connection to landand the sacredness of trees. While the focus of the output was for student development,the focus of this paper is on our own development and implications for other social workacademics. For Jodie, the embodiment of connecting to Country began with reclaimingFirst Australian knowledges in decolonising the learning and teaching space informed byand co-constructed with the local Aboriginal community. For Sophie, her experience ofbeing involved in a partnership with Wadawurrung Traditional Custodians and Aboriginal colleagues helped to move her beyond “social justice” and other Western conceptstoward embodied spiritual ways of being in connection to land and nature.Colonisation and DisembodimentReflections of JodieAs a result of colonisation, four generations in my family have been disembodied fromtheir land. In connecting to the land in which I learn and teach, when an opportunitypresented for me to work alongside Wadawurrung woman Corrina Eccles, I welcomedthe chance. Corrina introduced the Tree of Life as a metaphor for students and staffto ground the way they might conceptualise their practice when working alongsideAboriginal families and community. I could instantly relate to the Tree as it alignswith my own Aboriginal worldview. The Tree is symbolic as the roots ground myembodiment of caring for Country, song lines, ceremony, and ancestral connections.The roots also relate to the families torn apart and for many losing their identity andculture. The trunk is symbolic of my kinship relations that are interwoven with theroots to keep me grounded in ancestral practices of my roles that provide purpose,responsibilities to care for the land and provide a deep sense of identity and belonging.James (referring to a fictitious character created in our simulation tool) shows his sense ofidentity with connection to his culture in using bark to tell his story using ochre. Thebranches are where respect and reciprocal relationships represent forming genuineengagement. Viewers get to experience this connection between James and his Aboriginalart therapist. The leaves on the branches symbolise the embodiment of loss and rebirth.As the leaves fall, this can symbolise when an Elder passes away and the embodied feelingthat seeps through you when the echoes carry as a community mourns. As the leaves landon the ground they eventually seep back into the earth. The new growth also symbolisesrebirth of the land after a disaster, a burn off, and birth of a new family member.Reflections of SophieI was one of the last “£10 Poms”. Nevertheless, some of my ancestors have experiencedtraumatic experiences at the hands of dominant and exploitative groups. On my maternalgrandmother’s side, my African ancestors were stolen from Mali and Nigeria by slavetraders and forced to work as slaves on St Eustatius Island, in the Caribbean. Somehow,my 3x great-grandfather managed to buy his way to freedom, worked as a shoemakerand settled with his children in Guyana, South America, where I still have relatives andconnections today. My maternal grandmother’s father is of Native American descent(Amerindian), from a people who experienced invasions by British and Dutch colonisersin the Guyana region. My mother’s father’s ancestors are French Huguenot, fleeing toEngland to start a fresh life, who were early and ongoing members of the Quaker group,4 J. SATOUR & S. GOLDINGAYthe Religious Society of Friends. My father’s ancestors have Irish, Scottish–Welsh heritage.I have maintained a spiritual connection with each of my great-grandparents since undertaking my social work training in the 1990s, where exploring our own ancestry was acompulsory part of the curriculum. I look white so I do not experience discriminationon the basis of race directly, but I feel a deep pain from the racism my mother experiencedas she was called “nigger” and “golliwog” at school. I feel pain each time I see examples ofinstitutional racism, as I know my ancestors’ ways of knowing and being were not takeninto account in the institutions that controlled their lives. I feel a responsibility to continuemy ancestors’ work for real and meaningful social change.Since I set foot on Wadawurrung land in 2009, I have asked myself, “how can I earnthe right to live here? How can I act in respectful ways? How can I honour the Wadawurrung people who have cared for these lands for thousands of years?” In having the opportunity to connect and build relationships with Wadawurrung people I find the answers tothese questions. In drawing on and foregrounding their wisdom—their ways of seeingand understanding the world—I find a sense of peace, of rightness. In inviting studentsto participate in processes that will ultimately teach them to work in culturally responsiveways, I find my life’s purpose while I walk on this land. Having mixed ancestry and ancestors who each moved or were forced to move from their homelands means I develop mysense of belonging in each area through seeking to connect with the original local peoplesand act in decolonising ways every day—and it is a journey I continue.Embodying DecolonisationWhat Does It Mean to Work in Decolonising Ways?Decolonisation is defined as “intelligent, calculated and active resistance to the forces ofcolonialism that perpetuate the subjugation and/or exploitation