Our Members
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Health Practitioners are the world’s only Indigenous health professions underpinned by national training and regulation. For close to a century, this workforce has played a vital role in the safe and effective delivery of health services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and communities.
With a combination of clinical, cultural, social and linguistic skills, they deliver an engagement capability and community reach that sets them apart from other health professionals. Providing a high standard of culturally responsive care and acting as cultural brokers and health system navigators for our communities. Although, as the peak body for the workforce, NAATSIHWP recognises that our members often do not receive the recognition and support they deserve for their crucial work.
NAATSIHWP Chairperson, David Follent, said: ‘Our communities must have access to culturally safe and responsive care no matter where they are, and a strong, valued and highly skilled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker and Health Practitioner workforce is key to this end’.
NAATSIHWP CEO, Karl Briscoe, said: ‘We know better health outcomes are achieved when our workforce are involved in our people’s health care as we possess a cultural intellect that isn’t able to be replicated by mainstream health professions’.
