The Outstation Model of Rehabilitation as Practiced in Central Australia: The Case for Its Recognition and Acceptance

Abstract

This paper describes and analyzes the model of care provided by the Ilpurla remote outstation rehabilitation program in Australia's Northern Territory. Reflections are offered about the cultural antecedents of the model, and how it addresses the needs of young Indigenous people. Data describing client numbers, length of stay, the underlying approach to rehabilitation, and the practices of the program are presented. The paper aims to promote an understanding of the outstation model of care, highlight difficulties between programs and their funding sources, and encourages recognition of its importance in the response to drug and alcohol use-related problems among Indigenous people.

Keywords :

• outstation model
• rehabilitation
• observation
• culture
• remote
• Aboriginal

THE AUTHORS

Gillian Shaw earned her M.P.H. degree from the University of New South Wales and has worked for more than 20 years in Indigenous communities and community organizations in Australia, frequently with a focus on petrol sniffing and other substance abuse. In the early 1990s, she worked as the Administrator of a community controlled drug and alcohol user intervention service, which has given her an understanding of intraorganizational issues in the field. Since 1994, she has been involved in implementing and/or evaluating successive strategies to reduce the prevalence and impact of petrol sniffing across remote Australia. She has also been involved in designing, implementing, and reviewing initiatives that aim to reduce the extent and impact of alcohol misuse across remote Indigenous communities.

Tristan Ray joined the Central Australian Youth Link Up Service in 2003. Prior to this, he worked with young people in Community Media Production for more than 10 years. He lived in Yuendumu for four of these years working as a Training Coordinator at Warlpiri Media Association. In this time, he worked to establish the Pintubi Anmatjerre Warlpiri (PAW) Radio Network, which now spans 11 communities. He is currently completing a Master's degree in applied anthropology and participatory development through the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy and Research at Australian National University.

Blair McFarland has worked with remote communities in Central Australia on community justice issues for more than 20 years. He lived at Papunya for 4 years and has first-hand experience of life in traditional Aboriginal communities. He worked for 8 years as a Probation and Parole Officer with the Western Desert as his field area. Following this, he worked for Tangentyere Council establishing the Remote Area Night Patrol Support Project, which assists remote communities establish and resource Night Patrols. Due to this long association with the communities, and his continuing commitment to social justice, he is well known in the region. He recently received the 2008 Prime Minister's Award for excellence in the drug and alcohol intervention field.

Notes

1 The term evidence-based or evidence-informed is a relatively recent “code” for empirically implemented programs which have been evaluated involving either an experimental design (like that used in randomized controlled trials) or a quasi-experimental design and have been subject to peer review; by experts who have agreed that the study's findings are generalizable. This process is meant to increase the program's effectiveness and accountability. The “stamp” of evidence-based does not, however, indicate that the necessary conditions (endogenous as well as exogenous ones; human as well as non-human ones, and micro to macro levels) for the studied process to operate or not operate are known, nor that the decision to select a specific intervention as being indicated or contraindicated is not limited by missing relevant knowledge and by the imperfection of human judgment. Editor's note.