of our minds, bodies andlands … ” (Wilson & Yellow Bird, 2005, p. 25). What this means in practice in the regionwe live and work in is that in everyday interactions we work to prioritise and foregroundlocal Wadawurrung knowledge, protocols, and processes. In doing this, we are activelyresisting forces that subjugate these knowledges, protocols, and processes.Reflections of SophieMy decolonising journey started with the patient teaching of Maori Elders during mydoctoral studies (2005–2008) that explored perspectives on age mixing for youngwomen in prison. The following is a reflection from those times:I recall in one visit to an Iwi group in Auckland, an elder was telling me the story of thesacred mountain, how the government had taken to it with a bulldozer and the grief andloss she and the tribe had felt at this time. I could visualise her as a young girl watchingin horror as their sacred mountain was desecrated, and I felt the pain. However, after shehad finished telling me the story, I said “Thank you for telling me about what happenedhere. I’m so sorry for your loss. But now can you tell me how I should work with youngMaori women in prison?” After a long pause and a pained expression on her face, shesaid, “Sophie, I was telling you!” I then realised that I could not begin to understand howto work effectively with Maori without understanding their spiritual and embodied connection to land, and the need to listen carefully and with your whole self—body, mind andspirit, to understand the underlying meanings of stories generously shared by Elders ofthe area.AUSTRALIAN SOCIAL WORK 5Responsibility to Engage and Build RelationshipsThus, true decolonising means stepping out of comfort zones of dominant Western waysof being and moving towards new understandings of self, self-in-community and self inconnection to land. It means being willing to engage my whole self—body, mind, andspirit—not just my intellect. This is challenging since intellect and “reason” is oftenthe dominant mode of operating in Western culture from Western Cartesian traditions(“I think therefore I am”). Arguably, such a focus on reason alone disconnects Westerners from their bodies and the environment, as written so powerfully by Malaguzzi (1987,in Jackson-Barrett & Lee-Hammond, 2018) about Western schooling:The [Western] school and the [school] culture separate the head from the body. They tell thechild:to think without handsto do without headto listen and not to speakto understand without joy. (p. 91)Acting in decolonising ways is a decision that needs to be made every day. It is a conscious act to take responsibility to resist the powerful colonial forces that would normalise only Western ways of knowing, being, and doing in every sphere and make other waysinvisible or illegitimate. Colonial forces continue to dominate education and socialservice delivery, where failure to respect and observe Aboriginal peoples and knowledgecontinues.There have been occurrences where non-Aboriginal social work academics and students, intentionally or unintentionally, act in colonising ways because some may nothave developed relationships with local Aboriginal people and have a fear about doingthis (Zubrzycki et al., 2014). Some non-Aboriginal social work academics and studentsrecite reasons for not engaging, such as “I don’t have time”, “It is not my place toknow about things Aboriginal” and such like. In not building these relationships andforegrounding Aboriginal ways of knowing, being, and doing, non-Aboriginal academicsand students can alienate Aboriginal colleagues, custodians, and local communitymembers. In addition, academics fail social work students by not teaching and usingstrategies that privilege ways to be culturally responsive now or in future work.Cultural Responsiveness and the Embodied EnvironmentThe next step in the journey towards the embodiment of the Tree of Life relationship toCountry was to explore how academics and students alike can learn to engage in genuinerelationships with local Aboriginal people when they are from other nations, throughreflections on engaging with and drawing on Aboriginal concepts and being culturallyresponsive. Bennett notes that “unlike cultural competency, cultural responsiveness isan ongoing process that requires awareness of the relationship between ourselves andothers and the systems in which we interact” (Bennett, Redfern & Zubrzycki, 2017, inBennett & Gates, 2019, p. 3) and is a long-term process (Green, Bennett, & Betteridge,in Bennett & Gates, 2019, p. 3). Thus, a focus on genuine relationships is key. Shepherd6 J. SATOUR & S. GOLDINGAYet al. (2019) summarise the differences in varying levels of ability for non-Aboriginalpeople working with Aboriginal people. Drawing on literature, they note that:Cultural awareness focuses on learning about the norms and customs of multi-culturalgroups, Cultural safety is concerned with protecting the culture of vulnerable groups byidentifying biases and power imbalances within organizational structures, and Culturalhumility promotes openness and non-judgement while allowing the client to determinehow their culture impacts their experiential reality and by extension, the clinical encounter.Cultural intelligence focuses on an individual’s capacity to first recognize and then successfully