Foot health: Working right ways with and for First Nations Peoples

Join us for this 60-minute presentation, inclusive of Q&A discussion on the topic of Foot health: Working right ways with and for First Nations Peoples.

Across education, research, and clinical settings, foot health must work better for, and provide safer spaces for First Nations Peoples, as judged by them. This presentation will discuss ways non-Indigenous people can work, develop skills, and build relationships in foot health spaces in this pursuit. This session will progress in a non-linear manner, acknowledging that positioning of people to the topic varies greatly relating to one’s workplace setting, lived experience, prior learning and unlearning, self-awareness, self-reflexivity, and culture. Questions are welcomed.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the importance of centering First Nations Peoples' perspectives in improving foot health outcomes
• Learn how to create safer spaces within educational, research, and clinical settings
• Explore and discuss actionable strategies for non-Indigenous individuals to develop relevant skills, build authentic relationships, and work effectively towards improving foot health for First Nations Peoples
• Reflect on personal positioning, prior knowledge, and biases related to foot health and First Nations Peoples, recognizing how these factors influence engagement with the topic and the pursuit of equitable foot health outcomes

The Presenter:

James Gerrard

James is a whitefella with over 45 years of accumulated non-Indigenous privilege drawn from a lifetime of social, economic, and political systems which totally benefit him. He lives on Wadawurrung Country, works on Arrernte Country, and studies on Wiradjuri Country. He has a 17-year history of working and studying in a Western tertiary academic and research space, but has learned (and un-learned) more working with and for the original human healers, scientists, and researchers of the land now known as Australia - who have been teaching and learning since time immemorial. James is learning to centre culture in health and healing, that racism makes you sick, and that colonisation is bad for your health.

James currently works with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to privilege First Nations voices, First Nations worldviews, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, ways of being, and ways of doing through work with Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, and his PhD studies through Western Sydney University. He is also the Education and Engagement podiatrist (diabetes-related foot disease) - Ingke Arntarnte-areme (Looking After Feet) with Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, Steering Committee member of Diabetes Feet Australia (DFA), and committee member of Podiatry charity Footscape, which works at a national level to reduce burdens of diabetes related foot pathology through material aid, foot health education, and advocacy for equity in foot health service delivery. Through all this work, James hopes to contribute to a safer place for First Nations academics, First Nations students, First Nations researchers, and First Nations users of healthcare to work, study and access healthcare.

The image used is the 2025 NAIDOC logo. Designed by Kamilaroi artist Teagan Malcolm, the design embodies the timeless elements of the theme, highlighting the importance of bringing everyone together to celebrate NAIDOC.
NAIDOC Week 6 July - 13 July, 2025

Event Details

Important Information:

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