Opportunity leads to Fulbright success
by Michèle Nardelli
In 1980, the then South Australian College of Advanced Education (a former institution of UniSA) became one of only three places in Australia to offer the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program (ATEP). For one of its first participants, Dr Julie Owen, life was about to change forever.
Introduced as an equity initiative, ATEP was a six-month entry program designed to develop and support Indigenous students to become teachers. Owen was 24 years old, had three children and a real desire to find out what else life might offer.
Now, 27 years after graduating with her Diploma of Teaching, she has been awarded a Fulbright fellowship. She’ll be heading for the US in June to research aspects of native American health.
"ATEP opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know existed," Owen said. "I was a young mum without much confidence and without much support and this program gave me the courage to speak up, to ask questions, give opinions – the confidence to embrace learning and growth."
After graduating in 1983, Owen taught at SA’s Taperoo primary school for three years before heading to Katherine to teach.
The chance to fill in as a Health Promotion Coordinator in Darwin set her on a new path – health promotion and education.
In 1996 she returned to university to complete a masters degree in primary health care. She spent several years working across Queensland, the NT and in the Kimberleys in a number of health-related roles. Offered a PhD scholarship at the University of Western Australia, Owen spent the next five years researching alternative strategies for health promotion in Indigenous communities. She focused on developing ownership and respect as key tenets of Aboriginal health promotion.
"I wanted to tap into the strengths of Aboriginal culture – friendships, family, community and socialising," Owen said.
And her health promotion innovations have been well-received. The HeartAware party is an Owen invention styled on the success of party-plan selling. These heart health promotion gatherings are held in the home of a trained lay educator. A healthy lunch, educational videos and a humorous but educational game of adult Snakes and Ladders for participants is all part of the sharing.
"It works well - people get to chat, have some laughs, learn something and develop a health support network."
The package has been a great success with men.
"I think because they tend only to socialise at the footy or when they have drink together – this was really novel," she said.
Owen is keen to soak up all the information and experience she can in the US.
"I am starting in Arizona with desert people, who probably have faced some very similar problems to Indigenous Australians," she said. "Then I intend to visit an area of greater integration around North Carolina and finally to a colder coastal region similar to where I now work in WA."