function in various cultural environments foreign to their own. (p. 2)Aboriginal Voice and Self-DeterminationWe argue that cultural responsiveness includes all the abilities described above inShepherd et al. (2019), but also importantly includes a focus on relationship and theembodied environment, Aboriginal voice and self-determination, and hence foregroundsAboriginal ways of knowing and being. It is an ongoing journey. Genuine relationshipsare built through physical actions—through the way people behave each and every day,and their ability to listen deeply and be open. On the topic of deep listening, Aboriginalwriter and Senior Elder Mariam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann from Daly River, NorthernTerritory, was the first to write about the importance of deep listening and thinking andtermed this Dadirri in 2002 (Fernando & Bennett, 2019). Ungumerr-Baumann explainsthat, “Dadirri is an exercise in contemplation and an awareness of relatedness” and that“Dadirri is in everyone. It is not just an Aboriginal thing”. “Dadirri also means awarenessof where you’ve come from, why you are here, where are you going now and where youbelong,” (Eureka Street, 2010).Aboriginal GazeThe emphasis here is on awareness of self in relation to environment and how one canembody this through an Aboriginal gaze. Fernando and Bennett further note from theirreading of Ungunmerr-Baumann’s work that Dadirri offers a “path for safe explorationof the self”, and allows us to “connect deeply with the environment” (UngunmerrBaumann, in Fernando & Bennett, 2019). Atkinson (2017, in Fernando & Bennett,2019) notes that by using Dadirri, “we begin to decolonise our minds and perhaps thespace around us”. Furthermore, and crucial to the development of genuine relationships,Dadirri “increases our ability to acknowledge traditional Aboriginal practices as equal toWestern approaches” (Atkinson, in Fernando & Bennett, 2019). Thus, by focusing ondeep listening, not being in a hurry, but making time to connect deeply with the environment, the space to be open to new ways of knowing and being in the world becomespossible.Self-ExaminationLearning to be culturally responsive means a willingness to examine one’s own self, andto be open to considering Aboriginal concepts as an equally valid source of truth,development, and enlightenment as dominant Euro-western ones. A central conceptfor Aboriginal people in our local area is the importance of land and nature as asource of knowledge and self-development. This is similar to the concept described byAUSTRALIAN SOCIAL WORK 7Styres, who writes, “a pedagogy of Land starts from the notion of Land as first teacher andas an embodiment of self-in-relation” (Styres et al., in McKnight, 2016, p. 17).A Simulation Resource for Students: The Tree of LifeMerleau-Ponty (1962, in Rajan-Rankin, 2014, p. 2431) wrote of the ‘body-subject’ where“experience begins with the body but, through the process of awareness and critical socialjudgement, extends into the social world” (Merleau-Ponty, 1962, in Rajan-Rankin, 2014,p. 2430). In our project, we wanted each student to begin to experience the embodiedself-in-relation to land that is experienced by Aboriginal people on a deep level, andfrom this, extend this knowledge to their social work practice to ensure cultural responsiveness. We therefore created a simulation resource in partnership with Wadawurrungpeople, which included fictitious characters—an 8-year-old Aboriginal boy, James, livingon Country with his father, Norm, and his sister, Charlotte, who lives with his nonAboriginal mother, Evelyn, who has previously served a prison sentence. In creatingthe simulation resource in partnership, a key priority identified by Wadawurrungteam members was for students to experience using the Tree of Life concept as a metaphor to embody Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning. In drawing on this concept,we hoped students would develop an understanding of the importance of connection toCountry, and how the environment and land is connected from First Australianworldviews.In practice this also included a focus on the value of doing, for example, participatingin the Smoking Ceremony where students and staff are invited to cleanse with the smokeof the burning eucalyptus leaves and breathe in the aroma of the leaves that are handedout. This is the embodied connection with local Country experienced by all in thisprocess. Students participate in Ceremony and by doing so, learn the local protocols.Corrina discusses with students the importance of prioritising relationships and respecting Aboriginal spirituality and worldviews. However, social workers need to assess theirown skills, knowledge, and capabilities through self-development and enlightenment. Ashort snippet of the team in a yarning circle discussing the process we used and theintention we had can be found at https://alex.deakin.edu.au/Mediasite/Play/2874429975cc4cfb966355ef0666bd4e1d.Working in Partnership with Traditional CustodiansBoth authors will now include our insights when working in partnership with Wadawurrung woman Corrina Eccles, on how the Tree can be used to create opportunities for students to embody self from an Aboriginal worldview.Reflections of JodieA sense of belonging is intrinsically tied to Aboriginal