Community Service Workers’ Experiences Following Australia’s Black Summer: Contextualising Rural Service Provision

ABSTRACT

The Australian Black Summer season of 2019–2020 caused widespread social, economic, and environmental impacts for affected rural communities. In this article, the authors report on a small study exploring postdisaster service provision from the perspectives of community service workers following the Australian Black Summer season. Using a qualitative, semistructured design, six community service workers were interviewed about their experiences delivering postdisaster services to affected rural communities. Three themes emerged from a thematic analysis. These themes were impacts of rurality, accounting for diversity, and the influencing policy context. The Findings underscore rurality as a context-specific characteristic intersecting with social identities in a broader sociopolitical system. Implications suggest the need to address persisting rural inequities that cause cumulative disadvantage and advocate for policy change to address service system gaps.

IMPLICATIONS

• Structural inequities in rural communities continue to shape the experiences of residents impacted by disasters causing cumulative disadvantage.

• Diversity within and between neighbouring communities and population groups requires consideration of the heterogeneity of rural contexts.

• The policy context constrains aspects of rural service provision causing adverse impacts on affected residents’ experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental Social Work
• Rural Social Work
• Community Services
• Bushfire Aftermath
• Rural Communities
• Lived Experience
• Postdisaster Service Provision
• Wellbeing
• Rural Diversity

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).