culture and spiritual identity. It isalso being connected by having an acute awareness of place and our surroundings in discovering one’s self through body, mind, and spirit. For myself, Country is significant as itis part of my learning of all things connected. In making connection to the land and forstudents to begin to be culturally responsive, a sense of belonging, of who they are, isrequired before they can embody other ways of looking at the world, through adifferent lens, from their own identity and perspectives. Everyone has a culture on8 J. SATOUR & S. GOLDINGAYways of living and belief. As part of a decolonising process, students commence withunveiling and self-critiquing their culture of who they are and where they belong. Byusing the tree, the students attempt to embody their learning from being guided byCorrina in walking on Country, listening to the historical connections and making observations. Without really looking at themselves first and where they belong, students mayfind it difficult working alongside people from many different cultures, especially if theyare from Australia’s Western dominant culture. Students also have a relationshipbetween humanity and Country that can lead to new experiences of embodiment.Dadirri provides opportunities to explore significant local sites led by a Traditional Custodian imparting knowledge encouraging students to listen and observe their surroundings. This includes understanding what Country means for a particular communityintertwined with the spiritual, physical, and cultural connections to the land in whichthey practice. The student embodiment of the environment begins with sense of belonging and how they see family.In approaching this same task my embodied learning and teaching experiences areviewed from my Aboriginal worldview. So, when asked the same question I thinkabout my homelands. I was raised that through creation time when the land wasformed, the ancestors walked on Country and some of them became trees (Turner,2017). Trees in my culture are significant and are used for many things. For example,the mulga tree is strong and can make digging sticks or when finding the roots of thetree witchetty grubs can be eaten for sustenance (Turner, 2017). Some of the treesprovide bush foods and medicines and some are connected to where we might beborn and our kin.Back on my Country, I often visited ancient grandfather. I would look up at histowering height in awe and marvel in how strong he stood. I would look at his wrinkledouter surface before running my fingers around his massive middle. He felt all shrivelledand dried up under the 40-degree heat, providing plenty of shade for me as I sat taking inhis splendour. In the stillness as people rushed past me, I would breathe deeply and contemplate how much knowledge he held. What teachings will he share with me today?This ancient grandfather tree is sacred and is one of my old people and thereforefamily. He is connected in our spirit, past, and present world.The tree is used so that students can critically reflect on how they can begin to decolonise their practices and how they might form genuine relationships with Aboriginalpeople, family, and community. The important learning in this exercise is focused on theprocess rather than seeking an outcome. This creates a space for students to question andvoice uncertainties, discomforts, and anxieties in a culturally safe space without beingfearful, silent or having a saviour complex in having to rescue Aboriginal people fromthemselves. Being open in this way is risky as students are exposed, are challenged,and may also be surprised by their own bias, values, and assumptions.Reflections of SophieCorrina introduced the idea of the “Tree of Life” as a central concept for students to graspas part of their learning to work safely and effectively with Wadawurrung people. I haveto confess that Corrina needed to explain this concept to me a number of times before Ibegan to grasp its significance. After listening to her explain it yet again, I went to myoffice and drew a Tree of Life for James, our fictitious character in our resource. IAUSTRALIAN SOCIAL WORK 9focused on the roots first—ancestry and connection to land—and I then felt for the firsttime the reality of damage and hurt that occurs when children are removed from family,community, and Country. My eyes welled up as I experienced a sense of grief and loss ona deep level. I drew the tree trunk and included his extended family, the branches beinghis strengths, the leaves being the people and activities that give him joy in his life. I thenimagined the “storm” of his mother using drugs and being arrested and jailed, and howhe was restored from this storm through living on Country with his father and cousinslearning about culture, and receiving culturally safe therapy through a medium, such asochre painting. I realised that this was a key learning that students also needed to takeaway, and that the Tree of Life concept and learning activities were a way for studentsto have this experience on a deep level of the importance of connection to land andCountry, family, community, and culture.The reflection shows me, a non-Aboriginal academic, who, as a result of skilful guidance and patience by Corrina, had an embodied experience of the grief and loss experienced by Aboriginal peoples in this area due to genocide and ongoing colonisation inWadawurrung land. The impact of this on a deep spiritual level for me allowed dominantways of experiencing and understanding the world and my place in it to move aside toallow space for Aboriginal ways. By experiencing the embodied concept of the Tree—asacred and important part of Wadawurrung culture, and allowing the journey tohappen, I was able to begin to understand connection to Country not just in mymind, but in my body and soul. This was an important turning point for me, whichdeepened my understanding of my role in decolonisation and understanding theworld from a connection-to-land perspective.Giving Back to the Community and Next StepsOnce the resource was completed, we launched and showcased it at Deakin Universityduring NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee)week. Members of the local Aboriginal community, plus university dignitaries wereinvited. This was an important part of the process, to further build and reinforce our reciprocal relationships with Community. Feedback from the community demonstratedthe importance of building relationships and the value of the simulation resource forthe training of future social workers. We embedded the learning resources into theBachelor and Masters social work practice skills courses at Deakin University, and developed an assessment task in consultation with Corrina to measure their learning gains.Students were invited to complete a reflection both before and after exposure to thelearning resources, which included the online simulation, a workshop delivered byCorrina, and some resources written by Aboriginal writers focusing on decolonisingpractices. During the workshop, students participated in Ceremony and were guidedthrough doing a Tree of Life for themselves in their own lives, and then for thefictional Wadawurrung child character we created for the resource. As mentionedearlier, the intention was for students to also have an embodied experience—body,mind, and soul—to develop a sense of their own self and belonging, and then reallyunderstand the importance of connection to Country and ancestors. We knew thisunderstanding would guide the way they completed the assignment in the unit andfuture social work practice. Once the teaching period was finished, we invited students10 J. SATOUR & S. GOLDINGAYto share their reflections for the purpose of research, and we also invited students to participate in interviews, the findings of which will be outlined in a subsequent paper. Weinvited feedback from academic colleagues through two conference presentations, onein New Zealand (FLANZ) and one in Australia (ANZSWWER). It was clear that forsome working in partnership was not a common practice and a demonstration of howwe did this provided an opportunity to showcase the process. The authors’ commitmentto walking alongside Wadawurrung people as academics in this region has been animportant step in our journey towards culturally responsive practice.ConclusionThis paper has presented the intentions and reflections of two social work academicsworking in a regional university in Australia, working in partnership with Wadawurrungpeople to create a learning experience that introduces students to ways of being culturallyresponsive. The reflections, alongside the literature and knowledge shared via video,demonstrate the importance of focusing on the embodied experience of belonging,prioritising, and drawing on local Aboriginal knowledge to take students on a journeyof self-discovery of their own belongingness and cultural heritage. We have shownthat in Australia, non-Aboriginal social workers need to develop a deeper appreciationof Aboriginal perspectives of relationship to land, kin, and culture, in order to trulyunderstand and act in decolonising and non-harmful ways in all fields of practice. Ourstudents began that journey through drawing on the Aboriginal embodied concept ofthe Tree of Life in order to understand their own sense of belonging, and that of our fictitious character “James” in our simulation. We can see that from using this concept, theybegan to be grounded in who they are and where they come from and from this process,were able to acknowledge cultures that are different to their own. As mentioned throughout this paper, development of genuine relationships with local Aboriginal peoples andengaging in deep reflection on self-in-relation to land means we will acknowledge Aboriginal practices as equal to Western approaches and therefore disrupt instances of colonisation and work towards true justice and self-determination with Aboriginal peoplein this land.AcknowledgementsWe would like to acknowledge Wadawurrung woman Corrina Eccles for her guidance in theproject referred to in this paper. We would also like to thank members of Deakin LearningFutures who participated in this project and shared the learning journey with us: Peter Lane,Brett Wilson, Tim Crawford, and Darci Taylor.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.ORCIDSophie Goldingay http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0776-1086AUSTRALIAN SOCIAL WORK 11ReferencesArney, F., Iannos, M., Chong, A., McDougall, S., & Parkinson, S. (2015). 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